I am an advocate for the Fresno Metropolitan Museum.  As stated in my last post here I believe that the closure of this important museum would be an incredible hit to our cultural arts community.  The end of the museum’s 25 year history would be incredibly sad for Fresno and would be one more stain on the image of our community.  As a community, I still believe we have the power to save this treasure in our community.

With that said, I believe that if the Fresno Metropolitan Museum does close, the way it handles closing will be extremely important to not only the cultural arts community but also the entire non-profit community in our area.  In an article in the Fresno Bee today, George Hostetter & Donald Munro write a very good story about some of the ramifications on the possible closing of the Museum.

Of most importance, is considering what will happen with the museum’s estimated 2.1 million dollar collection and their endowment. According the the Fresno Bee, a new company called “Friends Of The Met” has been started with a group of investors who would lend the museum money to close and be repaid back with interest potentially from the sale of the museum’s assets.  There is even question about whether the museum can even accept a loan from the “secret” investors without approval from the City of Fresno.  These are issues that are extremely important to our community and the taxpayers who have already given a significant gift of 15 million dollars to the museum deserve to be involved in the conversation.

This is a very critical time for the Fresno Met and I would encourage them that they act with the utmost caution and complete transparency.  Despite the mistakes that have been made in the past, it is hard for me to believe that anyone truly wants to see our community without the Met.  However, if  the Fresno Metropolitan Museum should close, how it dissolves could impact community giving to cultural arts organizations and non-profits as a whole for years to come.

The Metropolitan Museum  must be transparent with the community with what is happening in relation to the potential closure and specifically community assets it has been entrusted.  A lack of transparency about what is truly going on with the museum’s finances and the newly formed “Friends Of The Met” will at its best, end in the closure of the museum forever and at its worst, set back philanthropy and trust in non-profit organizations possibly a decade.  The public trust which has been created in the museum over the past 25 years cannot be understated and needs to be the top priority of museum officials.

The only thing worse than the closure of this important museum would be to see 2.1 million dollars worth of community artwork be put up for sale and seeing collections being split up.   Metropolitan Museum officials should come out and commit to our community that this will not be the case.   I am happy to see the Fresno Bee reporting and digging further into how the closure of the museum would go down and I think our community would welcome a public discussion brought forward by the City of Fresno about the closure of the museum, and especially the distribution of what are nothing less than community assets.

Of course, my greatest hope would still be that the Fresno Metropolitan Museum could survive.  While it seems more and more unlikely with each day, I still hope. But should the museum have to close, it needs to be extremely careful to be sure other organizations do not suffer because of the way the museum’s closure is played out.