Dee Jay Mailer, the new president and CEO of Bishop Museum, wants the same thing that has eluded previous leaders of the venerable institution: stability.
Financial stability, of course: The museum has struggled in recent years to make ends meet, with budget problems triggering bitter public squabbles among museum insiders.
Also, management stability: Previous CEOs and other high-ranking museum executives departed under clouds of suspicion and rancor, trailed by accusations of misusing museum funds or creating a hostile work environment.
And finally, mission stability: The museum needs to be able to expand its vital role as the Pacific’s leading repository of Native Hawaiian and Pacific culture, science and education.
Stability starts with money. The museum depends on a combination of public and private funding, including a patchwork of grants and other commitments good for limited periods of time and uses.
Mailer said the museum recently received $10 million in previously approved funds — “three or four months late into the fiscal year” — for essential capital improvements like repairing leaky roofs. That’s all well and good, as under those roofs are irreplaceable collections of archaeological and biological artifacts.
Meanwhile, state House and Senate conferees plan to hash out how much they want to give the museum this year. The House has proposed $7.5 million, the Senate $1 for the purposes of further negotiations. Gov. Josh Green proposed $15 million.
The money will be very important, but what Mailer wants is what she called “a sustainability of funding” — a reliable source of income the museum can count on to cover its basic needs. This makes sense. Such stability would give the museum the freedom to pursue more ambitious goals, perhaps attracting more private and public investment.
Of course, such funding requires a new commitment to trustworthy management — a key task for Mailer and the board of directors.
Still, recurring funding is an approach the Legislature and the museum’s other supporters should develop. The alternative — constantly patching holes in a leaky budget dam — can lead to confidence-sapping trouble.
In 2016, then-CEO Blair Collis came under withering criticism for attempting to cut costs with plans to sell off property and require researchers to fully fund their own work through grants and donations.
Ideally, the state’s largest museum shouldn’t have to face this sort of Hobson’s choice. Continuous money problems can weaken staff morale and scare away potential funders, eroding the institution at its core. Mailer and the Legislature need to work together to make sure that doesn’t happen.
