Tyrone N. Butts
APE Reporter
52
Blunders drag black history museum down
Coleman Young had a vision as Detroit mayor. He wanted a museum to tell the history of African Americans, a monument in a majority black city.
There was little money or planning. The museum went up anyway.
Since it moved into its cavernous new home, the story at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History has been one of managerial blunders, lax oversight and financial calamity, according to tax records reviewed by the Free Press.
The museum is scraping to pay bills each month and, last week, scrambled to meet p
yroll for its 54 employees. City records and the museum's annual Internal Revenue Service filings since 1997 show that:
The City of Detroit has pumped almost $13 million in public money
r
r
int
the museum with little scrutiny from city of
ficials and the mayoral appointees who serve on the 20-member museum board.
Top managers didn't consistently track how the museum was spending money. In 2001, when the institution struggled with a $2-million deficit -- its largest to date -- the museum did not follow basic accounting practices. Museum President Christy Coleman says she didn't know on any given day how much cash the museum had.
Attendance revenue plummetted by 74 percent between 1997 and 2003. As the museum put fewer dollars in programs and exhibits, it spent more on management and salaries.
Now the museum is waiting for the Detroit City Council to approve a $500,000 advance to help balance its books.
After an eleventh-hour appeal
for help, the museum received $250,000 from $1 million in pledges from U.S. District Judge Damon Keith and other wealthy black donors. Even if the museum can survive its current cash-fl
ow
pro
blems, its
future is fragile.
Museum leaders are banking o
n the success of a temporary exhibit, opening in July, that explores the history of (speedy and public trials by impartial juries) in America. They also have high hopes for a new permanent exhibit opening in November -- an interactive exhibit that looks at the African-American experience, beginning with the slave trade from Africa through the Civil War and into the 20th Century, including Detroit's role.
The museum is counting on making more from admissions in the upcoming year than it did from 1998-2003.
What happens if the crowds don't come? There is no Plan B.
"It's scary as all-get out," said Coleman, who calls the projections optimistic but informed.
She said she has a new leadership t
eam in place with the experience to finally take control of the museum's finances.
Many want to know why it took so long.
Detroit City Councilwoman Kay Everett said
she ra
ised qu
estions in the pas
t about why the museum had so little to offer.
"No one was listening," she said.
"There's a thing called black pride and people do not want to question," she said. "We should have more pride in ourselves and expect more.
"This thing needs to be done right and I don't care if they're black, white or whatever."
Vision fell short
When the first city-owned version of the African-American museum opened in 1987 -- a-fifth the size of its current building -- then-mayor Coleman Young whispered that the museum wasn't big enough.
So began the vision of an international museum that would be a symbol of black pride and power in Detroit.
That hasn't materialized.
Some say the 120,000-square-
foot museum was flawed from the start. It had no endowment -- a financial safety net -- and it could never decide whether to be a museum or a community center.
It
failed at
both.
"To us who
9;ve lived here and watched it flounder as it has, it's disgraceful," said Detroiter George Ramsey, a retired postal worker who grew up around the block fro
m the current museum on Warren Avenue.
Ramsey said when the museum opened, he became a member, as did many of his friends. But after about two years, he let the membership lapse.
"I lost interest," he said. "Once you went through the museum, that was it. There was no draw. Nothing changed."
No controls
The Wright Museum opened with a 5-year financial plan by high-profile accounting firm Deloitte Touche that spelled out the risks it faced.
No one paid attention.
The museum's previous president, Kimberly Camp, said when she started in 1994, the museum didn'
t have a system to track spending.
She said she made sure all payments went through the finance department and that there was a bid process to lower cost
s.
Sti
ll, when Camp l
eft the museum in 1998 to head the
Barnes Foundation, an art collection based outside of Philadelphia, the Wright Museum ended its fiscal year with an $806,000 deficit.
For almost a year, the museum had no president. At a time
when it most needed strong leadership, the museum was led by an inexperienced management team.
Coleman started in late 1999. By 2000, the museum had an almost $2-million deficit, federal finance records show.
Coleman blames then-finance director, Niaz Ali, an accountant who had worked for the city's finance department. She said he neglected the most basic duties, such as reconciling bank statements.
She said on any given day, no one knew exactly how much money the museum had in the bank.
"It was a mess," she said last week. But ultim
ately, she said she was the one accountable.
"The reality is there was a lot going on in the museum at that time," she said. Expens
es were out of con
trol and donations
and other revenue were declining. "It
was a quick spiral."
