FAYETTEVILLE -- The nonprofit board behind the Clinton House Museum will pay its bills and staffing costs for the rest of the year using money from the city's Advertising and Promotion Commission.
Commissioners voted 4-0 to transfer about $23,000 in money already allocated for the museum to the board, which will oversee the money's spending. The commission had already approved using $40,000 for the museum's operation this year, having spent about $17,000 so far.
In 2020, the commission decided to shift responsibility of the museum's operation to the nonprofit board that supports it as a cost-cutting measure during the pandemic. Commissioners reduced the museum's yearly budget from about $250,000 to $40,000 with the intention of covering basic expenses and an expectation that the nonprofit board would take over its operation.
The museum at 930 W. Clinton Dr. reopened in late May with limited hours, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, after being closed for nearly two years. Admission is free.
The Tudor Revival-style home has served as a museum dedicated to the Clinton family and political history since 2005.
Bill and Hillary Clinton were married in the living room of the house in 1975. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.
Both Clintons taught at the University of Arkansas School of Law. The University of Arkansas owns the home, but the commission has operated it, paying the museum's expenses and providing staff.
With Monday's vote, the nonprofit board will pay its own costs for the year, as opposed to the Advertising and Promotion Commission using its staff time and resources to pay for costs on the museum's behalf, said Molly Rawn, chief executive officer of Experience Fayetteville, the city's tourism bureau. The commission governs the bureau.
The move will allow the museum board to learn how to manage its money and seek grant opportunities, Rawn said.
"They have a board now that is willing and able to do that and has absolutely been welcoming of that change," she said.
Stephen Smith, president of the board, told commissioners the nonprofit group will hire an accountant and plans to launch a capital campaign to create an endowment that will power the museum's operation. Smith previously has said the board hopes to raise about $2 million.
The university agreed to waive the museum's rent payments through the end of 2023, resulting in cost savings of more than $11,000 this year and about $17,000 next year. The board is pursuing various grants and hopes to start increasing its advertising efforts, Smith said.
The museum has averaged about a dozen people per day during its limited three-day-per-week opening period. The goal is to bolster visitation over time, Smith said.
"We'll increase our advertising, and our hope is with expanded operations we could get 5,000 visitors per year, which was our peak before the pandemic," he said.
Smith said the board plans to launch a golden anniversary capital campaign that would commemorate the Clintons 50th wedding anniversary in 2025.
Todd Martin, chairman of the commission, said he's probably been the most vocal among the commissioners about getting the Clinton museum on a path to self-sufficiency. The steps the museum board has taken and Monday's vote to move the money fall in line with what Martin hoped would happen, he said.
"I'm very heartened by the work that you have done already," Martin told Smith at the meeting.
Discussions over what kind of financial support the commission could provide to the museum next year will happen in fall.
Commissioners present were Martin, Chrissy Sanderson, Elvis Moya and Andrew Prysby. Sarah Bunch, Mark Kinion and Katherine Kinney were absent.
Clinton House Museum
The museum is the only one in the nation that focuses on the life and career of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, President Bill Clinton’s early political career and the Clintons as a family. The house is where they married in 1975 and where the couple lived while they were both teaching in the University of Arkansas School of Law. The interior is filled with hundreds of collections, including:
• Memorabilia of the Clintons’ campaigns.
• A timeline of the couple’s Fayetteville years.
• A theater where visitors can see old political ads.
• A replica of the “War Room” where Bill Clinton ran his 1976 attorney general’s campaign.
• A replica of Hillary Clinton’s wedding dress.
• Family and campaign photographs.
For more information, go to: https://clintonhousemuseum.org/
Source: Clinton House Museum