Tag Archive for: msa

December 10, 2018

By Dan Ayers-Price, Director of Retail, Key West Art & Historical Society

Sitting on an airplane recently, I actually listened to the canned flight-safety spiel that we all have memorized and tend to ignore. It dawned on me that their choice of verbiage is designed to lessen our concern almost to the point of talking down to us. In the “unlikely” event … um, is that supposed to make us feel better? This made me think of multiple recent events, from fires to floods to hurricanes to earthquakes, and that many of us have had to face the truth that even our museums are vulnerable to disaster. It might be “unlikely,” but it can happen.

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Some of us are located in areas that are more prone to adverse conditions, and we have come to expect visits from Mother Nature, but we all are at risk of the unknown. How we prepare and move forward shows our strength.

As an organization, MSA is, and always has been, very supportive of its members. MSA members have forged great friendships, wonderful collaborations and a great network among ourselves. Standing strong, together, is one of our key tenets. I don’t really see any of us as the empty “thoughts and prayers” type but more as the “Let’s roll up our sleeves and get it done” bunch.

I was brokenhearted when the National Museum of Brazil (one of my fellow chapter members) suffered a devastating fire recently. Hurricanes in North Florida, fires in California and earthquakes in Alaska are just a few of the most recent disasters that our fellow members have had to deal with. Most of us are not in a position, physically or financially, to be able to travel to a disaster zone to offer help, but I have been so proud of our MSA community for the various communications via private emails as well as kind words on ShopTalk. The words of encouragement, for someone who is going through hell, often mean more than we can imagine.

Going forward, when something like this happens, I urge and challenge each of us to reach out to those affected and offer whatever help you can. I hear some of you saying “I can’t fly to Alaska or Brazil to help. What can I do from Ohio/New Jersey?” Well, true. Maybe you can’t be there in person, but you can offer to contact vendors on behalf of the affected museum. Maybe you can help with printing needs. Maybe you can help reach out to members for those membership-based organizations. Maybe your marketing department offers to do press releases for them. Maybe just a handwritten note of encouragement is all that you can do. There are so many things in our day to day that we take for granted until it isn’t there anymore.

For our MSA vendors, just being aware of orders that might need to be delayed or invoice due dates that need to be extended are two little things that will mean a lot. During Hurricane Irma, every single MSA vendor that I work with reached out to me with multiple offers of help. Not a single nonmember did. If that doesn’t show you the support of MSA, I’m not sure what will.

Think of what you do in your daily world, and base your offers of help on that. Some of us are lucky enough to only wear one hat, while others wear many. Each of us will have a different perspective on what help we can offer, but I guarantee that something will be much appreciated by someone in need. Our island’s motto is One Human Family. That is certainly something that I see in our fellow MSA members, and I’m proud to be a part of you.

Does your organization have a disaster plan in place? Have you thought about your store and how you would deal with that? Perhaps MSA, at national and chapter levels, should discuss and create guidelines on assisting distressed fellow members.

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Dan Ayers-Price is the past president of the Florida Chapter and now serves on their Scholarship Committee. He has been the director of retail for the four separate museum stores of his society and an MSA member for six years.

October 22, 2018

By Stuart Hata

noun: advocacy
public support for or recommendation of a particular cause or policy.
“their advocacy of museum stores”

synonyms: support for, backing of, promotion of, championing of; argument for, push for; informal: boosterism of “his advocacy of nonprofit retail”

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The word “advocacy,” a noun defined as “public support for or recommendation of a particular cause or policy,” has become an important part of the Museum Store Association’s vocabulary and strategies for the past two years. With last year’s inaugural launch and the upcoming celebration of our second worldwide Museum Store Sunday happening in on Nov. 25, our plan is made real: “to communicate to the world the value and importance of nonprofit retail with its curated products and unique experiences.” This key advocacy initiative embraced by MSA continues to expand and grow in importance and value.

 

Recently, the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) featured Museum Store Sunday as the lead article in its bimonthly e-newsletter, AVISO. This invaluable support and assistance from AAM demonstrates that MSA’s advocacy initiative, and museum stores in general, are being embraced and recognized by the greater museum industry. The integral and multifaceted work we do on behalf of our institutions — from earning income and extending mission-related programs to visitor engagement and educational outreach — are achieving greater recognition and respect within our industry and among our colleagues. Our advocacy efforts are working and growing exponentially, and we are being acknowledged as essential partners in the overall success of museums.

