Trustee Meeting Minutes

OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
MEETING
January 26th 2011
4:00 P.M. – 6:00 P.M.
California Room

ROLL CALL

Trustees Present:
Steve Anderson, Christopher Curtis, Quinn Delany, Karen Eichler, Virginia Furth, Sheri Guthrie, Lance Gyorfi, Jackie Kane, Christopher Lee, Anita Martinez, Yvonne McCredie, John McDonnell, Christopher McLain, Mike Moye, Dorine Streeter, Alan Varela, Bruce Westphal, Jennifer Wolch

Trustees Excused:
Steven Anderson, Jeffery Calder, Ralph Clark, Dick DeAtley, Steven Douglas, Rodney Haynes, Joseph Hurwich, Katie Tamony, Hilliard Terry, Albert Torres, Jennifer Walker, John Wyro
 
Staff Present:
John Burke, Niva Flor, Lori Fogarty, Rene DeGuzman, Barbara Henry, Enrico Hernandez, Linda Larkin, Cherie Newell, Maggie Pico

Guests Present:
Tom Gard, Armanino McKenna LLP

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CHAIR’S REPORT, Quinn Delaney

Board meeting was called to order at 4:11pm.

Board committees are all up and running and working through their goals.  The Executive Committee has finalized its goals and priorities which are posted on Basecamp.  These include: 1) Working with Lori to determine benchmarks for the Director’s performance plan; 2) Overseeing human resources policies and procedures; and 3) Continuing advocacy efforts and especially contacting City Council members to keep them up to speed.  

The Governance Committee has formed a sub-group to draft a Board evaluation that will be sent to all trustees in a few weeks.  The Audience Development Task Force had a joint Board/staff meeting that led us through an insightful process to consider our audience and how to strategically expand our visitation.  This process will be a continued focus at the Board Retreat.  Today’s meeting will focus on what it takes for the Museum to do programming and exhibitions, which will also be discussed at the Retreat. Chair Quinn asked the Trustees to think about what they felt were central factors in the sustainability of the Museum and will use the March board meeting to lay the foundation for the Retreat on April 21-22 2012. Chair Delaney also reported on the fundraising progress of the Board:

-    Fundraising is a key aspect of the Board’s responsibility --we have raised half our fundraising goal of $680,000.
-    There have been 15 new Donor Forum memberships secured by trustees. Chair Quinn encouraged the teams to continue their hard work and recruitment efforts.

Chair Delaney made a motion to approve items on the consent agenda and it was seconded by Chris Curtis. The motion passed by unanimous vote.  

OMCA DIRECTORS REPORT, Lori Fogarty

-    Lori Fogarty and Maggie Pico will be offering “make-up” sessions for trustees who missed the "AAA Board" presentation that Kay Sprinkel Grace led at November's Board meeting.  Maggie will poll Trustees on Basecamp for potential dates and times.

-    Ms. Fogarty introduced Lisa Sasaki, the new Director of the Audience & Civic Engagement Center. Lisa’s official start date is February 6, 2012.

-    Ms. Fogarty reported on OMCA programs and upcoming exhibitions which included:
•    Question Bridge (January 2012)
•    Margaret De Patta (February 2012)
•    The 1968 Exhibit (March 2012)
•    Political Posters (March 2012)
•    Daniel Clowes (March 2012)
•    Annual Lunar New Year celebration (January 2012). Mayor Quan will attend and make remarks.
•    White Elephant pre-sale (January 2012)
 
Other events:
•    Hosted Phil Linhares’ retirement party  
•    Held a reception and site visit for 180 directors in Open Space 3 for the bi-annual meeting of the Association of Art Museum Directors in San Francisco.
•    Will host workshop for California Association of Museums (CAM) in February.

OMCA in the News:
•    3 New York Times articles in the works for the coming weeks
•    Lunar New Year celebration was in the San Francisco Chronicle’s “96 Hours”
•    Michael McMillen was listed as one of the top exhibitions in 2011 by both the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle

Niva Flor made a brief presentation on Basecamp, the Board’s on-line data management tool.   She is available to all trustees for questions or assistance.

ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS
Committee Reports

Finance Committee

Reporting for the Finance Committee in Joe Hurwich’s absence, trustee Lance Gyorfi reported on the Committee’s review of the mid-year budget and re-forecast.  Please see attached narrative summary of budget adjustments as reviewed at the meeting.

Audit Committee: Auditor’s Report
-    Tom Gard reported on the financial statements of the Oakland Museum of California Foundation as of June 30, 2011.
-    Found that the Foundation complied in all material respects with the requirements of laws, regulations, contracts and grants applicable to its major federal programs.
-    There were was one “significant deficiency” identified and that did constitute a “material weakness.”  The auditor explained that there needs to be more clarity in the Finance office on recognition of contributions and that further training of Finance and Development staff would resolve this issue.  
-    Mr. Gard confirmed that overall it was a good report and was only delayed due to the staff transition and understaffing in the Finance office for several months.
Approval of Audit statement  
Audit Committee Chair Chris McLain made a motion to accept audit statement and it was seconded by Bruce Westphal. The motion passed by unanimous vote.  

