Grantee Partner Spotlight: Peoria Riverfront Museum

Q2: WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT YOUR WORK?

Uniqueness and reach. We closed on March 14th, prior to the mandatory closure here in Illinois, and later reopened July 1st. But on that day in March, we had a full staff meeting, and we said we basically have two choices: we can just hunker down and weather the storm, or we find another way to do what we’re supposed to be doing: Inspiring people and being inspired by others. So right off the bat we launched at least 10 digital programs, many of them weekly recurring “shows,” and we created and branded the Virtual Peoria Riverfront Museum (VPRM).

Programs ranged the gamut from self-produced by staff using their cell phone to higher quality productions done with a donor-purchased high-end video system. We started taking our collections objects out of the vault, and sharing them with the community. One example was the bronze castings of Abe Lincoln’s hands. We’ve been using all the social media platforms, especially Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, as well as email – sending literally thousands of emails to museum members each week.

Our virtual museum ended up going viral and was covered by several news stories, including two by the Pulitzer Center.

Just the other day, I ran into someone at the dentist’s office. They said “we’ve been enjoying the museum so much,” and then proceeded to describe in detail all the exhibitions going on. And they hadn’t been to the actual building all year! We’ve been able to continue to engage our stakeholders by transforming who we are. And we’re not going back.

Our reach is fortified by hosting truly unique exhibitions. For example, we happen to be the foremost repository of a unique American art form, duck decoys, which are arguably, alongside jazz, the only unique American art form. Decoys date back 2,000 years to the native Americans. We are home to the Center for American Decoys, focused on Illinois River valley artists. It’s fascinating to see just how interested our Peoria schools students are by these decoys. I think people of all ages are drawn to that human, practical, self-driven creativity.

Q3: WHO MAKES YOUR WORK POSSIBLE?

We’re a private nonprofit organization, totally dependent on donations. Thus far, into the halfway point of the fiscal year, we’re experiencing an unbelievably successful year. We’ve managed to stay on budget, despite dramatic shortfalls in earned revenue such as the gallery and sales. But the donor base is stepping up to the $1,000 and $2,500 level. One person sent us a check for $10,000. The generosity of our supporters is remarkable.

We brought in a Whitney Museum exhibit with Alice Walton’s Art Bridges Foundation. Alice Walton is putting lots of money into smaller museums to help bring in top exhibitions of American art. We were the first to partner with Art Bridges and the Whitney to bring in “Vantage Points,” a contemporary photography exhibit. It was special to see how students reacted and contemplated a world class survey of a pivotal piece of contemporary photographic history, from Andy Warhol Polaroids to Avedon’s great Western landscapes. We have amazing photographs these students so excited to see the creativity and appreciative of the opportunity – and in turn feeling freer to be creative themselves.

Again, we’re driven by our experience that the museum is not a building, or a collection. It is the people we serve, and what they have given us – the ability to keep the community together.

ANYTHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE TO ADD?

One of our major initiatives continues to be digital communications, and we’re growing how we communicate with the community, experimenting with live shows, produced shows and shows that take place out in the community. We have staff who take photos and video, create stories and post on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and even Tik Tok. We’re currently building a new website and app. So, I’d argue that we may have become one of the top 10 communication organizations in Central Illinois, always with the mission to lift up our community through inspirational storytelling.