Historic House Museums Provide Virtual and Outdoor Events During Financial Distress
Branka Duknic, Executive Director of the Queens Historical Society, doesn’t typically find herself hand-delivering colored pencils to seniors in Queens, but very little about this year has been typical.
Duknic said the museum would normally hold in-person art classes for seniors. This year, the classes are virtual due to the ongoing pandemic. In the past, the museum used acrylic paint for the classes, but budgetary cuts have restricted them to less expensive colored pencils. And when a few Amazon packages of those pencils failed to show up at the senior centers, Duknic delivered replacement pencils herself.
Duknic said that during the pandemic, coming up with creative ways to engage the community necessary for the Queens Historical Society.
“Being smaller in size and budget — that was our only way of survival,” said Duknic.
The Queens Historical Society is one of 23 historic house museums (museums situated in former homes) around New York City that have pivoted to hosting virtual and outdoor events during the Coronavirus pandemic. Historic house museums are often located in outer boroughs and boast ample outdoor grounds. Because of that, they have become vital neighborhood spaces where communities can gather for educational and cultural events. Virtual and socially distanced outdoor events have allowed these museums to continue serving and connecting the community in that way. At the same time, these museums are financially struggling. Some have budgets as low as $200,000 and staffs as small as three people. They are facing reduced revenue from ticket sales due to the lockdown as well as pandemic related budget and funding cuts. Some are now vulnerable to permanent closure, putting the future of their community programming at risk.
“Financially, it’s very hard to deal with,” said Duknic.
Duknic said the Queens Historical Society received 25% less funding from the City Council this year than it has in the past due to pandemic related budget cuts. Now she is waiting to hear from private foundations who she says contribute about 35% of the museum’s annual funding.
Kingsland Homestead, the house where the Queens Historical Society is based, is open for pre-scheduled tours, but Duknic said the museum has only seen about five visitors a week since its reopening in August.
On the other hand, the museum’s virtual events, capped by Zoom at 100 people, are turning people away. Duknic said one the most well-attended events was a tour of religious sites in Queens that included visuals from Google Street View and talks by religious leaders in the community.
“Queens is absolutely one of the most diverse boroughs,” said Duknic. She said the museum also tries to host events in different languages for kids and seniors in order to accommodate non English speakers.
“We’re trying to break those barriers,” said Duknic.
The Old Stone House in Brooklyn recently held a socially distanced outdoor viewing party for the Oct. 22 presidential debate.
Justin Krebs, a Brooklyn-based political activist helped organize the event in conjunction with the Old Stone House. He said that he often takes his children out to play in the museum’s outdoor space.
“I’ve gotten to know them as a community center over the years,” Krebs said of the Old Stone House. He said he’s enjoyed other events at the house including bluegrass festivals, puppet shows and live sporting events.
Krebs crouches over the outdoor speaker system, as pre debate coverage booms across the lawn’s damp astroturf. Visitors come prepared with blankets, but it turns out to be unseasonably warm for late October. Waiting for the debate to start, kids entertain themselves by kicking a soccer ball around. Around 20 visitors show up, a mix of couples, friends and families.
Brooklyn-based photographer Jolene Siana, who attended the event with her friend, said she used to enjoy going to neighborhood bars during election season, before the pandemic made that impossible.
“We need entertainment, we need connection,” she said, “and if you can do it in a safe way, I’m grateful.”
The Old Stone House is looking at a $110,000 deficit this year, according to the museum’s Executive Director Kimberly Maier. She said the museum usually makes about a third of its revenue from site rentals including weddings, which have not been able to go ahead during the pandemic.
“Financially, it’s really challenging,” said Maier. “I’m worried, but I think we’ll probably make it.”
She says that both she and the museum’s Director of Education have gone part-time, while its docent has been furloughed.
Matthew Coody, Director of External Affairs at the Historic House Trust of New York City, says he doesn’t know of any historical house museums in New York City going out of business in the past. However, now he says permanent closure is a real possibility for some of the smaller institutions.
“The underlying concern is that they won’t be able to reopen,” Coody said, “They’re struggling to figure out what’s next.”
Joshua Torrance, the Chair of American Association for State and Local History Historic House Museum Committee, said that when historic house museums close, they may be converted into private residences or bed and breakfasts.
Kelsey Brow, Executive Director of the King Manor House Museum in Queens, said her museum has enough money in the bank to support about twelve months of payroll.
“If worse comes to worse, I’ll just throw my stuff in the basement of the museum and camp out at various friends for a while if I can’t make my rent payments,” said Brow. She said she is more concerned about her colleagues with student loans.
However, Brow said she is grateful the pandemic has given the museum an opportunity to refocus on community outreach. She’s organized a number of events on the museum’s acre of outside space including food and hand sanitizer giveaways and community fairs designed to provide resources to new parents.
However, as the temperature drops, some historic house museums worry about maintaining that type of outdoor programming through the winter.
“No one’s coming to stand outside and do candle making and 20 degree weather,” said Jessica Philips, the Executive Director of Historic Richmond Town.
Philips, however, said she is confident in the survival of Historic Richmond Town, a slightly larger historic house museum with a pre-pandemic staff of 28. (One team member was recently laid off).
“We don’t have a massive endowment. We don’t have a big deep pocket benefactor,” Philips said, “But I know that my board and I will do whatever it takes to make sure that this arts and culture institution remains for another 165 years to serve the community.”
