Artful anniversary: Figge closes in on 1 year
Even before the sleek glass-and-steel structure became part of the Davenport landscape, expectations about the success of the Figge Art Museum accumulated. As the museum celebrates its first anniversary this weekend, many Quad-Citians will ask: How has the Figge measured up?
The building’s $46.9 million price tag is paid off, its first exhibitions were well-received, and the museum has reached most of the benchmarks set for its first year.
On the other hand, the museum lost its executive director, energy prices outpaced the budget, and many Quad-City residents still haven’t paid a visit.
Perhaps most importantly, the Figge’s staff and governing board have seen firsthand what works and what fails in running a
world-class art museum.
“It really was a learning experience,” said Ann Marie Hayes, curator of education.
Tallying the numbers
According to Hayes, the new building was such a significant improvement over the old Davenport Museum of Art, located on Museum Hill on the west end of the city, that no one knew exactly what to expect in the first year of operation. Most people — staff and visitors alike — have been pleasantly surprised, she said.
The museum is on schedule to meet its first-year attendance goal of 80,000, said marketing director Julie Pearson. To date, 75,000 visitors have passed through. August should bring the final 5,000, she said.
And membership statistics are even better, said interim executive director Tom Gildehaus. Membership at the old museum had plateaued at about 500, and the goal was to double that at the Figge. Today, membership has grown to around 1,400 people, he said.
Growing that number is a key aim for the Figge’s second year, Gildehaus said, with 2,500 the targeted number.
The Figge’s first three major exhibitions — which featured contemporary American paintings, Haitian art and Depression-era photography — were major achievements, said Linda Lewis, a board trustee, group tour coordinator and docent. Shows culled from the museum’s permanent collection also proved popular, Lewis said. A showcase of prints by Grant Wood, John Steuart Curry and Thomas Hart Benton, in particular, generated much attention.
“We saw a constant stream of people coming in,” Lewis said.
Hayes points to the number of participants in the museum’s various programs as evidence of its success. She said 963 children and adults signed up for art classes in the Figge’s studio program, 7,200 visitors took tours of the museum, and 1,700 people attended lectures or gallery talks in the past year.
The Da Vinci Code tour of permanent collection works has been wildly popular, attracting a sell-out crowd of 80 at the debut and nearly that afterward, Hayes said.
In addition to hosting tours for school groups, the museum partnered this year with River Music Experience to offer a program for local fifth-graders. In the coming year, the Figge will work with the Rock Island School District to develop a diversity tour to support the district’s curriculum.
First-year challenges
An unexpected challenge the museum faced the past year was the departure of executive director Linda Downs, who resigned in mid-May to head the College Art Association in New York City.
In her nearly four-year tenure, she helped bring about the new building and forged a relationship with local artists through the creation of an advisory council, Lewis said.
“She saw in many ways that she accomplished what she came to do,” Lewis said, adding that Downs left the Figge on her own volition. “She got another job and wanted to move on.”
A nationwide search for a new director, which the museum is conducting on its own, has resulted in 25 applications, Gildehaus said. The board has interviewed four applicants and has plans to conduct others.
“By Christmastime, we should have a new director,” he said, although other staff members anticipate having a leader in place much sooner.
Gildehaus said finding a replacement has not been the most daunting task for the museum.
“The biggest challenge of the first year was to manage the building,” he said.
Extreme temperatures and skyrocketing energy prices — which have increased by 75 to 100 percent, Gildehaus said — put a crimp on the museum’s budget.
To combat the problem, special attention has been placed on managing the facility’s energy use, such as turning off lighting and air circulation systems in non-gallery spaces after the museum closes, said facilities manager Bob DeBlaey.
The Figge is not alone in another major struggle: drawing in members of the local community. Hayes said this is an ongoing challenge for every art museum.
“It doesn’t matter what community,” she said. “There will always be some people who feel like an art museum isn’t for them.”
While many people believe having an art museum in their towns is important, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll stop in for a visit, Lewis said. It’s common knowledge in the art museum industry, she added, that only 30 percent of visitors are local residents.
Charlotte Morrison, vice president of marketing and communications at the Quad-Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the ratio holds water.
“It’s been a bigger pull from the Chicago market,” she said of the Figge. “We’ve found that one-third of visitors from Chicago are interested in museums.”
The visitors bureau has worked on bringing to the Figge many of the 1,000 tour buses that roll into the Quad-Cities each year from May to October, said Lynn Hunt, vice president of tourism sales.
“We do a lot of itinerary building and we always include the Figge,” she said.
Second-year plans
In the coming months, staff may make minor adjustments to the Figge’s appearance. Lewis would like to see the building illuminated, as original plans called for. This step was put on hold to save money, but lights can easily be installed between two glass façade layers, she said.
Additionally, Gildehaus said the museum may take steps “to reduce the minimalist appearance” of the building by adding colorful banners and signs to the interior and exterior.
“I think you’ll find a little more color,” he said. “It’s a pretty austere building.”
Yet the biggest goal for the museum’s second year is to strike a balance between offering scholarly, high-art exhibitions and programming attractive to a broader audience.
The museum will continue its audio tours and work on creating guided events like the Da Vinci Code tour. Hayes said staff will develop programs that draw on popular culture — such as films, themed events and dinners — to introduce people to the museum’s collections.
Lewis said she believes the Figge will continue to grow visitors in its second year. Many Quad-Citians still have yet to discover the museum, and upcoming programs will generate additional interest.
“Usually in the second year you have a slump,” Lewis said. “But I don’t think you’ll see that at the Figge.”
Katie Vaughn can be contacted at (563) 383-2282 or kvaughn@qctimes.com.
If you go
To celebrate its first anniversary, the Figge will offer free admission to visitors on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. A wide range of special events will take place throughout the day, and in the evening, the museum will participate in the city’s annual ArtStroll in Davenport’s art corridor along 2nd Street.
For more information, call (563) 326-7804 or visit the museum Web site at: www.figgeartmuseum.org.