February 2005
The Museum has enjoyed a splendid year of events and growth. During this academic year we hosted two main exhibits in our focus gallery: Day of the Dead, exhibiting art and artifacts associated with the celebration honoring the deceased, and Following the Paper Trail from China to the World, exploring the origins of paper in China and it spread throughout the world. Both exhibits were the product of collaborative efforts between the Museum, campus units, and the local community.
The Museum has received a number of excellent gifts including a stunning collection of Oceanic masks, statues, and other ethnographic materials from Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya; a collection of traditional Philippine spears and other weapons; Chinese and Japanese wood carvings from the Ming, Qing, and Edo periods; and a collection of African pottery.
This year we also enlisted a student marketing firm (OSBI Consulting, part of the College of Business and UIUC MBA Program) to assist us in better understanding how we are perceived in the campus and Champaign-Urbana communities, then providing us with ideas for how to increase awareness, visitation, and involvement. We are halfway through this process, but the firm has already provided some interesting insights. Our educational role features prominently in people’s perceptions of us, which is appropriate for a university museum, and our education staff deserves special recognition for their efforts. Given that we occupy such an important place in education, we are looking to expand this role even further. With our K-12 programs well underway, we have begun to broaden our offering to the University community and beyond. We have also worked with Illinois Ignite, a student conference focusing on organizational development. The Ignite team looked at the specific challenge of marketing to UIUC students and increasing their involvement with the Museum.
Our major goals for the coming year include:
Goals for the year
- Accreditation by the American Association of Museums
Accreditation is acknowledgment by our peers that the Spurlock Museum adheres to all AAM guidelines at the highest level. Currently, only 750 museums across the country (including zoos, aquariums, and arboretums) hold accreditation. A museum must be open and fully operational for two years before an application can be made to the AAM. The total review includes administration, exhibitions, collections, registration, and education to the public. Once accreditation has been awarded the Museum is in a position to receive and offer the most sought after traveling exhibitions, as well as take its place among professional museums in the US.
- Offsite Storage
The Museum is growing, and additional storage is needed to house our more stable collections. The campus has assisted us in securing offsite storage, enabling us to continue our growth in quality collections.
- Sunday Opening
Budget shortfalls have prevented us from being open on Sundays, an important family day on campus and in the surrounding community. Subsidized by a generous gift from one of our Museum friends, the campus is looking to assist us in opening our doors to the public on Sunday,
- Museum Studies Program
Museum Studies is a relatively new academic discipline, and in the United States there are a variety of programs: undergraduate majors and minors, graduate-level degrees and certificates, many of which are housed under another academic area such as art or anthropology. Given the resources on our campus, the University of Illinois has the potential to provide students with a broad and practical education in museum studies. We envision a two-year program for an undergraduate minor and a graduate-level certificate or area of concentration. The Museum is currently working with campus administration to organize this new program.
- Annual Magazine
Due to the generous effort of our board, this new publication is in the planning stage, and we hope to have our first magazine in the hands of Museum patrons during the next academic year. Thereafter the magazine will be an annual mailing with a supplemental newsletter published three times during the calendar year.