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Florida International Museum's next project? Its future

By Melanie Ave, Times Staff Writer
In print: Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Museum guests cross in front of an image of Pope John Paul II on Tuesday at the “Vatican Splendors” exhibit at the Florida International Museum in St. Petersburg. By its close May 11, more than 100,000 will have seen the exhibit, the museum says.
	[DIRK SHADD | Times]

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ADVERTISEMENT [DIRK SHADD | Times] Museum guests look a the processional cross of Pope Pius IX, which was used during the First Vatican Ecumenical Council (1869-1870).

ST. PETERSBURG — The Florida International Museum's Vatican exhibit has moved thousands of people to tears and to quiet reflection since it began in February, its first stop in the United States.

By the time the exhibit of more than 200 art and historical items closes May 11, attendance will have exceeded 100,000 people, museum officials said.

"We're thrilled,'' said Tim Hancock, the museum's board chairman.

The exhibit extended its Sunday hours recently to accommodate the growing demand. On Monday, it added three evening hours on weeknights for the exhibit's final two weeks.

Despite the successful showing, the long-struggling museum faces an unknown destiny.

No future exhibits are planned. The crew of about 15 temporary workers will be let go as the "Vatican Splendors" tour leaves for Cleveland and then to St. Paul, Minn.

Museum executive director Kathy Oathout said the facility will "go dark'' at least through the summer.

She's mulling 12 future exhibits but said nothing has been decided.

The museum's board of directors began meeting last week with the current landlord, St. Petersburg College, and its president, Carl Kuttler. Another meeting is set for June.

Many questions loom.

Will the museum proceed as usual? Will it move? Will it scale down? Will it change its focus but stay in the same spot, in shared facilities with the college, the Florida Orchestra and American Stage, which moves there in January?

No one is saying for sure.

"We need a candid discussion,'' Kuttler said. "I think if there is a way of keeping what they have accomplished, with bringing over 2- or 3-million people to downtown, it would certainly be worth finding a way to do that.''

Stable finances have long been a problem for the museum, an exhibit hall with no permanent collection that was begun by local civic leaders in 1992.

Even though it helped jump-start downtown redevelopment, the museum has often struggled to make ends meet and to draw consistent crowds.

In December, the City Council, SPC and philanthropist John Galbraith agreed to forgive $1.5-million in debt owed by the private, nonprofit museum. In 2006, the most recent year records are available, the museum lost more than $20,000.

Three years ago, the museum moved from the now demolished old Maas Brothers department store home — a 300,000-square-foot monstrosity — to the more manageable 9,000-square-foot building on SPC's downtown campus.

Kuttler said discussions are under way to bring four world-class potential exhibits there "almost permanently," as well as a ballet school. SPC is required to provide cultural programming there through 2010 as part of a state arts grant.

"As we've evolved from the big museum to this museum, to be a partner in the new complex with the college, there are other decisions that need to be discussed,'' Oathout said of last week's talks.

Until now, making the Vatican exhibit successful was the museum's sole focus. At least $150,000 needed to pay for the exhibit was raised in one week, Kuttler said, and the museum and the exhibition company hustled in two months' time to put on a "phenomenal'' show that should end up in the black.

The show in St. Petersburg was a coup for the Tampa Bay area, Oathout said. It was the first of only three U.S. stops.

The exhibit contains items spanning the history of the papacy, starting with St. Peter, and includes many pieces never seen outside the Vatican.

"We had been thinking of going to Rome,'' said Lewis Pettit, 77, of Clearwater after a recent visit with his wife, Pat. "Seeing so much here, I saved myself a trip.''

"I thought I was back in Italy there for a moment,'' said MaryJune Jackson, 24, of Tampa after her visit. "The pieces of art. The music. I loved it.''

Melanie Ave can be reached at mave@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8813.