And for the general public, Museum Store Sunday is our global call to action directly to consumers to shop with purpose, shop conscientiously and support museum stores and our institutions around the world. By offering communities the opportunity to “Be a Patron” and engage with and support their local museums during the busy holiday season, Museum Store Sunday encourages the public — and especially culturally minded shoppers — to make thoughtful purchases and to rely on museum stores as retail destinations throughout the year. What better lasting “win-win-win-win-win” for everyone — our stores, our institutions, our patrons, our communities and our world. Here’s to Museum Store Sunday and beyond!

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A veteran museum store retailer for 29 years, Stuart Hata is the director of retail operations for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the de Young and Legion of Honor. He currently serves as the chair of MSA’s Marketing & Communications Committee; is a member of the MSA Finance and Advocacy Committees; and is a past president of the MSA Board of Directors. 

September 10, 2018

By Lori Brazos

When I heard of Museum Store Sunday for the first time, my immediate thought was “brilliant!” What a perfect way to promote museum stores. Not only do we have the best selection of awesome things, but purchases also support worthy institutions; it’s a win-win situation. I have seen the success of Small Business Saturday, so I knew Museum Store Sunday could be a great way to market the four museum stores I oversee as holiday shopping destinations. While the idea excited me, I knew I would need support — first and foremost from the marketing directors at Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.

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This introduction to Museum Store Sunday occurred at the MSA FORWARD 2017 Conference held in Pittsburgh. There were several representatives from Pittsburgh’s numerous cultural institutions in attendance, many I had never met — thank you MSA for bringing so many of us together! As it turned out, the reaction I had to the Museum Store Sunday announcement was not unique. My new Pittsburgh museum store friends were equally as excited. On the last day of the conference, the Pittsburgh attendees gathered for a few minutes and decided on the spot to join forces and meet soon to form our Museum Store Sunday citywide strategy. We would all need the support of our marketing departments, but we would support and inspire each other, as well.

About a month later, we met at one of our museum stores. When this group of then seven museum store leaders started discussing ideas, the creative sparks flew! Out of our first formal strategy session grew the concept for the Pittsburgh Passport, a sweepstakes designed to encourage patrons to visit multiple participating museum stores on Museum Store Sunday. In addition to the passport, we planned outreach to additional museum stores in the area to grow participation, discussed special events and offered ideas, and — most importantly — strategies to get our individual marketing departments behind our efforts.

In the weeks following, each store leader met with their marketing director to introduce them to Museum Store Sunday. They shared the press release, news of the local museum collaboration and the concept for the Pittsburgh Passport. They discussed in-store specials, giveaways, and events for their location and requested marketing support. Our group took full advantage of all ideas and offers from marketing teams at various museums. One marketing team set up a Museum Store Sunday Pittsburgh Facebook events page, another helped create an interactive google map of participating museums, and yet another donated his monthly time slot on a local TV show to promote Museum Store Sunday. Two marketing teams helped create the final passport design, which allowed each location to customize with their specifific events and promotions.

Our collaboration ultimately grew to include 13 Pittsburgh museum stores in all and got the Pittsburgh Passport and Museum Store Sunday a lot of local press interest and exposure. The unique store events, promotions and giveaways advertised via the passport promised a great experience to shoppers at each store and were well received. Events ranged from steep discounts on selected items, gift with purchase, complimentary gift wrap, holiday music performances and even a life-size dinosaur puppet show. The press coverage reminded local and regional residents what terrific shopping venues museum stores are with their unique offerings and purchases, which support valued institutions. I believe the press coverage helped drive significant increases to museum attendance for the day, as well. Like results achieved nationally, most of our group of stores achieved double digit or better sales increases for the day. I had the opportunity to walk one of the more concentrated “museum neighborhoods” on the afternoon of Museum Store Sunday, and I can’t tell you how exciting it was to see many people carrying multiple museum store packages!

If I had to narrow Pittsburgh’s success to one word, it would be “collaboration.” Having multiple sizes and genres of museum stores fueled creativity and offered the opportunity to pool resources on bigger parts of projects. It was our strength in numbers that helped us make a big splash and get media attention. It also fostered a competitive spirit among museum marketing teams — nobody wanted to be outdone!

