Museum visitors vote with their feet

The figure below shows what services taxpayers receive from the AHS in exchange for the multimillion dollar annual budget. The annual statewide attendance for all AHS museums is shown from FY 2003 through 2012.

 The text below the graph states that the dramatic increase in FY2011 was due to operation of the Centennial Museum.  That is not correct. There was no Centennial Museum. The theme selected for the Centennial Museum was so absurd that only one Arizona company made a donation. The doors never opened.

The spike in attendance was actually caused by visitors to the mineral museum that operated in the building at the time it was reassigned to the AHS for the Centennial Museum. The mineral museum, by itself, attracted more visitors than all the AHS museums in Tucson, Tempe, Yuma, and Flagstaff.

The 80,000 visitors in FY 2011 were largely due to mineral museum attendance prior to the closing in April of 2011 (fiscal years do not match calendar years).  Subsequent to the closing, potential visitors did not choose to visit any of the remaining AHS museums. At the end of FY 2013, AHS attendance will again drop down to the approximately 30,000 level achieved in FY 2010. Or, perhaps less due to the declining trend exhibited from 2005 to 2010.

Why does the Arizona legislature continue to throw money at museums that people are clearly not interested in visiting?

Note: Admission to AHS museum is not free.  The AHS double dips by collecting both admission and an annual budget.

The Madness continues

Nearly two years ago, in April of 2011, the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum was abruptly closed. The entire staff was escorted offsite and fired, and police prevented access to the building as a contractor changed all of the locks. Children anticipating scheduled field trips were out of luck, as are visitors that still arrive at the building on a daily basis. The closing did NOT save money. As of this date, the AHS still receives funding for the mineral museum. According to the new state budget, they will receive the money next year as well.

The locked and now empty building still has a small sign in the window that says “temporarily closed for construction”.  What construction? When? Just how long is temporary?  Apparently what really happened was destruction.

Where is the state mineral collection?  Why can’t people see it, even though the taxpayers continue to fund both a building and a staff?

The AHS has now begun placing a “mineral gallery” on their website. This may be consistent with the thinking behind their centennial museum boondoggle, which suggested that a digital image of an artifact was as good as or perhaps even better than the real thing.  But, it is stupid.

Arizonians are still paying for a mineral museum, but they no longer have one. A “gallery” on a website is not a museum.

Arizona Historical Society’s ethics questioned

 Local news coverage of an AHS display (Silverbell artifacts) in Tucson has attracted the attention of the Doubtful News. The editor writes, in part, as follows:

You can’t blame the museum for wanting to cash in on the interest. But there is a lack of critical thinking here. Lost tribes of Israel? The Romans? In ARIZONA? Unlikely. And it feels icky to suggest there is something more mysterious to them. It feels unethical.

As far as I can tell, these have virtually ZERO credibility, no supporting evidence, and should have been displayed as a "famous hoax".

Perhaps the display is innocent, but anyone wishing to evaluate the ethics of the AHS should review the hostile takeover and destruction of the once top rated Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum.  The original June 5^th, 2010 post on this blog would be a good place to start.

Reference:

Museum trying to cash in on Silverbell artifact popularity

March 7, 2013, By idoubtit

http://doubtfulnews.com/2013/03/museum-trying-to-cash-in-on-silverbell-artifact-popularity/

Governor Mofford speaks out on mineral museum mess

While is office, Governor Mofford was a mineral museum supporter. Prior posts have explained how she and Polly Rosembaum supported the move from the original location on the state fairgrounds to the larger facility on Washington Street.

In a My Turn editorial in the Monday, March 25^th Arizona Republic, Governor Mofford calls for the restoration of “one of the state’s most valued museums”.  It was a “vital educational tool” for Arizona’s children.

It is time for Arizona’s legislature to heed Governor Mofford’s call for action and fix the mess they made during ill conceived planning for the State centennial.  Why continue depriving students of a lifetime learning experience?

 Reference:

State mining museum was a vital educational tool

By Rose Mofford Sun Mar 24, 2013 7:33 PM

http://www.azcentral.com/opinions/articles/20130314state-mining-museum-vital-educational-tool.html

Arizona Historical Society dabbles in science

In over a century, the AHS has never produced a top rated museum. In spite of multimillion dollar budgets, along with free rent, attendance at its museums is so pitifully low that they refuse to disclose attendance numbers.  Then, in 2011, a political anomaly gave them control of a top rated museum, the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum. That they promptly destroyed, along with its popular earth science programs for K-12 students.  Today, the building is an empty shell.

However, the AHS is still receiving the state funding that formerly supported the mineral museum. They are using it to conduct watered down science programs at, of all places, the Marley Center Museum in Tempe.  The Marley itself has such an ugly history of failure that the AHS does not even use its real name. They are promoting their “science” programs using the alias of the “AHS Museum at Papago Park”. The AHS is currently promoting a June 24^th through June 28^th event entitled; “Making Connections: Science and Social Studies”. Mixing science with social studies looks like an excellent way to firm up Arizona’s grip on last place (nationally) in science education.

How long will Arizona allow this nonsense to continue? This is not a responsible use of public funds.

Senator blocks restoration of mineral museum

As reported in the Jan 23, 2013 blog post, Senate Bill 1017 would have restored the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum and recovered the Arizona mineral collection from the Arizona Historical Society.

Unfortunately, the bill was killed by Senator Shooter. As committee chairman, he refused to allow either a public hearing or a vote on the bill. The people were deprived of an opportunity to voice support for this bill.

Contact information for Senator Shooters is as follows:

email: dshooter@azleg.gov 
phone: 602 926 4139
fax: 602 417 3024

Two faced Governor Brewer

On February 14^th, the Arizona Republic stated:

Marking Statehood Day on Thursday, Gov. Jan Brewer unveiled a sculpture donated to the state to honor Arizona’s mining history. The statue of Bisbee copper miner George Warren was commissioned by Jim Warne Jr., a Bisbee resident who said he wanted the bronze sculpture to serve as a reminder of Arizona’s rich mining history.

Some of the Governors exact words were:

Just one year ago, we celebrated Arizona’s Centennial and part of that celebration included honoring MINING as a vital ingredient in our state’s founding. --- I’m grateful that this historic figure --- now takes on three dimensional proportions and becomes a permanent part of Arizona’s tribute to mining in our state

 Really?

If mining was a “vital ingrediant” of our states founding:

Why did the Governor (without cutting cost) deprive Arizona students of very popular school field trips teaching them about this “vital ingredient”?

Why did she, as part of centennial celebration preparations, eliminate the once top rated Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum that preserved this “vital ingredient”?

Why did she transfer the mineral museum budget and assets to the Arizona Historical Society for a vaguely defined museum about the future that was to feature “smells and vibrations”?

References:

Brewer unveils statue marking Arizona’s rich mining history By Mary Jo Pitzl The Republic | azcentral.com Thu Feb 14, 2013 10:21 PM http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/20130213brewer-unveils-statue-arizona-mining-history.html

George Warren Statue Presentation and Unveiling

Remarks by Gov. Jan Brewer

STATEHOOD DAY

Ninth Floor Rotunda

Thursday, February 14, 2013

http://azgovernor.gov/dms/upload/GS_021413_GeorgeWarrenStatueUnveiling.pdf