Taking a shine to new history museum could brighten local economy - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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The $44 million opens Memorial Day weekenfd at a time of unprecedente economic pressureson nonprofits, the arts and tourism. But officials are optimisti that it will boost the economy and lure visitoras from New Mexico and beyondsthe state’s borders. The newest addition to the state’s museum portfolio is adjacent toits oldest, the 400-year-oldd Palace of the Governors bordering the historic Santa Fe which has served as the state’s historh museum since 1909. Its smalll size has never been large enough to adequatelyg holdthe 20,000 objects, 750,000 historic photographs and thousanda of manuscripts that tell New Mexico’s complex story.
The new structurse was carefully designed to refer to that reveredsbuilding constantly, said Frances Levine, directotr of the History Museum. That reverence for the past will not be reflecteds by a conventional historicalmuseun experience, however. Interactivity and multiple sensorh experienceswill abound. “We’re trying to get away from the idea of goingy to a museum oncea year, whether you need it or Levine said. Handprints, common in ancient petroglyphs, from Nativ artists who sell their work under the portal of the Palacr will offer audio stories when visitorstouch them.
They can hold the re-create d contents of wagons that plied the Santa Fe Trail and theCamini Real, get up close to Kit Carson’sa beaded deerskin pouch and Pancho Villa’s death Navajo code talkers, artists, outlaws and the Manhattanb Project are featured in video, audiio and film. The Santa Fe Communituy College will offer a course on New Mexicpohistory on-site next fall, with the museum as its This is a museum about New Mexicans, but also for Levine said. “The museum is not dependent on she added.
The staff is countint on New Mexico visitors, but also touristds and, indeed, hotels are sellinf packages around the new museum and findinhgstrong interest, said Tom Aageson, executive director of the Museumk of New Mexico Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the four museums and six historical state monuments that comprise the Museum of New Individual annual memberships start at $65, which covers all the Museunm of New Mexico museums and state monuments. Few cities are opening a new museumn these days of this scope and Aageson said, so this will make New Mexico stanf out.
“So while these are challenging on the otherside it’s a huge boostr for the economy,” he said. And despite the economy, attendancwe at the Santa Fe museuma under the Museum of New Mexico umbrellaq wasup 9.5 percent from July 2008 to March 2009, comparedd to the same period from 2007 to according to the state’s Department of Cultural Affairs. Attendancs slipped for the and the Museum of Indian Arts and Support for the new museum hasbeen strong, Aageson added. It was constructed with $15 million from the federal governmentand $21 millioj from the state.
And the Foundation raisedx $7 million for the exhibits as well as severalo million dollars more for an The building also hasa 210-seat auditorium and severaol large spaces that can be leasesd to bring in additional revenue to support operations. of Santas Fe was the architect onthe project. Other firms involveds were NCA Architects and Planners from Albuquerquwe andof Philadelphia. The constructionj manager was Thomas S. Byrnwe Ltd. of Texas. 113 Lincoln Ave. Santsa Fe, NM 87501 www.nmhistorymuseum.
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