HomeMy WebLinkAbout4.17 attachment1 | P a g e
April 17, 2020
To the Board,
I hope everyone is doing well and keeping busy.
The Governor’s extension of the closure resulted in an early end to the Then & Now exhibition, so a
decision was made to use the time to get started on gallery preparation for Titanic. The first step is floor
refinishing and we will do that work in-house. We are requesting quotes from contractors for some of
the gallery work (such as drywall repair and painting) and hope to get a good response. Once again we
have canceled Enrichment Programs and tours rescheduled for May; staff will be contacting those
signed up. As we look at the coming months, it seems likely that the June 20 Menominee Clans Powwow
will signal the reopening of the Museum.
In this week’s conference call with Titanic folks, we finally established the installation dates. Work will
begin on July 29 and conclude on August 2, which will be the first day the exhibition will be revealed to
volunteers, and also the first day of training.
On Tuesday evening, the Common Council approved the contract for masonry repair on the Carriage
House chimneys and east piers, so that work should begin soon. In regard to the Museum foundation
repair, Facility Engineering is waiting on a final review of specifications from the Department of Public
Works and once that happens the project will go out for bid. On that subject, with the ground drying,
water inflow into the lower level has stopped, so that is good.
Requests for future capital improvement work are due May 15. While those requests are typically
reviewed by the Board before submission to the City Manager, I intend to only submit one request for
2021 and that is design development for Deep Roots, Growing City. This complex exhibition requires a
significant commitment of staff time. In addition to the Split Rock Studios piece, staff will tackle the
media components: steamboat piloting interactive, interactive digitized Paine mill, and immigrant
stories. As we learned from People of the Waters, more time and resources have to be devoted to
media. While there are other capital improvement projects that are necessary in the years ahead, I think
it best to only request funding for 2021 projects, not beyond. While I look forward to and greatly value
the Board’s input on capital projects, I do not think it is necessary to schedule a May Board meeting to
review one capital improvement project that we’ve already discussed at length and the Board approved
for two previous capital requests. As well, the election of officers can easily wait until June.
If design development for Deep Roots is funded in 2021, the education intern would work together with
staff to ensure the themes, stories, media, artifacts, and images, all connect seamlessly with curriculum.
I should interject that a decision was made to delay this year’s educational internship until winter 2021.
We received a grant from the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation to create traveling history kits and
the intern would work on this task as well as the curriculum. However, staff are quite backed up after
the cyberattack and now the virus emergency, and we are fast approaching the period of intense work
preparing for Titanic. As we talked this through, we all realized that there is no way staff could devote
time to working with an intern and the lack of input would impact the project. We are confident the
grant deadline will be extended by the Foundation.
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In other areas, we worked our way through design development of the first two sections in the Sporting
& Recreation exhibition. Staff selected objects and images not only for their stories and overall impact,
but we are also trying to use collections that have not been used or seen previously. We met the first
deadline and have now moved on to the next section and its associated deadline. After we submit
everything in the weeks ahead, Split Rock Studios incorporates our selections into a first design version,
at which point it will be reviewed and refined.
You might recall that one section of Sporting & Recreation includes a working vintage bowling game.
Staff have located several firms that offer fully restored games — at very reasonable prices, I should
add. This purchase will come before the Board for discussion and vote later in the year. We would not
purchase the game until the gallery is almost ready for installation. Given the severe inefficiencies of the
building, we have to carefully review sizes and weight and whether something can be moved in parts
before making our decision. As you know, many times staff recommendations and decisions are based
on building logistics and not what is best for the exhibition or the visitor experience.
Fit-out of the Sporting & Recreation gallery begins right after the Holidays. We had intended to open the
exhibition in summer. However, Algoma Boulevard is scheduled for reconstruction and so it is prudent
that staff review the timetable and perhaps adjust accordingly. That decision will be made next year.
Finally, work in the store is at last coming to a close. A City Electrician completed some tasks today and
the new admission/sales desk now has conduit run for power and Internet. Within a couple of weeks the
store should be back in service, one small step toward returning to a sense of normalcy.
That ends the week.
Brad Larson