The Met's Kathleen Monaghan announces retirement date
It's not unexpected, but Kathleen Monaghan, executive director of the Fresno Metropolitan Museum, told the board of trustees today that she will be officially retiring on May 31.
The trustees started a nationwide search late last year and have been interviewing candidates, with a few more to come. Just last week, Board President Paul Gottlieb said: "Everyone we've spoken with has considerable experience with museums ... We just want the best of the best."
Monaghan, 71, has been the top administrator since October 1999. The transition seems to be coming at an opportune time. The museum, closed since the summer of 2005 for major renovation, has an official re-opening date: Nov. 13.
"We're on the home stretch now," says Candice Pendergrass, a spokeswoman for the museum at Van Ness Avenue and Calaveras Street. "We have an opening date. Everything is moving forward at a great speed."
Pendergrass says the plan for now is that there will not be an interim executive director. Instead, Erica Lacey, director of special projects/assistant director, and the senior museum executive staff will oversee responsibilities until a new leader comes on board.
During Monaghan's tenure, the renovation project of the historic 1922 building (former home of The Fresno Bee) soared past its original budget of nearly $15 million because of unexpected delays and problems in the old structure, such as seismic issues and larger-than-expected amounts of lead and asbestos that had to be removed. The budget almost doubled to nearly $28 million, and The Met last year had to get a short-term $15 million loan (with the city of Fresno as guarantor). Met officials now say they don't believe they will have to draw on that entire loan and, in the meantime, are in process of securing permanent financing to repay it. The Met also has bolstered its fund-raising campaigns, raising about $3.65 million since last fall.
"The renovation project and all construction projects sort of operate on a timeline that you really can't plan for sometimes," Pendergrass says. "We are on track and on target now. We did run into a lot of things unexpected in the project. It's to her credit that she was able to challenge the staff and the board to push and move forward."
Pendergrass says that Monaghan should be lauded for her achievements, such as the Met earning its first accreditation in 2007 from the American Association of Museums, becoming affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, supporting a mobile museum that should roll out this year, and developing exchanges from The Met's permanent collection with other museums. In 2009, for example, pieces from the collection will travel to three museums in Japan.
Pendergrass says:"These are huge milestones that we've achieved."
Pendergrass says that once Monaghan is retired, she plans to spend more time with her husband, who lives on the East Coast, and her adult children.
Comments:
I appreciate that there's a lot of behind-the-scenes work that has to go on while a museum is closed, but I think some people in the community are wondering: What has the staff spent its time doing in the past two and a half years? There's only so much "planning" you can do. I realize that fund-raising takes time, but is everyone on the payroll involved with that? What about the curators, preparators, support staff, guards, etc.? Were there any layoffs?
Posted by: Curious at April 9, 2008 4:31 PM
I would like to thank Curious for their insightful question and as a Met staffer am happy to shed a little light for everyone.
Two and a half years ago when the Museum’s doors closed for renovation, the Met did not go away. When the renovation began the staff and board were committed to continuing to fulfill the Museum’s mission and serve the community with exhibitions, programs and events just as it had for the 21 years previous. It was important to let the community know that the Museum is bigger than a building, it is an idea, a group of dedicated people, a membership and a service to the community.
In September of 2005 the Met opened a temporary space at 933 Van Ness Avenue where it has exhibited four exhibitions over the last two years. The first was an American history exhibition entitled Liberty on the Border along with an installation of hands-on science exhibits for the floor of the Exploratorium in San Francisco. These were followed by Earth, Wind…INSPIRE! and finally the current exhibition Crossroads: the meeting of Art and Science which is on view through July 6th.
In addition to exhibitions that Met has organized several offsite events, programs and activities. A series of installations entitled Off-Site brought unique and thought-provoking art, music and nature exhibits out into the community. Additionally the Met continued its First Friday Film series each summer during the renovation, held camps for children and developed an educational outreach program that brings the Met into classrooms throughout the Valley with FREE lessons in art and science.
In order to continue to provide added value to Met memberships the Museum became a Smithsonian Affiliate enabling the Met to extend Smithsonian membership to its members at no additional charge.
During the renovation the Museum also became accredited by the American Association of Museums, organized two touring shows of objects from the permanent collection and have seen thousands of children on school tours. Currently the Met’s Science of Baseball installation has begun its third year at Chukchansi Park.
There truly is much that the Museum’s staff has been doing in the past two and a half years – in a lot of ways, we’ve been busier than ever. All the while, it has done so with a staff of 18 reduced from 32 by attrition over the construction period (not layoffs).
While all of the day to day business of fulfilling the Museum’s mission has continued through the renovation the staff is very excited about returning to the newly renovated building and hosting a Grand reopening celebration on November 13th. We truly hope that you will join us in celebrating. Thanks again for your question, I hope that this information helps.
Posted by: Candice Pendergrass at April 11, 2008 2:29 PM
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