Mid-America Arts Alliance Professional Development Staff Complete Research of Nebraska Cultural Institutions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 7, 2004

Mid-America Arts Alliance Professional Development Staff Complete Research of Nebraska Cultural Institutions

Edana McSweeney, Director of Professional Development for Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA), announces the completion of a year-long research project that identified and analyzed the professional development and institutional advancement needs of Nebraska’s small museums and libraries. The project was conducted with support from and in partnership with the Nebraska Arts Council.

M-AAA’s Nebraska research provides a solid foundation in providing a better understanding of these cultural institutions and the communities they serve. Brian Crockett, museum consultant and Anne Lacey, project associate, conducted the research over a 12-month period. Nebraska Arts Council executive director Suzanne Wise said, “Our mission includes providing professional advice and support to our smaller cultural organizations, so working with M-AAA on this project made a lot of sense, and the results of the research make it much easier to tailor our services to Nebraska.”

The research identified the training preferences of Nebraska’s museums and libraries and investigated these cultural organizations’ needs, interests, and competency levels in areas such as public programming, marketing, fundraising, technology, volunteerism, collections care, and exhibition development. The project also included a survey of the Nebraska museum and library population as a whole, compiling details on museum operating budgets, visitation, disciplinary emphases, and staff/volunteer professionalism.

This project confirmed that the vast majority of Nebraska’s approximately 600 not-for-profit museums and libraries are overwhelmingly rural and small. Together, 85% of all cultural organizations in Nebraska operate with less than $100,000 annually and are located in towns with fewer than 10,000 residents. Yet these institutions demonstrate an unparalleled commitment to serving their constituents. They hold a disproportionate share of Nebraska’s outstanding cultural collections in art, folk art, history, and natural history, and they provide a broad variety of educational events and activities, especially for schoolchildren.

Research shows that these institutions rely heavily on volunteers and shared community values in order to maintain their regular operations on such tight budgets. 77% of libraries and 87% of museums report two or fewer paid staff. Indeed, many of these museums are entirely run by an all-volunteer staff. Throughout the research, museums, generally, were discovered to be further behind in their overall health and ability to network. Staff access to the Internet is much higher for libraries at 69%, versus museums at 34%; 34% of Nebraska museums have no access to the Internet.

M-AAA research indicated a need to establish more training opportunities for staff and volunteers. “Most museum and library directors have a desire for training opportunities,” said Crockett. “Nebraska museum and library professionals often struggle to get the development opportunities that they’d like, though, primarily because spare operating budgets make training unaffordable.” Most organizations have few employees, he added, so leaving their organizations for any length of time proves difficult.

The research project identified that training is needed in fundraising, public programming, long-range planning, collections management, computer/technology, administration/finance, board management, and volunteerism. In addition, it uncovered a specific need for the trustees of the state’s small cultural organizations to be trained in the areas of strategic planning, fundraising, finance, and legal issues for nonprofit organizations.

The research included analysis of a written survey, telephone and on-site interviews with the directors of select museums and libraries, and telephone interviews with state museum and library service organizations. M-AAA has previously conducted similar research projects for the Texas Commission on the Arts, the Irvine Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Mid-America Arts Alliance is a nonprofit organization that supports and stimulates cultural activity primarily in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. M-AAA originates and manages regional, multiregional, national, and international arts and humanities programs. Major support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, participant state arts agencies, and leading foundations and corporations. For further information, visit the Mid-America Arts Alliance Web site at www.maaa.org or contact Sarah McGreer at sarah@maaa.org.

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