MAAA | Programs | Prof. Development | Texas | HELP

Housed on the campus of Texas A&M University, Kingsville, the John E. Conner Museum highlights the unique characteristics of the border region, its hardy and useful plant life, and its often dangerous wildlife. The museum contains a mammoth exhibition with fossils found in the area. Rotating exhibitions are on display at the museum throughout the year.

Year 1 | Year 2| Year 3 | Year 4

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Year 1:
This Contest is for Real Hands: Rodeo Photographs of the 1930s

Goals:
Concentrating its technical assistance efforts in volunteerism, the John E. Conner Museum worked on several goals for Year One of HELP. First, it hoped to develop a system for recognizing volunteer efforts in order to retain them. Further, they aimed to undergo a revision of their volunteer structure and resources and to recruit new volunteers, especially those with specialized skills.

Accomplishments:
The museum wisely chose the exhibition period to coincide with a large ranching heritage festival they present. It was thus able to garner press attention in promotional materials for the festival and benefit from large numbers of visitors. The museum held a volunteer recruitment chuck wagon dinner as well as a five-day symposium that included films, speakers, arts and crafts, cowboy poetry, music, storytelling, and a performance of the Ballet Folklorico dancers. Graduate students presented papers on ranching in general and specific ranches in the area. They initiated a “Volunteer of the Month” program and put a framed photograph of the volunteer in the lobby.

Overall, the project helped museum staff refocus on the importance of volunteers and start an active dialogue with them. They especially benefited from their efforts to recognize their volunteers in the community.


Improvements:

• Introduced a monthly feature in the local newspaper recognizing a volunteer from the museum

• Redesigned volunteer handbook to make it more user-friendly

• Created a section featuring a volunteer on their Web site

• Launched a volunteer recruitment campaign via the campus television station

• Recruited, trained, and retained four new volunteers

Goals for Year 2: Grand Ole Opry
With technical assistance consultation in marketing, the John E. Conner Museum has established the following goals for Year Two of HELP: determine their target audience; determine the most effective advertising and marketing message for this audience and the most appropriate media for reaching it; and create a marketing strategy based on the results, including a Web site, updated brochures, use of local media, and fliers/mail-outs.



Year 2:
Grand Ole Opry

Goals:
The John E. Conner Museum focused on PR and marketing for its second year of training. The goals the museum created included determining who their target market is, and identifying the most effective type of advertising to reach them. They made plans to update and improve their Web site as well as to create a new set of brochures to test on their visitors. A visitor survey was also planned that would collect information on what exhibitions were most successful and where the museum’s marketing dollars would be best spent.

Accomplishments:
The John E. Conner Museum focused its marketing efforts on the museum gift shop this year. They completely renovated and changed their inventory, which in turn increased revenue for the museum. The new gift shop is also acting as an effective marketing tool, increasing visitor interest and getting the museum’s name out into the public. They also recruited a speaker from the King Ranch family for their annual “Ranching Heritage Festival.” The lecture was so well attended that all seats were filled immediately and additional visitors were left with standing room only.

Improvements:

• Organized exhibit in conjunction with the city’s centennial celebration

• Participated in class reunion events, and class members were solicited for museum memberships

• Made plans to conserve popular “Hall of Horns” exhibit and improve gallery climate control

Goals for Year 3: El Caballo: The Horse in Mexican Folk Art
In their third year of participation in the HELP program, the John E. Conner Museum will work with consultant Kit Neumann on exhibition design. The museum recently posted its goals on the HELP list serv and is planning on using items from their collection to enhance their next HELP exhibition, El Caballo: The Horse in Mexican Folk Art. They will create uniform labeling for the exhibit and bring speakers in to engage the public in the exhibition. They also plan to begin research and development of a new permanent exhibit, and they will consider the story, space, lighting, and traffic flow in their cohesive design.

Year 3:
El Caballo: The Horse in Mexican Folk Art

Goals:

In year three of Texas HELP, the John E. Conner Museum worked with consultant Kit Neumann on their third area of training; exhibition design. They hosted the exhibition El Caballo: the Horse in Mexican Folk Art with a major goal of enhancing the exhibition for maximum impact. They planned to achieve this goal by pulling related artifacts from their own collection, and by creating uniform, easy to read labeling for the entire exhibit. Their second major goal for the year was to enhance the actual exhibit space through special attention to lighting and wall color as well as traffic flow, the story line of the exhibition, and security. They also hoped to involve more of the museum staff in the design and exhibition process, and in their consultations with Kit.

Accomplishments:

Although initially hesitant to make such a bold change, Kit encouraged museum director Hal Ham to paint the ceiling of the main gallery black. The resulting effect was that the ceiling disappeared and the lighting became more effective. Wall panels in the gallery were painted in bright jewel tones to enhance the display of the exhibition.

Improvements:

• Invited high school students to create works of art to complement the exhibition

• Ran exhibition ad in local movie theaters

• Tours given for university art classes

• Printed a full-color postcard mailing to publicize the exhibition

Goals for Year 4: Out of the Nest: Artists’ Birdhouses

In their final year of the Texas HELP program, the John E. Conner Museum will focus on a new training area, fundraising and development with consultant Scott Cooksey. The museum faces some unique funding challenges being a university entity. They have made their list of fundraising goals for the year which include working with the University to be included in their upcoming capital campaign, to actively increase their number of “Friends of the Museum” to counteract the decline in membership over the last few years.

Goals :

In their final year of HELP training, the John E. Conner Museum worked with consultant Scott Cooksey on fundraising and development. Their goals for the year were focused on providing the museum with long-term funding and included first-time efforts in tapping new university resources. Goals included obtaining funds to create an endowment for the director’s position, identifying possible donors to fund it, and establishing a working relationship with the university department currently working on the Texas A&M University-Kingsville’s comprehensive capital campaign.

Accomplishments:

The last year of Texas HELP was a fundraising success story for the Conner Museum. The goal that director Hal Ham was most proud of achieving was obtaining the assistance of the University fundraisers in establishing the museum’s development goals. As a result, they are well on their way to endowing the directorship through the generosity of a museum benefactor.

Also, Hal worked diligently to establish good communication between the museum, the university, and the university foundation. The president of the foundation has now identified a possible million-dollar donor to the museum.

Hal followed up on past successes and continued to include the community in their annual HELP exhibition. This year’s exhibition, Out of the Nest: Artists’ Birdhouses, provided ample opportunities to work with area schools. Students at high school art classes contributed their own hand-made clay birds and plaster hands to a side-exhibition titled A Bird in the Hand. Second grade students attended workshops on constructing birdhouses that were put on display at the museum. Over 100 parents came to the museum for an opening reception to see their children’s work.

Improvements:

• Secured verbal agreement for a six-figure gift toward endowing the museum director’s position

• The University president is working with a major gift prospect for a $1 million gift to the museum

• The Friends of the Museum have committed $200,000 to the museum to be used as matching funds

• Recruited 3 new museum volunteers

• Strengthened the working relationship between the University and the Conner Museum