The Plan, 2015 – 2020
This five-year strategic plan (“The Plan”) was constructed by the Brick Store Museum Board of Trustees and Staff in December 2015 after several discussion and exploratory sessions considering both successes of our programs as well as issues that the Museum continues to face.
The Plan is intended as a roadmap for the next five years to build the Brick Store Museum into a self-sustaining, community supported resource for all ages. Some of the items outlined in The Plan are concrete, physical needs; some are longer term goals that address larger issues. The Board of Trustees and Staff of the Museum invite members of our community to take part in helping us to build our museum for the 21st Century.
Mission
The mission of the Brick Store Museum is to ignite personal connections to local history, art and culture through exhibitions, education and programs celebrating the human experience in the Kennebunks and our surrounding communities.
Vision
The Brick Store Museum is a place for everyone. The Museum educates visitors on the history of today to build a better tomorrow. Our purpose is to inspire audiences to become empathetic global citizens in an era that requires increased understanding of other peoples and cultures, and an appreciation of our shared humanity. In this goal alone, we must succeed in expanding access to the Museum’s resources to all populations.
The Details
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Goal: Enhance the financial stability of the Museum
- Strategy #1: Increase number of households engaged with the museum by creating new avenues that appeal to specific demographics incorporating new programs and traditional programs.
- Strategy #2: Develop a plan to increase support on an ongoing basis to further the mission of the museum.
- 2.1: Increase opportunities for micro giving and project or item-specific contributions.
- 2.2: Develop funding sources and revenue generating activities to support ongoing museum operations.
- Strategy #3: Create a culture of capacity giving of time and talent among board members and volunteers.
- Strategy #4: Encourage growth in the endowment to a level that will support museum operations, ensure financial stability and adequate levels of staffing.
- Strategy #5: Develop a program to identify and seek out major grants to support expanding the scope of the mission of the museum.
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GOAL: The Brick Store Museum will strengthen and improve access, knowledge and preservation of the collection.
- Strategy #1: Evaluate the collection to develop a Collections Development Plan that will assess the collections strengths, weaknesses and relevance. This plan will guide all acquisitions and deaccessions.
- Tactic #1: Create a plan that will help highlight the gaps in the collection, such as the need for mid-20th Century objects. The plan will also help narrow the scope of objects accepted into the collection to those of significance and interpretive value to the regions history and artistic and cultural development.
- Tactic #2: The plan will also help identify those areas that are no longer significant or do not support the mission of the museum, in turn guiding a deaccession plan.
- Strategy #2: Digitize 50% of the objects and 25% of the archives into PastPerfect. Improve the quantity and quality of data on the collection input into PastPerfect.
- Strategy #3: Increase the conservation budget for the collections care by raising awareness of need through public discourse and gift program. COST: Should eventually reach $25,000 per year.
- Tactic #1: Create a Collections Conservation Plan consisting of the current list generated by Registrar and Collections Manager.
- Strategy #4: Contribute to knowledge of Native American life in the Kennebunks through research.
- Tactic #1: Create and sustain partnerships with state and local archaeologists, and Wabanaki representatives to improve and preserve knowledge of Native American history in Southern Maine.
- Strategy #5: Improve the preservation environments of collections in outdated storage equipment and those collections in environments lacking climate control.
- Tactic #1: Rehouse artwork collection in new quality mobile painting screens. Funding for new storage solutions will try to be obtained through available grants.
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- Tactic #2: Rehouse the costume/textile collection with new storage equipment in a climate controlled area. Funding for rehousing and climate control will try to be obtained through available grants.
- Strategy #1: Evaluate the collection to develop a Collections Development Plan that will assess the collections strengths, weaknesses and relevance. This plan will guide all acquisitions and deaccessions.
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GOAL: The Brick Store Museum will educate and inspire the public through interpretive programs on regional life and culture in history and through the present day.
- Strategy #1: Strengthen partnerships with school systems through meetings with leadership and teachers. Work with schools to create a teacher’s tour of the museum and collections once a year.
- Strategy #2: Increase students served by 3% by creating programs for various grade levels and reaching out to neighboring communities and home school students.
- Strategy #3: Partner with schools and community organizations to showcase artwork or history projects, as well as offering classes on history and art.
- Strategy #4: Develop an educators brochure and on our website that provides information on our resources, curriculum kits and programming.
- Strategy #5: Create curriculum kits based on our collections and shared history for schools and home school students using reproductions.
- Strategy #6: Increase capacity for programming and outreach through the addition of a part-time educator.
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GOAL: The Brick Store Museum will produce permanent and temporary exhibitions that promote understanding and personal connections to life in the Kennebunks.
- Strategy #1: Create exhibitions based on history and art that connect our visitors with the local community, its history and its culture, both past and present.
- Strategy #2: Rotate exhibitions several times a year to encourage repeat visitation.
- Strategy #3: Create exhibitions that encourage community participation.
- Strategy #4: Create exhibitions that are multi-generational and inclusive of diverse backgrounds and experiences.
- Tactic #1: Include technology, when possible, that complements the exhibits and enhances understanding.
- Strategy #5: Cultivate relationships with other community organizations to co-sponsor exhibitions
- Strategy #6: Increase use of outdoor space as part of larger exhibitions.
- Strategy #7: Increase off-site programming and exhibits by partnering with community organizations.