Approval of Budget
Jackie Kane made a motion to approve re-forecast budget and it was seconded by Alan Varela. The motion passed by unanimous vote. 


Governance Committee

Chair Anita Martinez reported on the progress of the Governance Committee with the nominating process.

-    We have great prospects and are in the midst of the vetting candidates. Seeking to fill 4-5 spots.  We have two trustees completing their second terms this year, but have a large class next year that will conclude their terms, so need so we would like to recruit several candidates.  She encouraged trustees to continue to suggest prospects and provide names.  

-    We are moving forward with the Berkeley Board Fellow Program that will provide two fellows from the Haas School of Business to join the Board as non-voting members, join a committee and will have a Board mentor and a project.

-    A sub-committee on trustee self-evaluation is meeting and working to development a Board Evaluation survey and will send out to the Board in the coming weeks.  

Exhibitions 101 Presentation

Ms. Fogarty and the staff team then presented an overview of how the exhibition program at OMCA is developed and executed.
 
Lori underscored how exhibitions work within the context of the museum field.  Traditionally exhibitions showcased collections, introduced new artists, and were intended to generate audiences.  The challenge is to develop an appropriate mix and balance between projects that may draw new audiences with those that make real contributions to the field. Exhibitions fall into two categories:

o    Exhibitions we organize
o    Traveling exhibitions from other institutions

It is difficult to secure blockbusters as there are a number of factors that contribute including prestige of the museum, the relationship with artist or gallery, the size of the audience, etc.  Traveling exhibitions often come with significant participation fees as well.  There are also questions about the long-term contribution of blockbuster exhibitions to institutional sustainability and audience development.

History of exhibitions at OMCA include:

o    Single person exhibitions of California artists, particularly the first major surveys of these artists work
o    Important history exhibitions of major events, such as Gold Rush and “What’s Going On: California in the Vietnam Era
o    Science exhibitions that range from large-scale shows, such as “Caves,” to smaller exhibitions of landscape photography and art.

Lori noted a few objectives for our temporary exhibition program:

1.    To provide an opportunity for interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary exploration on a quintessential California theme and underscore OMCA’s role as a public forum for important California topics and issues.  
2.    Create a sense of urgency – a reason for visitors to return and for members to join or re-join, particularly if the content has broad audience appeal.   
3.    Highlight a strength of the collection in greater depth than can be achieved in the collection galleries – can be single artist-focused, medium or material specific, thematic, etc.  
4.    Introduce new scholarship to the field – highlight a topic, artist or idea that has not been fully explored in previous exhibitions in other museums.
5.    Offer a unique community connection – advancing the Museum’s mission to connect communities.

We are currently putting our 2012-13 exhibition program in place with planning in place for exhibitions in 2013, 2014 and beyond and the final exhibition program for the year is set as part of the annual budget process.  

Rene de Guzman, Senior Curator of Art, commented on the changing role of the museum.  While historically museums were seen as warehouses for cultural treasures, they are seen more now as central in the public sphere.  For this reason, it is critically important for OMCA to work with living artists.  He sees his curatorial role as radically transforming from curators’ positions in the past.  The transformation has brought about the need for interdisciplinary practice and co-collaboration, and the ability to work with other curators.

Barbara Henry, Director of the OMCA Lab, emphasized the importance of understanding the visitor experience in developing exhibitions and addressing visitors’ comfort levels.  As we design exhibitions now, we strive to welcome multiple conversations and perspectives about the work and to provide ways for the community to contribute their ideas.  Our collection galleries, in particular, are designed to be dynamic and translate content into a range of experience, and we are bringing these practices now into temporary exhibitions.  Another new area we’re working on is developing intimate programmatic experiences than can animate the galleries and exhibitions, much as we’re doing with poster printing programs for the Poster exhibition.

Cherie Newell, Director of the Creative Production Center, described the cross-functional, collaborative teams that develop exhibitions.  She reviewed pass exhibition costs and factors in determining the scale of exhibition budgets:
•    How big?
•    Will it be our own collection?
•    Planning time?
•    Design complexity?
•    In-house contractor/outside contractor for fabrication?
•    Prepackaged traveling show?
•    Media and interactivity needs?
•    Objects themselves (i.e. restoration and conservation)?

Lori then concluded with thoughts on how trustees can assist the exhibition process.  She noted that it is important for all trustees to understand and contribute thoughts to our exhibition philosophy as exhibitions touch all aspects of the Board’s work, from financial planning, to fundraising, to audience development.  We hope trustees will visit the exhibitions so they can serve as ambassadors to the public and represent the Museum and our exhibition vision.  We also welcome feedback and thoughts on the program as a whole as well as on individual exhibitions.   

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 6:03pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Niva Flor
Special Projects Coordinator