As the season for planning your Museum Store Sunday is fast approaching, take a moment to thinking about possible partners outside your institution. You could even go outside the museum world and reach out to local coffee shops, universities and fellow small businesses. Here in Pittsburgh, we will be meeting soon to brainstorm, and I can’t wait to see what we come up with!

Happy planning!

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Lori Brazos is the general manager of retail operations at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. She oversees retail stores of four distinctive museums: The Carnegie Museum of Art, Museum of Natural History, The Carnegie Science Center and The Andy Warhol Museum.

August 6, 2018

By David A. Duddy

Charlie Stathacos, David Somlyo and Marodeen Ebrahimzadeh are dynamic and personable colleagues and are all proud MSA members. Come and introduce yourself at the upcoming NYNOW in the Artobjects Booth (#7266) in the Museum Source section.

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Charlie Stathacos, President, Artobjects Unlimited 

Where did you grow up? What has your life journey been like?

I grew up in Buffalo, New York, graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in anthropology. After a stint with the Peace Corps and USAID’s Office of Food for Peace, I received a master’s degree in applied economics from Cornell University. My international career, advising agriculturalists and small businesspeople, eventually brought me to Artobjects. My mother, Leta Stathacos, who had been store manager at the Albright-Knox and was very active in MSA (eventually honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award) founded Artobjects Unlimited in 1987 as a wholesale rep company, and it has been participating in MSA conventions ever since. I took over as president when Leta retired, and the company continues to act as representatives for American artists and designers as well as global artisans. Artobjects has acted as an incubator for art- and design-driven businesses, and we have watched many of them strike out on their own to forge a path to their own success (and a few becoming MSA vendors!).

What was your first experience with a museum or nonprofit? What work did you do with them?

I remember my first MSA conference in Chicago on Navy Pier. It was very interesting! Since then, I have come to work closely with many institutions, often trying to provide the right products for their stores that fit upcoming exhibitions. In addition to working with and representing U.S. art and design companies, I have managed to fuse my career in international trade and development with Artobjects, working on projects for which I have provided access to trade shows in the U.S. And with funding not always available, I assist my international clients with developing their own businesses and products, so they may participate in the Artobjects booth and we can help sell for them. We even started a GoFundMe page to support travel, training, product development and getting samples shipped (https://www.gofundme.com/helping-african-artisans). The experience of a wholesale trade show is new to many of my clients, but it offers them a unique opportunity to present their work and meet the buyers directly. There are some learning curve moments for them. Don’t be so anxious to please the buyers to the point where you sell all of your samples!

There are many challenges in the current retail world. What are you trying to use to your advantage, and what keeps you awake at night?

I think e-commerce is the answer to both of those questions. Just as we try to make our offerings more global by working with overseas artists and artisans, the whole marketplace has global access through the internet. There are so many challenges to keeping all of our channels open and current, particularly when you represent small artisanal businesses. Keeping websites fresh and inviting and balancing that with still doing trade shows to meet the clients in person.

Have you ever been to an MSA chapter meeting?

No, but I may make it to the one coming up in September!

What do you eat for breakfast? Is it always the same?

Two slices of super multi-gain toast — maybe with peanut butter. Sometimes eggs and potatoes.

Any hobbies? Special talents?

I love biking and rollerblading!

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David M. Somlyo,Owner, Museum Music Inc. / Museum Coffee House Inc.

Where did you grow up? Where did you go to school? What has your life journey been like?

I grew up in NYC — very close to where I live now. I went to Friends School, then Vassar College, then Syracuse University Law School. I practiced law for five years with a small litigation firm on Wall Street, then started my own firm practicing entertainment law for about four years. I was very motivated to live abroad at some point in my life, and in 1997 moved to Budapest working as an attorney there for more than two years. It was a spectacular experience! When I returned to the U.S., a client of mine had been working on creating a CD with MoMA, New York, and I helped with some advice. I became very interested in the company and wound up joining it and then running it in 1999.

What was your first experience with a museum or nonprofit? What work did you do with them?

My first collaboration was with the MET, on our “Painters in Paris” CD. We have continued to partner with museums and have now produced more than 80 custom CDs for over 40 institutions! With the decline in interest in CDs and DVDs in the general population, museum stores remain the best and most targeted market for our products. They are still seen as gifts or souvenirs of the cultural experience, and customers will still purchase them on that basis. We find the MSA Expo is a great way to directly connect with the market that we primarily target.

