With deep gratitude to our community, I’m delighted to report to you that (July 25) the Ventura County Board of Supervisors approved a one-time contribution of $125,000 to help fund the Museum of Ventura County’s reorganization plan to stem a five-year trend of deficit spending and create a new business model for the museum. Earlier this month, the city of Ventura also approved a $125,000 investment to the museum.
This giant step forward means the museum will be able to implement an aggressive capital campaign and strategic plan for a sustainable operational mode, all while we continue to deliver fresh programming to the community and visitors.
On behalf of our board of directors and myself, I am deeply grateful for the outpouring of support over the past few months and the work of our city and county officials and staff. We are especially thankful for our museum’s stalwart donors, staff, docents, volunteers and advisors who have stood with us throughout the past years and decades.
Going forward, we will be appropriately cataloging and storing the museum’s collection which includes many archives from the County. The city and county funding will enable the museum to take critical steps forward to ensure a healthy fiscal future.
In our proposal to county and city officials, we outlined an action plan that will make significant progress toward several outcomes. Key outcomes of the plan include:
- A capital campaign to secure an $8 million endowment within the next five years.
- Engage a museum consultant to help develop an improved business model that incorporates the endowment income and reduces dependence on private donations.
- Assess, inventory, catalog and properly house the museum’s one-of-a-kind collection of Ventura County history and art, which includes the County of Ventura Historical Collection.
- Establish partnerships with education agencies throughout the county to better serve young audiences and expand the museum’s footprint to serve the entire county.
- Attract an expanded audience to diversify who the museum serves, where the museum provides programming and how the museum engages its audience in museum activities.
We were founded by the County of Ventura in 1913. I’m pleased to say that today, we continue to serve county residents and visitors, caring for a vast collection of 180,000 historical artifacts, art works, official documents and agricultural machinery and implements. The MVC collection is unlike any other in the County – it holds more than a century of our county’s history and art.
MVC exhibitions tell the story of the County’s past and celebrates the art and artists of our community. It operates two museums, the Main Street Museum in Ventura and the Agriculture Museum in Santa Paula, as well as the MVC Research Library, which is located at the Ventura Museum. The library is a branch of the County of Ventura Library system and the repository for County and newspaper archives.
Again, on behalf of the museum family, thank you for the widespread support and we look forward to furthering our role as a major asset to our community’s quality of life.
Sincerely,
Elena Brokaw
Interim Executive Director, Museum of Ventura County
Our Mission: The Museum of Ventura County, through its collections, exhibits, educational programs and publications, celebrates the history, art, and culture of Ventura County and the Channel Islands.