Children's Museum in dire financial straits
By Beth Young
Jul 8, 08 4:52 PM

A child works on an art project at CMEE. MEGAN SHAW We're sorry but your browser is not compatible with Google Maps Media

Although donations are up more than 60 percent so far this year, the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton might be forced to close its doors by the end of the summer, because the museum’s operating costs are too high.

Signs that the museum is facing serious financial trouble surfaced when museum officials recently decided to scale down the ninth annual benefit, CMEE Under the Stars, because of slow ticket sales. The event, which was scheduled to include dinner and dancing under a tent on the Ludlow farm overlooking Mecox Bay this Friday, July 11, will instead be a cocktail party on the grounds of the museum on the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike.

“Given the financial difficulties CMEE is facing right now, we thought it would be fiscally prudent to downsize the benefit,” said museum board member Jackie Lowey. She added that the last time she’d looked at the figures, about 170 people had bought tickets to the event—down from 300 reservations at the same time last year.

The event raised in excess of $300,000 in 2006, the most recent year for which the museum’s tax return is available. Revenue from that event accounted for more than one-sixth of the museum’s $1.8 million operating budget that year.

Ms. Lowey said that the museum is currently functioning “hand-to-mouth” and needed to increase fund-raising this year in order to pay the mortgage, expenses and staff. The museum is paying off a $4 million, 25-year construction loan at a cost of $20,000 a month.

Though the museum has already raised $872,000 so far this year, compared with $545,000 at the same point last year, the museum’s treasurer, Adeline Neubert, said that many regular donors who gave late in 2007 made contributions early this year, giving the museum cause to worry that its “small inner circle” of donors has been effectively tapped for the year. Slumping ticket sales for the summer benefit were a sign that a downturn in funding might be on its way.

“CMEE was hit hard in this economy,” Ms. Lowey said. “Fuel costs are through the roof. Insurance is expensive. All the costs are going up. We need to bring in more money to sustain the operation.”

The museum will need to raise at least half a million dollars this summer in order to stay open, according to Ms. Neubert, In a normal year, she said, the museum would easily take in that much over the summer. This year, she’s not so sure.

Ms. Lowey said that all of the museum’s summer programs will continue this year, regardless of how much the museum manages to raise this summer. But if fund-raising goals are not met by the end of the summer, she said the museum will suspend programming, close its doors, and “basically move to a skeletal staff and work to raise the money to re-open.”

“Now more than ever, we need the community to come together to support CMEE,” said Ms. Lowey. “We don’t want to keep raising our rates to cover our costs. Then we don’t cover the population we serve.”

“We’re cutting back on things, without affecting operations: stationery, any fluff that you can possibly imagine. We’re repairing our exhibits in-house,” said Ms. Neubert.

She added that the museum has laid off three employees and is currently operating with a staff of eight. The gift shop has also been closed.

Ms. Lowey said that the museum, which just began its third season, is suffering because it is a relatively new non-profit in a crowded field of worthy causes on the East End. She hopes that, through aggressive fund-raising, the museum will be able to create an endowment to sustain it for the long term.

That’s not a priority for now, Ms. Neubert said. “I would love to have an endowment, but when you don’t have enough to have your operating budget covered, that’s something you have to put on the secondary plate. It’s something that I would like to see us wrap into the next phase of the capital campaign.”

Though Ms. Lowey described the museum’s board as a “committed, active” one, the leadership at the helm of the organization has changed dramatically in the past year.

Adrienne Kitaeff left her post as executive director at the end of May 2007. The post was just recently filled by Steve Long, a former vice president of collections and education at the Tenement Museum on New York’s Lower East Side.

At the time she left, Ms. Kitaeff and members of the board declined to comment on the reason for her departure, other than to say that it was a mutual decision.

This week, Ms. Kitaeff said, “It’s really difficult to comment. I haven’t been there for so long.” She added that she was shocked to hear the news that the museum might shut down. “One can always be critical, but that probably wouldn’t be the best thing,” she said.

The board’s former president, Vicky Graham, also stepped down earlier this year and was replaced by board member Lucy Muhlfeld. Ms. Graham could not be reached for comment.

Jane Held, a board member who resigned last November for personal reasons, said that the cost of building the museum had been higher than the board expected.

“There were a lot of delays in construction,” she said, adding that environmental concerns and meeting high hurricane standards had delayed the construction of the 11,872-square-foot museum. “It was a very ambitious project and it costs a lot of money to support it.”

Though the cost to the public to attend programs at the museum can be quite steep—a week of three-hour camps averages $500 for members, compared with $375 for a week of art camp at the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton—Ms. Held said that the museum has always maintained a philosophy to “never turn a child away.” In 2007, the museum gave away 100 scholarships.

In 2007, the museum raised $330,000 through entrance fees, programs and rental of the building. The museum has maintained a constant membership of just over 1,200 in recent years, which brought in just over $84,000 in 2007. The rest of its $1.8 million budget was met through donations.

“We’d run into situations where we had programming, and we were short on the budget, and we had to get the kids in. I’d call my friends and businesspeople and say, ‘What can you do to help?’ It takes manpower to do that kind of fund-raising,” said Ms. Held. “There are a lot of wonderful organizations out here, and the pool of money gets harder each year.”

In the past, though, she said that “at the last minute, there was always someone who would step up.”

Ms. Lowey recently contacted Southampton Town and State Assemblyman Fred Thiele looking for more funding.

Southampton Town Supervisor Linda Kabot said that the town is considering allocating $50,000 to the museum through the Bridgehampton park taxing district, as it does with the Bridgehampton Historical Museum, though the town would need to hold a public hearing in August before awarding the funds. She cautioned that public funds to support the museum would need to be limited.

The museum only recently began to collaborate with local schools, through its Kids Create festival this June. Students at several local schools created recycled art that was on display at the museum.

Ms. Held said that there was some debate within the museum’s board over whether to become more involved with local schools or to continue to operate as a more autonomous organization.

Ms. Neubert said that, while a very small percentage of the museum’s 80,000 visitors were school groups, the museum has recently begun a marketing campaign to parents with children in local schools.

“Really, the issue is there hasn’t been a broader constituency of generosity,” she said.

Mr. Long, the new executive director, just recently began pounding the pavement to try to develop relationships with the community, starting with the Bridgehampton School, where he introduced himself to Principal Jack Pryor Monday night.

“I don’t want to force my vision on an institution, but I think we can play a role in inspiring children to become philanthropic,” he said, adding that he’d like to start a service learning partnership with local schools, with students assisting as junior museum professionals helping to put together programming at the museum. “I’m interested in how the museum can serve older students. It seems to skew a little younger than I ideally wanted it to be.”