Gaston County considering defunding history museum

Gaston County officials are considering defunding the Museum of Art and History, a move that could, according to some, force the museum to close its doors.

County Manager Kim Eagle brought up the museum, which is located in Dallas, at a county work session on Tuesday, asking for input from the Board of Commissioners on whether to continue funding the museum as a county department.

Chad Brown, chairman of the board of commissioners, said that the county spent more than $900,000 on the museum last year. A study on the museum found that a little less than 6,000 people visit the museum annually.

"I don't see that the juice is worth the squeeze there," Brown said.

However, the study also found that the museum preserves Gaston County's history through "a wide array" of art and historical artifacts, provides educational programming for schools and the community, offers virtual programming, and manages the Historic Preservation Commission, which conducts studies on potential historical sites at no cost to property owners.

The talk of pulling funding comes less than a year after a dispute between county officials and the museum over a photo of two men kissing that the county manager ordered to be pulled from an exhibit.

However, Eagle said in an interview that the study on the museum was on the county's agenda months before that dispute, which occurred in June. The study was planned a year ago, in April 2022, and the study and the ensuing talk of defunding were not a response to the controversy generated by the photo and its subsequent removal, Eagle said.

"I had put the museum on the list because there were a lot of questions before all of the stir last summer," Eagle said. "It was on my future work list last April."

Commissioner Tom Keigher, who sits on the museum's board, said during the discussion that some of the museum board members would like to see the county out of the way. He also cited the numbers of people visiting the museum.

"We can't force people to go. Six thousand people is nothing. That's nothing in a year, and how many of those really are little second, third graders who aren't comprehending what they're going to see really?" he said.

Commissioner Allen Fraley agreed.

"If they want us out of the way, then we should get out of the way," he said.

Cathy Cloninger, who was recently elected to the Board of Commissioners, was the lone voice who spoke in favor of continuing to fund the museum.

"I personally think they will have a very difficult time sustaining on their own as a nonprofit," she said. "I've been to the museum recently. I've been totally impressed by the collections and the archives building that now is housed there. I think that it's just important for me for us to be able to preserve our history and to remember why the museum was open to begin with."

Kim Norwood, chair of the museum's Board of Trustees, disputed the idea that the board is in favor of splitting the museum from the county.

She confirmed that before the controversy over the photo in June, she had been told the museum would be up for review. However, she says that without county funding, the museum would be forced to close.

"We would close our doors," she said. "We never asked to be independent from the county."

The county pays the salaries of the museum staff and funds the maintenance of the building, providing the bulk of the museum's budget. The rest of the museum's funding comes from grants, fundraisers, and donations.

The museum was formed in 1976 to promote the arts, preserve Gaston County's heritage and regional history, and encourage historic preservation in Gaston County, according to a history of the museum released in honor of its 25th anniversary in 2000.

Since 1979, the museum has been housed in the former Hoffman Hotel, which was built in 1852 at 131 W. Main St. in Dallas.

The museum recently was the recipient of two awards of excellence from the North Carolina Museums Council. One of the awards was for the museum's photography exhibit. Titled "Into the Darkroom," the exhibit explores photography, "not only as a technological advancement, but as a modern art form," Museum Curator Alicyn Wiedrich said at the time.

The second award was for diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion. The museum's exhibits are in both English and Spanish.

Norwood said that it could take as many as eight years for the museum to generate enough funds to split off from the county and become self sufficient. She said that she feels the controversy over the photo in June might have been "a springboard" for the discussion about pulling county funding.

Former county commissioner Tracy Philbeck said at the time that he felt the museum was a waste of money.

"I would defund the museum today if it was up for a vote. Because I believe it is a waste of taxpayer dollars and those dollars could go to much needed capital improvements in our school system," he said at the time.

Brown also mentioned it.

"These discussions predated this issue, and this issue has no bearing on future funding decisions for the museum. It is county government's responsibility to oversee programs and decisions of departments that are funded with taxpayer dollars," Brown said. "If the museum or its board desires the autonomy to have zero county oversight, they are more than welcome to fully fund the museum and make their own decisions."

Norwood said that she trusts Eagle's word that the talk of pulling funding was not, for her, instigated by the controversy over the photo.

"But I believe that for some commissioners, it probably was more of an opening to take a deeper look," she said.

Norwood said that the museum has struggled to draw the numbers it did before the pandemic. Before 2020, the museum held presentations for third and fourth graders, held a mock criminal trial for students, and more.

But 2022 in particular was a difficult year for the museum. Not only were they at the center of a controversy over the pulled photo, but Gaston County officials axed a social media post written by museum staff that would have acknowledged Pride Month.

Since the controversy over the photo, it is now policy that a county official and the museum board review exhibits at the museum, Norwood said.

Then, in October, the museum's director, Jason Luker, quit. Luker could not be reached for comment.

Norwood said that she thinks the episode over the photo may have been a factor in his decision.

"I think that was probably a tipping point," she said.

Now, Norwood wants to try to save the museum, but she says they would need $1 million in funding to do so.

"If we don't have county funding, we would have to close our doors. It would be sad," she said. "It would be like the end of Gaston County history, because that's where it is."

Merry Deely, another board member, agreed. She pointed out that not only does the museum have a location in Dallas, but they have a display at the Loray Mill and an archives building where historical artifacts from Gaston County have been preserved.

"(The commissioners) just don't realize the potential of what a museum does for the county, what it really does to educate our citizens and preserve our history so they understand what our future holds," Deely said. "It's just such a comprehensive subject, and it's so vital to who we are. If we don't have the history museum, we lose all of that, so we lose a part of who we are. Knowing where we came from and what happened in this area of the county is vital to moving forward."

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Gaston County considering defunding history museum