Our Proposal:
The Department of Arts and Sciences at New York Institute of Technology seeks the help of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation in funding a program to preserve art and artifacts in the museums of New York City. This program will help New York City museums continue their services in educating and exposing the community to the arts. Many museums operate off of admission ticket sales and donations alone, and it can be difficult for them to keep their establishments afloat with all of the costs a museum requires. In New York City, paying for the buildings in which the museums operate out of is difficult enough. With the added costs of preservation, restoration, and maintenance, it’s no wonder many museums are struggling. Museum attendance is not as high as it once was, and this is causing local museums to suffer. The funds for this program will go towards not only helping museums with their preservation and restoration costs, but also helping the talented archivists and curators that work for the museums to create exciting new exhibits for museum attendees. Through funding this program, we guarantee that there will surely be a surge of interests in the arts and sciences that will bring a great abundance of spectators to local museums, thus educating and enriching the lives of those in the community. We are requesting one hundred-thousand dollars over a five-year period. The first two to three years of this project will be the restoration period, in which we evaluate museums and do what must be done to improve existing conditions. Over the next three years, we will bring our focus to finding new pieces and creating new, fresh exhibits in the museums.
The department and I decided to take on this project for the benefit of the public and the many museums in New York City. We believe that it is imperative for members of a community to have access to all of the history, culture, and information that they may desire to educate themselves about. Museums are a great method of educating people about other cultures especially. Intolerance is a huge issue, not just in our communities, but all over the world. We need to be able to learn about the people that we may not interact with everyday in order to understand and respect them. Most museums in New York City, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art are funded mainly through admission revenue and donations. The goal of this program is to ensure that these museums stay afloat and can continue to provide accessible services to the community. To help the museums stay afloat, the most important factor is to increase and maintain a good admission turnout. If we can create more interest in the community in the exhibits and events that local museums have to offer, it will drastically increase attendance, thus producing more revenue for the museums so that they may continue to innovate their facilities and keep finding new ways to educate and enrich the lives of the members of our community. Once most people are finished with school, they often forget the vital information and useful lessons that they were taught. Museums are the best way to keep that information available and accessible to people of all ages from all walks of life. The purpose of this program is to make sure that museums remain available and accessible to all for many years to come.
To begin the project, we will be doing a thorough inspection of all of the museums in question. Some of the museums we will be reviewing are The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The American Museum of Natural History, The Museum of Modern Art, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Whitney Museum of Modern Art, National September 11 Memorial & Museum, The New York Historical Society, The New Museum, The Jewish Museum, The Brooklyn Museum, The Rubin Museum of Art, The New York Hall of Science, The Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum, The New York Transit Museum, The New York Botanical Garden, and many more. For the review, we will take inventory of all of the pieces and artifacts in the museums and determine which pieces are intact, and which ones are in need of restoration. We will work directly with the very best archivists and curators at these museums to determine the state of the pieces and create plans for restoration and organization. Pieces we collectively determine are no longer of any value to the museum will be auctioned or donated in order to provide addition support to the community. Great care and a lot of hard work will go into this period, and the funding provided by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation will ensure that our department can work on and complete this project to the very best of our ability. This restoration period should take anywhere from two to three years. Following the restoration period, we will begin to go about seeking out new pieces and developing new exhibits, exhibitions, and events for the museums. Our department will continue working closely with the curators and archivists from local museums during this period as well, and in the future. The museum staff as a whole will likely be more involved in this process, and this process is expected to be the most costly. It can be difficult for museums to acquire new pieces, however we believe that through donations and gifts that the museums receive every year, we can cut down on the amount of purchased works that will be required. The more popular and profitable a museum is, the more likely it is to receive donated pieces and gifts. The restoration period of this project will ensure that the museums in question will be in top shape and will be an attractive prospect for donors. The acquisition of new pieces will help the museums to create new exhibits and events. These events will bring a great deal of attention to the local museums, increasing the public’s interest and thus increasing ticket sales. These types of projects are rarely done, and museums are more or less on their own in terms of keeping their facilities running. We believe that as establishments that contribute greatly to the public good, museums deserve to be supported by their communities in any way possible. This is what inspired us to begin this project, and why we believe that this is a project worth funding.
As result of this program, we hope to achieve several outcomes. Primarily, we hope that museum attendance will increase. With the restored pieces, new pieces, and the exhibitions that will likely come with them, there will surely be much interest among the community. Higher museum attendance is to the benefit of both the community and the museum itself. More people attending the museums and participating in the events will lead to a more cultured and educated community. More attendees for the museum allows the museum to continue providing its services to the community. We will know that we have achieved our goals by monitoring the ticket sales and event attendance at the museums. We have no doubt that the creative and hard-working employees at all of our local museums will find new and inventive ways to bring more people through their doors. Presenting the best product possible is the highest priority for the museums, and funding this program will allow them to do so.
I am best equipped to lead this project due to my vested interest in the subject, dedication to the cause, and extensive historical knowledge. I have loved attending museums since I was a child and as an adult I am still fascinated and entranced by the sheer volume of knowledge available in a single building. I hope to share my love for knowledge, history, and culture with my community and enrich the lives of as many people as I can. As an English major at the New York Institute of Technology, the pursuit of knowledge and critical thinking are my primary goals in everything I pursue in life. During the course of this project, I want desperately to share my enthusiasm for education and culture with the members of my community and encourage others to follow the example I hope to set. As a National Honor Society member, World Language National Honor Society Member, and a frequent volunteer at libraries, hospitals, and other life-enriching facilities, I am well equipped to guide others and contribute to the goals we have set in this project.
As I mentioned earlier, the project will need one hundred-thousand dollars over a five year period to get started. The first two to three years of this period will be the restoration period, which is expected to be less costly than the last phase of the project. The last phase of the project will include finding new pieces and creating new exhibitions in the local museums. Following this five year period, the revenues collected from the museums will be enough to keep the program running. Although entrance fees and donations are typically small, the volume of new spectators expected to attend the museum exhibits and events will help break even. Additionally, for special exhibitions that are more expensive to curate, the museum's can charge extra for package tickets that include general admission and the exhibit itself. There is sure to be a much larger volume of attendees to the museums after the new exhibits and restored pieces are unveiled, bringing more revenue to the museums and allowing the them to continue providing their services.
I greatly appreciate the time and attention you have so graciously offered me today. It was my honor and pleasure to have the opportunity to speak with you and present the ideas that we at the New York Institute of Technology’s Department of Arts and Sciences have for improving the conditions of the museums in our community. We sincerely hope that you will take our proposal into consideration. If you have anymore questions, feel free to contact us here at NYIT and we will be more than happy to meet with you again. Thank you again for your time, and we hope you have an excellent day.
