April Bulletin Column

Foundation for Las Cruces Museums supports city museums
By Cheryl Fallstead, President
Foundation for Las Cruces Museums

The Foundation for Las Cruces Museums (FLCM) exists for one purpose: to support the city’s four museums. Like any part of the city, the museums rely on funding from our local government in order to do everything from paying the rent and utility bills, buying equipment and materials, funding exhibits, paying staff, advertising their programs, and providing educational events for all ages. Unfortunately, the budget often doesn’t stretch that far.

That’s where the FLCM comes in. Our goal is to help fill those gaps, whether to help fund exhibits the city can’t quite afford, purchase essential but expensive items outside the city’s reach, or host special events. To help reach those goals, we operate a gift shop called El Mercado de los Museos at the Museum of Art, host a food booth at the annual Renaissance Arts Faire, conduct special fund-raising events, have donation boxes at each of the museums, promote fund-raising initiatives like our Railroad Museum Challenge Grant, and offer the opportunity to become a Friend of the Museums. We also have an endowment through the Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico that we would love to grow, providing long-term funding for museum programming.

Our plans are big. We want to be able to help the museums afford big ticket items like world-class exhibits for the enjoyment and education of our entire city and to help draw visitors from around the Southwest. During the recent King Tut, Dali and Rodin exhibitions, visitors regularly came from out of town to enjoy what our museums offered. We plan to not only continue this trend, but expand upon it.

For those who aren’t familiar with the museum system, the city operates four facilities. The Museum of Art and the Branigan Cultural Center are located on the north end of the Downtown Mall. The Railroad Museum is a few blocks away, located is the historic BNSF Railroad Depot building, and the Museum of Natural History is currently in the Mesilla Valley Mall. In addition, the historic Rio Grande Theatre is part of the museum system, operated through a management agreement with the Dona Ana Arts Council.

One major project the FLCM is supporting is the creation of a new Museum of Nature and Science, which will be housed in the old Bank of the Rio Grande building next to the Museum of Art. The city obtained the building last year and is in the beginning stages of metamorphosing the bank into a museum. However, this is really a big ticket item, requiring millions of dollars to create a quality facility. The FLCM is actively seeking donors to help with this capital improvement campaign, along with public funding for the project.

Recently a more modest campaign was quite successful. An anonymous donor offered to match up to $1000 in funds to improve the Railroad Museum’s model train layout that represents the Mesilla Valley. With donations large and small, the challenge was met and exceeded, raising well over $3000 for the project. The outpouring of public support showed us that people do care about the museums and are willing to open their pocketbooks to express it. We are grateful for every dollar of support and especially the sentiment behind each donation.

El Mercado de los Museos has been a sleeper hit in downtown. During the Dali exhibit, the FLCM operated a short-term gift shop to test the waters. It reopened during the Rodin exhibit under its new name and is now a permanent shopping destination. The goal of the shop is to offer items related to exhibits and the mission of each of the four museums. It offers all kinds of great gifts and personal splurges, such as kid’s science kits and toys, T-shirts, framed art, note cards, distinctive Mata Ortiz pottery (tip – they’re currently on sale!), whimsical hand-carved Oaxacan animals, books about local history and written by local authors, and all kinds of fun railroad items.

Those railroad items will also be offered for sale at Railroad Day on May 9. We are looking for local artisans who would like to sell their railroad-related items during this very popular event as well. The FLCM will have a food booth to help railroad fans keep up their strength during the day, which will again feature a visit by the RailRunner high-speed commuter train. If you would like more information about participating as a vendor at Railroad Day, contact Ed Kosciolek at ekosciolek@comcast.net.

As you can see, the Foundation is working hard in a number of areas to support your museums. We are, however, in need of your help. Perhaps you are interested in serving on one of our committees, such as development, special events, communications, or membership. Maybe you have a couple of hours each week that you could donate to work in our gift shop. If time is hard to give up, but you could make a donation – of any size – that would be greatly welcomed as well. You may even wish to support the museums even after you are gone by including the Foundation through planned giving in your will. Any and all support is greatly appreciated.

Of course, we encourage you to become a Friend of the Las Cruces Museums. We are currently offering a special incentive for Friends who recruit additional new members. To find out more these opportunities, contact us at friendsoflcm@gmail.com or check our blog at flcm.blogspot.com. FLCM brochures are available at all of the city museums. Donations may be mailed to: Foundation for Las Cruces Museums, P.O. Box 2783, Las Cruces, NM 88004-2783.

Finally, be sure to visit one or more of our museums soon!