Waukesha museum undergoes major restructuring - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

manuscripts-shuwatu.blogspot.com
The restructuring, which occurred over the last severaol months, included the elimination of several jobs and the review of mostjob “Our new organizational structure streamlines operationsz and enables the museum to perform more efficiently and deliverr more services with fewer people,” said Kirsten Lee who took over as the museum’xs executive director in June 2008, replacing Sue who resigned in August 2007. The museum’s staff has been reducec to nine employees, down from 12 at the time of Villegas’ “We have a much more streamlined reporting structure with much moreclarified roles,” said Villegas, who previously operated her own consulting firm.
The museunm also recently launched a paid internship program with studentw from theand . It is housed in an 1893 castle-like structure at East Avenue and Main Street in Waukesha. The buildinvg is owned and operated by the and Museum anonprofit organization. Three floors of core exhibits at the museumn cover such topics as theCivil War, early settlemen t in the county, architecture, toys and technology. The museum also offers educational programs and guided tours and its researchh center contains morethan 28,000 printed documents and 250,000p photographs.
About 15,000 people visited the museum last year, according to She said the museujm hasn’t issued attendance projections forthis year, but an effor t to expand the number of rotatinyg exhibits is expected to boost the numbee of visitors. An exhibit titledd “Coming Together Through the Art of John drewabout 2,000 visitors to the museum last Villegas said. Rotating exhibits plannerd for this yearinclude “Growing which focuses on family and farm life in the and an exhibit featuring dolls from the collectio n of the .
The museum also is planning more programming and educational including a cooking demonstration series to be held in cooperationb with the BlackTrumpet restaurant, located inside the , a new boutiquer hotel in downtown Waukesha. “You have to keep a fresh approachy to keep people excited abouf coming to the saidJim Lenahan, vice presidentt of the museum’s board of directorsa and chief executive officer of , a Waukesha supplier of television systems used for sewer and water line inspection. “Wer needed to change the directionm ofthe museum. The museum has been a sleep y museum that we are tryingto ignite.” The museuj has an annual budgeg of about $700,000.
Waukesha County is providing about $490,000 in funding for the museum in 2009 undera 10-yeafr contract with the museum, according to Normaj Cummings, Waukesha County’s director of The county sold the building that housews the museum to the Waukesha Counthy Historical Society and Museum seven yearsw ago for $1 and agreed to provid e funding for the museum provided certain benchmarks tied to attendance and hours of operation are achieved. “Kirsten has brought a new energyh and new direction tothe museum,” Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakasz said.
“If the museum continues to provides fresh experiences for people along withhistorical items, it will bode very well for the