Ali, now an analyst with the city's Department of Human Rights, said it is unfair to blame him. He said he tried to keep up with the day-to-day operations, but he could never overcome the accounting backlog he
inherited and the drop in revenues.
During his year-and-a-half as finance director, Ali said that at least three times, the museum could not make payroll and had to go to city officials or donors for advances.
In light of the turmoil, then-Mayor Dennis Archer appointed two high-powered board members to be more watchful over the museum's finances.
"He thought the museum needed fresh board members and needed to be more critical of what was going on," said Frank Fountain, an Archer appointee and preside
nt of the DaimlerChrysler Corp. Fund.
Living day-to-day
But today, the money problems remain.
On most days,
current Chief Financia
l Officer Ollette Boyd
doesn't want to answer the phone. She knows c
reditors and vendors are calling to collect money the museum does not have.
After she was hired in September 2001 to replace Ali, she discovered the shoddy shape of the museum's finances.
"I didn't realize how bad it was," she said.
Since then, the museum h
as strengthened accounting practices, planned for a new permanent exhibit and raised more than half of its $43-million capital campaign goal.
That's still not enough.
Museum leaders, the board and city officials knew last fall that the museum would run out of money by spring, said Tyrone Davenport, the museum's chief financial officer.They didn't go public until March, when they asked the city council for an emergency $1-million cash advanc
e.
The council balked; it is expected to revisit the funding issue this week.
Council President pro tem Ken Co
ckrel Jr. said the museum
has to stop relying on the
city for a bailout. Now that the city faces a potential &
#036;263-million shortfall, the council has to take a harder look at such requests.
"Frankly, I think the museum was given a lot of free passes over the years," he said. "It was the Charles H. Wright Museum and this is a predominantly African-American city.
"I'm a big supporter of the museu
m and I want to see it succeed, but the museum has to demonstrate it can stand on its own two feet."
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said that to thrive, the museum -- named after the founder of Detroit's first African-American museum in 1965 -- has to operate in a different way.
"Everything is a business now: Churches are a business, museums are a business, and I don't think at first it was looked at as that," K
ilpatrick said. "I think it's just the proper time for it to come around and be conducted in a way... that
can move forward and sustain
itself into the future."
***************
n-ggers fail pathetically at everyt
hing they do. Wake up America and smell the negro.
T.N.B.
Blunders drag black history museum down
Coleman Young had a vision as Detroit mayor. He wanted a museum to tell the history of African Americans, a monument in a majority black city.
There was little money or planning. The museum went up anyway.
Since it moved into its cavernous new home, the story at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History has been one of managerial blunders, lax oversight and financial calamity, according to tax records reviewed by the Free Press.
The museum is scraping to pay bills each month and, last week, scrambled to meet p
yroll for its 54 employees. City records and the museum's annual Internal Revenue Service filings since 1997 show that:
The City of Detroit has pumped almost $13 million in public money
r
r
int
the museum with little scrutiny from city of
ficials and the mayoral appointees who serve on the 20-member museum board.
Top managers didn't consistently track how the museum was spending money. In 2001, when the institution struggled with a $2-million deficit -- its largest to date -- the museum did not follow basic accounting practices. Museum President Christy Coleman says she didn't know on any given day how much cash the museum had.
Attendance revenue plummetted by 74 percent between 1997 and 2003. As the museum put fewer dollars in programs and exhibits, it spent more on management and salaries.
Now the museum is waiting for the Detroit City Council to approve a $500,000 advance to help balance its books.
After an eleventh-hour appeal
for help, the museum received $250,000 from $1 million in pledges from U.S. District Judge Damon Keith and other wealthy black donors. Even if the museum can survive its current cash-fl
ow
pro
blems, its
future is fragile.
Museum leaders are banking o
n the success of a temporary exhibit, opening in July, that explores the history of (speedy and public trials by impartial juries) in America. They also have high hopes for a new permanent exhibit opening in November -- an interactive exhibit that looks at the African-American experience, beginning with the slave trade from Africa through the Civil War and into the 20th Century, including Detroit's role.
The museum is counting on making more from admissions in the upcoming year than it did from 1998-2003.
What happens if the crowds don't come? There is no Plan B.
"It's scary as all-get out," said Coleman, who calls the projections optimistic but informed.
She said she has a new leadership t
eam in place with the experience to finally take control of the museum's finances.
Many want to know why it took so long.
Detroit City Councilwoman Kay Everett said
she ra
ised qu
estions in the pas
t about why the museum had so little to offer.
"No one was listening," she said.
