The Art of Ignorance

Tulsa's world-class Gilcrease Museum won't be able to rise to the next level until a critical governance issue is resolved and museum personnel are no longer required to answer "multiple masters," a city official said.

Community Development Director and assistant to the mayor Susan Neal said a report prepared by a New York City museum expert stresses that the management structure will eventually jeopardize the museum's future.

The problem, Neal explained, is that multiple entities, including the City of Tulsa, are currently responsible for operating the museum.

Gilcrease Museum holds more than 400,000 items of the finest American art and western collections, said Neal. Those holdings include Native American materials, paintings, works on paper and sculpture by some of America's most noted artists, as well as textiles, rare books, manuscripts and maps.

The museum was given to the city by roaring '20s oilman Thomas Gilcrease, and is located on 460 acres in the Osage Hills northwest of downtown Tulsa.

The report, prepared by Robert R. Macdonald, shows that the current management scheme has created a complex governance structure with confusion and dissatisfaction among the city, the museum's professional staff and volunteers.

As a result, Mayor Kathy Taylor has formed a seven-member committee that will examine management structures employed by other city-owned museums around the country. But, Neal stresses, this should not be considered a shakeup at the museum.

"Rather, it's planning for the future of this museum," she said. "The museum is funded in part by the city and in part by other entities and that creates difficulties in accountability and effectiveness. We're going to take care of Tulsa's world-class museum and put in place, like so many other cities have done, a plan for its prosperous and sustained future."

Macdonald recommended that the mayor's committee research the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, New York City Central Park, Milwaukee Public Museum, South Carolina Aquarium, Miami Art Museum and St. Louis Art Museum.

The city's current management partner is the Thomas Gilcrease Museum Association, which paid half of the museum director's salary. The city paid the other half. That arrangement, Neal said, was the basis for much of the confusion. Presently, the museum is without a director after the association stopped paying Joe Schenk in December.

Schenk, a city employee, was reassigned to the Tulsa Zoo after he was placed on administrative leave.

As a search for a new museum director ensues, Neal said it's imperative that the governance and management issues be resolved first.

"To get the type of talent that matches the (museum's) collection, they're going to have to see a good situation," she said. "A good manager won't want to come into a system that has so many arms and legs. Paying a world-class museum director is not in the scope of a city's salary structure. The needs of the museum have evolved and it's apparent we need to attract a first-class manager, but that's tough to do with just the city's salary."

Association President Randy Foutch could not be reached for comment.

Neal suggested that the city might consider outsourcing part or all of the museum's management duties.

"We need a single, strong management team and not a combination of several entities. It's obvious that isn't working. With the formula we have, it has become harder to sustain success."

The museum has five independent entities that have some element of governing responsibility. They are the city, which owns the museum, Trustees of the Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art, the association, which is nonprofit corporation that builds memberships and supplies about 50 percent of the museum's direct annual operating costs, the Gilcrease Endowment Trust, and The Gillies, an all-volunteer, nonprofit corporation that supports the museum.

Neal stressed that the mayor's newly formed committee will be searching for a "clean management model" that will allow the Gilcrease Museum to retain its world-class reputation.

"When the Smithsonian wants western or American art, they call the Gilcrease Museum. We really do have the finest collection of western and American art anywhere in the country. As a result, we want to make sure the museum is recognized by art lovers and citizens and that they take advantage of what the museum has to offer."

In 2003 when the Gilcrease Museum was in search of a new executive director, it became apparent that the city's pay scales were not adequate to attract the level of leadership the museum needed. As a result, the association stepped forward and offered to pay the director's salary and benefits. When the new director reported for work, he discovered that staff members who were on the city's payroll were supervised by an assistant director who was a city employee. The director quickly found out that he could not supervise city-funded employees.

"This duality of authority created a ready-made conflict that soon deteriorated into a corrosive tone within the museum management that spilled over into the institution's governance," Macdonald wrote. "It took more than a year to develop a new formula that made the director a city employee whose salary was subsidized by the association."

The report also provides information that suggests the museum suffers from a lack of recognition in the Tulsa area. According to the report, several staff members interviewed by Macdonald complained that too many Tulsans did not even know where the museum is located.

"This is surprising," Macdonald wrote in his report, "in light of the expenditure of $467,529 by the association in fiscal year 2005 for public relations and advertising. The amount is relatively significant in the context of the museum's total budget and the size of the museum's market."

Despite the conflicts and confusion that have plagued the museum, Macdonald said the "window of opportunity" exists for Tulsa to make improvements to the management and governance structure.

"I believe that the wisdom and will are in place to achieve this goal. The effort will require wisdom, action, perseverance, boldness and the willingness to put aside personal agendas to achieve a good for the people of Tulsa and the region," Macdonald wrote.