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Posted on Tue, Mar. 21, 2006


Study: Invest in Cowtown or sell it
Consultants recommend spending millions to make the museum top-notch.
BY BECCY TANNER
The Wichita Eagle

Old Cowtown Museum needs more money, more staff and a stronger partnership with the county if it is to survive, consultants' study says.

If that is not possible, the museum's historic buildings and artifacts should be sold and the site should be given back to the city of Wichita for other uses, the study recommends.

"Old Cowtown is worthy of a financial investment to strengthen the organization, because Old Cowtown can become a significant historical attraction with a high level of educational and cultural tourism value," an executive summary of the report said.

The museum has struggled to draw enough people and hasn't had enough money to maintain its buildings. The county approved $190,000 in emergency funding in September.

Monday, Sedgwick County and Cowtown staff heard from national consultants hired to examine the museum, its relationship to Wichita and its potential as a regional tourism draw. The consultants all have museum backgrounds.

The report said Cowtown is one of the few outdoor museums that focuses on the American West.

"It has an outstanding collection of historic buildings and artifacts; and, it has deep involvement with a large volunteer force and area public schools," it said.

The consultants suggested that Sedgwick County have sole responsibility for the site. Currently, the city and county share some of the financial responsibility.

The study recommended:

• The county use the Sedgwick County Zoo as a model to reform Cowtown as a public-private partnership.

• More investment in Cowtown, including a bigger annual budget to support more staff and more marketing. Visitors need to come not just once, but repeatedly, to the living history museum.

The museum has 17 year-round employees and hires 15 more during the summer to work as actors and in the gift store and cafe.

Cowtown's 2006 budget is $1.4 million. At a minimum, the study says, the museum should receive an estimated additional $5 million to restore and maintain its buildings, plus a 20 percent increase in annual funding.

To improve visitors' experience, the study says, would require an estimated investment of $12 million, plus an annual operating budget of $2.5 million.

To provide state-of-the-art space for collections would require an estimated $16 million, plus an annual operating budget of $2.7 million.

If the community went with the most expensive option, the museum could see attendance increase from 58,000 last year to 150,000, the study estimated.

• Because Old Cowtown cannot compete with theme parks -- such as "Wild West World" now being built near Park City -- the museum should establish itself as an educational, cultural and historical resource. The study suggested Old Cowtown attract a resident performing arts company or collaborate with an art museum to display works appropriate to the museum.

• The Cowtown board of directors should develop a five-year strategic plan within the next few months defining the direction Cowtown should take.

Jan McKay, executive director at Cowtown, said the board will discuss the study March 27.

"Cowtown is at a crossroads," McKay said. "Cowtown has a beautiful front door with its new visitors center. But we do not have enough funds to keep the facility up.... We might not continue if we don't face hard decisions or take a look at what those recommendations are."

The consultants who did the 140-page study are Adrienne and Steve Horn from Museum Management Consultants Inc. in San Francisco; Robert E. Brais, vice president of ConsultEcon Inc. of Cambridge, Mass.; and Harold Skramstad of Las Cruces, N.M., who was president of the Henry Ford museum's Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Mich.

"A lot of what they are saying is not a big surprise," said Jay Price, a board member of Old Cowtown Museum and director of Wichita State University's public history program.

"It's like a lot of institutions in Wichita where the public is saying we want world-class institutions but we want to do it with a staff of two and some volunteers. That's not realistic."


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Reach Beccy Tanner at (316) 268-6336 or btanner@wichitaeagle.com.





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