There are many challenges in the current retail world. What are you trying to use to your advantage, and what keeps you awake at night?

The whole CD industry is challenged by MP3s and streaming music. Initially, most of our products were compilations of music, and my knowledge and skill as an entertainment lawyer was incredibly useful in obtaining rights. We now pursue more projects involving original content that can only be found through us. For example, it took us three years working with MoMA to create a really terrific children’s CD called “Pop! Goes the Easel” with original songs performed by Broadway stars. Prep and design time is much longer, but you wind up with a truly original product that you control. We also have diversified with a new product line: Museum Coffee House, offering certified organic and fair trade premium packaged coffee targeted to the museum market.

Have you ever been to an MSA chapter meeting?

Not yet, but I should investigate one if it is close by.

What do you eat for breakfast? Is it always the same?

Steel-cut oatmeal with bananas and sometimes other fruit.

Any hobbies? Special talents?

I swim on a regular basis and often test out our latest music using waterproof earphones while I swim. We need to know what it sounds like however people listen! I see a lot of theater with my daughter, and I go fishing with my son, mostly in Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, and in Central Park! You wouldn’t believe the fish we have caught (and released!) there. I have cage-dived with great white sharks, tracked mountain gorillas in the Congo, and, yes, I can juggle!

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Marodeen Ebrahimzadeh, Owner, ETANA Inc. and Made 4 Museum 

Where did you grow up? Where did you go to school? What has your life journey been like?

I was born in an Assyrian Christian family in Iran, and so we fled the country in 1978. In Iran, I had a master’s in fine art and interior design. In the U.S., I went back to school studying fine art printmaking. My concentration in Iran — my first love — was bronze sculpture. It led to my own extensive personal collection and to my business of providing fine art reproductions to museums in this country and globally since 1985. After Cal State Fullerton, I did some fine art framing, printmaking and jewelry design. I then began to start sculpting for others as well as doing my own work. I started doing wholesale shows around the year 2000 in New York City and other venues. In my travels and through referrals, I identified MSA as a great potential market for my line of reproductions.

What was your first experience with a museum or nonprofit? What work did you do with them?

I was fortunate to connect with the British Museum in London and to create for them a Lamassu, a winged deity with the body of a lion and the head of a man, originally from Assyria. Many such reproductions are being made now overseas in resin, but I try to remain true to the bronze materials that lend real quality to a small piece like that. I sell to many other institutions with encyclopedic collections, like the de Young in San Francisco and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Getty in Los Angeles. There is an upcoming special exhibition at the British Museum that I am creating work for now that focuses on pieces from Ashurbanipal, which has always been a particular special interest of my studies and my own collections.

There are many challenges in the current retail world. What are you trying to use to your advantage, and what keeps you awake at night?

There are a lot of middlemen flooding the market with cheap reproductions, and, of course, many such things can be found on the internet. I am beginning to use sales reps to gain more access to fine art galleries in order to open up those wholesale markets to find more suitable markets for my work. Certainly, clients from MSA are very knowledgeable and interested in quality.

I am not that concerned about 3-D printing … yet. There are still many flaws in the production process, requiring the hand of an artist or craftsman to finish a piece properly. If you are insisting on quality, there is still the hand of an artist involved.

Have you ever been to an MSA chapter meeting?

I was a sponsor for a Western Chapter meeting in Santa Barbara that Stuart Hata from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco was part of, as well as David Howell, another MSA vendor. I know that MSA has been making many changes with more inclusion of vendors in the direction they are taking. So I am considering participating more with MSA in the future, as long as those partnerships continue to be fruitful.

What do you eat for breakfast? Is it always the same?

I usually have cereal with almond milk — sometimes a boiled egg. I usually go to the gym in the morning before work, so a healthy diet is very important to me.

Any hobbies? Special talents?

I have an extensive personal art collection since I also operate a fine art gallery: Square I Gallery in Claremont, California. I have a large number of small bronzes, which have a particular fascination for me for all the fine detail they can record. Although I am devoted to sports, I am told that I am an excellent dancer. I took some physical education courses in college at the suggestion of my basketball coach, when I would sometimes get roughed up on the court by the other players who may not have been that happy with an Iranian on the team. And I always loved those old movies with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly!

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David Duddy is the Deputy Director for Operations at the deCordova Sculpture Park & Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts,  and is a past president of the MSA Board of Directors.