ITEM TITLE:
Public Appearance: Patricia Relay, Valdez Museum & Historical Archive & Chris Whittington Evans, Wolf Architecture - New Valdez Museum Planning Update
SUBMITTED BY: Patricia Relay, VMHA Executive Director
FISCAL NOTES:
Expenditure Required: N/A
Unencumbered Balance: N/A
Funding Source: N/A
RECOMMENDATION:
Receive and file
SUMMARY STATEMENT:
On October 6, 2020, the City of Valdez entered into a contract with Wolf Architecture and Hennebery Eddy Architects to provide design services for a new museum facility. Since that time the Museum Board and Staff, in conjunction with City Capital Facilities have been working on two parallel fronts, Design and Community Outreach/Fundraising.
• On October 20, 2020 the Museum launched an official kick off when Wolf Architecture and Hennebery Eddy Architects came to Valdez and hosted a two-day virtual and in-person design workshop.
• In December of 2020 the architects presented the Building Committee with initial site and building concept plans
• In January 2021 further, refined plans were presented to the Building Committee and a scheme was selected.
• Stakeholders and community members weighed in on options for exhibiting the Old Town Model in the New Museum and in February 2021 the committee approved an approach to its display.
• Early in March, work on developing a probable cost of construction begun.
• Preliminary results of an energy model helped steer building envelope, glazing and mechanical equipment strategies toward efficient solutions.
• Evolution of the selected scheme continues toward delivering concept-level design plans, renderings and an interior animated ‘fly-through’ all of which will be used in promoting the Museum and securing matching funds.
On a parallel track, community engagement and fundraising planning occurred, with support from consulting firm Information Insights.
• VMHA developed a cohesive vision, goals, objectives, tactics, and a timeline to support Museum expansion fundraising and outreach activities
• VMHA identified key stakeholders to engage and completed 20 1:1 interviews to learn more about community members' perspectives on the Museum and the expansion project
• The Museum Expansion component of the VMHA website was updated to accept expansion-specific donations and provide context on the project
• A one-page Case Statement to support the expansion was completed
• An engaging Board and key volunteer Fundraising Training provided tools and best practices for major donor fundraising
• A community survey is currently in distribution, to gain additional insights and perspective on the Museum expansion
• Testimonials from stakeholder engagement are compiled to support additional fundraising and outreach activities
NOTE The presentation provided highlights the design process, community engagement and resultant concept-level outcome for the New Valdez Museum & Historical Archive. The accompanying slide deck identifies several graphics still being rendered whose completed form may differ slightly.