"There's a thing called black pride and people do not want to question," she said. "We should have more pride in ourselves and expect more.
"This thing needs to be done right and I don't care if they're black, white or whatever."
Vision fell short
When the first city-owned version of the African-American museum opened in 1987 -- a-fifth the size of its current building -- then-mayor Coleman Young whispered that the museum wasn't big enough.
So began the vision of an international museum that would be a symbol of black pride and power in Detroit.
That hasn't materialized.
Some say the 120,000-square-
foot museum was flawed from the start. It had no endowment -- a financial safety net -- and it could never decide whether to be a museum or a community center.
It
failed at
both.
"To us who
9;ve lived here and watched it flounder as it has, it's disgraceful," said Detroiter George Ramsey, a retired postal worker who grew up around the block fro
m the current museum on Warren Avenue.
Ramsey said when the museum opened, he became a member, as did many of his friends. But after about two years, he let the membership lapse.
"I lost interest," he said. "Once you went through the museum, that was it. There was no draw. Nothing changed."
No controls
The Wright Museum opened with a 5-year financial plan by high-profile accounting firm Deloitte Touche that spelled out the risks it faced.
No one paid attention.
The museum's previous president, Kimberly Camp, said when she started in 1994, the museum didn'
t have a system to track spending.
She said she made sure all payments went through the finance department and that there was a bid process to lower cost
s.
Sti
ll, when Camp l
eft the museum in 1998 to head the
Barnes Foundation, an art collection based outside of Philadelphia, the Wright Museum ended its fiscal year with an $806,000 deficit.
For almost a year, the museum had no president. At a time
when it most needed strong leadership, the museum was led by an inexperienced management team.
Coleman started in late 1999. By 2000, the museum had an almost $2-million deficit, federal finance records show.
Coleman blames then-finance director, Niaz Ali, an accountant who had worked for the city's finance department. She said he neglected the most basic duties, such as reconciling bank statements.
She said on any given day, no one knew exactly how much money the museum had in the bank.
"It was a mess," she said last week. But ultim
ately, she said she was the one accountable.
"The reality is there was a lot going on in the museum at that time," she said. Expens
es were out of con
trol and donations
and other revenue were declining. "It
was a quick spiral."
Ali, now an analyst with the city's Department of Human Rights, said it is unfair to blame him. He said he tried to keep up with the day-to-day operations, but he could never overcome the accounting backlog he
inherited and the drop in revenues.
During his year-and-a-half as finance director, Ali said that at least three times, the museum could not make payroll and had to go to city officials or donors for advances.
In light of the turmoil, then-Mayor Dennis Archer appointed two high-powered board members to be more watchful over the museum's finances.
"He thought the museum needed fresh board members and needed to be more critical of what was going on," said Frank Fountain, an Archer appointee and preside
nt of the DaimlerChrysler Corp. Fund.
Living day-to-day
But today, the money problems remain.
On most days,
current Chief Financia
l Officer Ollette Boyd
doesn't want to answer the phone. She knows c
reditors and vendors are calling to collect money the museum does not have.
After she was hired in September 2001 to replace Ali, she discovered the shoddy shape of the museum's finances.
"I didn't realize how bad it was," she said.
Since then, the museum h
as strengthened accounting practices, planned for a new permanent exhibit and raised more than half of its $43-million capital campaign goal.
That's still not enough.
Museum leaders, the board and city officials knew last fall that the museum would run out of money by spring, said Tyrone Davenport, the museum's chief financial officer.They didn't go public until March, when they asked the city council for an emergency $1-million cash advanc
e.
The council balked; it is expected to revisit the funding issue this week.
Council President pro tem Ken Co
ckrel Jr. said the museum
has to stop relying on the
city for a bailout. Now that the city faces a potential &
#036;263-million shortfall, the council has to take a harder look at such requests.
"Frankly, I think the museum was given a lot of free passes over the years," he said. "It was the Charles H. Wright Museum and this is a predominantly African-American city.
"I'm a big supporter of the museu
m and I want to see it succeed, but the museum has to demonstrate it can stand on its own two feet."
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said that to thrive, the museum -- named after the founder of Detroit's first African-American museum in 1965 -- has to operate in a different way.
"Everything is a business now: Churches are a business, museums are a business, and I don't think at first it was looked at as that," K
ilpatrick said. "I think it's just the proper time for it to come around and be conducted in a way... that
can move forward and sustain
itself into the future."
***************
n-ggers fail pathetically at everyt
hing they do. Wake up America and smell the negro.
T.N.B.