- Strategy #8: Increase exhibition space in Building Four.
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GOAL: Increase attendance at the Museum, drive more revenue from Museum events and memberships, and increase our interaction with various communities, businesses and residents, to enhance the understanding of what the Museum is and what it does.
- Strategy #1: Increase opportunities for interaction: attendance and/or participation to reach new prospective Museum visitors, generate earned revenue, and convert one-time visits to return memberships.
- Tactic #1: In 2016 we will establish baselines and processes for counting interactions
- Tactic #2: In 2017 we will establish targets for new interactions
- Tactic #3: Design programs to appeal to specific community groups
- Strategy #2: Increase Sustaining Friends memberships by 20% annually. Increase focus on SF’s to increase Annual Fund results and grow base at same time.
- Strategy #3: Expand Business Partners Program by four (approx 20 %)
- Strategy #4: Expand existing contacts with assisted living communities, long term care facilities and senior centers with “portable Museum” events
- Strategy #5: Develop Partnership Programs with other non-profits (e.g. KFL), civic organizations, select businesses, clubs and community organizations
- Strategy #6: Participate in joint programs with Chamber, Town Festival Committee, Downtown Committee, etc.
- Strategy #7: Enhance on-line capability to include on-line exhibits, greater social media presence
- Strategy #8: Explore modifying or renaming Brick Store Museum to better explain what it is.
- Strategy #9: Increase traditional memberships by 5% annually
- Strategy #1: Increase opportunities for interaction: attendance and/or participation to reach new prospective Museum visitors, generate earned revenue, and convert one-time visits to return memberships.
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- Strategy #1: Establish and sustain an annual maintenance plan for the Museum buildings and grounds at 117 Main Street and 4 Dane Street.
- Includes an annual roofline to basement inspection and review by Facilities Committee which will be presented to Board of Trustees each year.
- This plan will include and address all annual facility maintenance needs and procedures and promote aggressive preventative maintenance.
- Strategy #2: Establish a Deferred Maintenance Plan to formalize capital works to be completed over five years.
- Tactic #1: Create a “Historic Preservation Fund” as part of the endowment to fund these projects.
- To be included in Plan:
- Gallery lighting upgrades.
- Damp-proof basement at 4 Dane Street.
- Re-designing front entrance and first gallery
- Upgrade Carriage Stalls
- Strategy #3: Establish a long-range Green Plan to make the Brick Store Museum more energy efficient and reduce our carbon footprint.
- Tactic #1: Perform in-house energy audit, and create procedures based upon those results.
- Tactic #2: Apply to “green grants” i.e. Grants to Green to help the Museum adjust to 21st Century energy needs/weatherization.
- Tactic #3: Investigate possibility of solar panel installation.
- Strategy #4: Explore additional museum parking opportunities in the surrounding area.
- Strategy #5: Improve storage in Dane Street with new shelving and climate control. This would include the barn which would require insulation for the addition of climate control. In doing this, many pressures for increased storage would be solved.
- Strategy #6: Consider move of Archives to Dane Street building.
- Strategy #1: Establish and sustain an annual maintenance plan for the Museum buildings and grounds at 117 Main Street and 4 Dane Street.
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GOAL: Support the Brick Store Museum’s needs through board, staff, and volunteer development that will allow the Museum to successfully increase its capacity.
- Strategy #1: Gain two additional staff positions to support Museum operations:
- Part-time Educator to enhance the Museum’s educational mission in the community by developing and producing year-round programming
- Part-time Engagement Coordinator who will ensure day-to-day service of members, donors and visitors, as well as coordinate volunteers.
- Strategy #2: Re-energize and strengthen the volunteer program to have the capacity to create and carry-out engaging programming and events; create opportunities in a changing world.
- Tactic #1: Develop community pool of volunteers interested in a variety of aspects of the Museum.
- Tactic #2: Create opportunities for volunteers to join committees to carry out Museum work. This can be a “training ground” for later board membership.
- Tactic #3: Recruit board members from Museum’s volunteer pool.
- Tactic #4: Take further advantage of RSU21’s volunteer hours requirement to create “junior volunteer” program.
- Tactic #5: Create opportunities for “micro-volunteering.”
- Strategy #3: Create culture of capacity giving among Board of Trustees
- Strategy #4: Ensure institutional sustainability through succession planning.
- Tactic #1: Strengthen the Museum’s Professional Development Fund to support interns and graduate students’ work at the Museum; and career training for staff. Investment will allow Museum to grow as a leader in the Museum field for career training.
- Strategy #5: Board of Trustees to develop “Game Changer” Protocol to respond to unpredictable events in our community, not readily apparent at time of writing.
- Strategy #1: Gain two additional staff positions to support Museum operations:
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GOAL: Ensure that technology keeps up with demand and use over time.
- Strategy #1: Utilize technology in creative ways to further our digital presence and in-gallery use for learning about the museum.
- Strategy #2: Purchase a new server to handle the amount of data from digitization of the collection.
- Strategy #3: Include technology in exhibitions to enhance learning and create new paths of understanding.
- Strategy #4: Upgrade aging telephone system
- Strategy #5: Enhance online presence with virtual exhibits and outreach.
- Strategy #6: Upgrade Museum’s alarm system to include easier control of system, perhaps to include cameras.