An article in today’s Wall Street Journal reminded me to check in on the fate of the Fresno Art Museum, which — like the Fresno Metropolitan Museum — was having financial difficulties earlier this year. The Fresno Met, of course, had to close, leaving a metropolitan area of 1 million art poor for anything but contemporary art, which is FAM’s territory.
The WSJ story, which was about museums’ forging partnerships with universities, brought us up-to-date on the Fresno Art Museum’s discussions with Cal State, Fresno, on a possible link-up. I expressed worry about that, given California’s budgetary problems, and it seems that the museum’s board has come to the same conclusion. “We were concerned with turning over our art collection to the sate system with no guarantee that the art would stay in our community,” Tom Speck, chairman of the museum’s board told the paper.
And there’s actually better news than that. The Sacramento Bee recently reported that the museum had hired a new executive director, Linda Cano, an art historian from Cal State-Fresno who has been serving on the museum’s board.
A more recent Bee story reported that the museum has broadened its mission beyond contemporary art, including earlier periods to make up for the loss of the Fresno Met. And the Journal reports that the Fresno Art Museum has increased its board from 12 to 26 members; I hope it has a robust “give or get” standard for trusteeship.
The museum also made peace with the director it dismissed earlier this year, memberships and donations are said to be up, and — maybe — the city’s arts scene has at least stabilized.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Fresno Art Museum