SANTA ANA : Expanded Bowers Gains Respect Too

What began with a local couple’s fascination with Spanish and Mexican culture has grown into a nationally recognized center for the exhibition of art and artifacts.

The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, at 20th and Main streets, is named for Charles W. and Ada Bowers, who willed their home and property to the city in 1924 for a museum dedicated to local history.

In 1932, the home was demolished and a museum was built. But the couple didn’t leave an endowment, so the facility didn’t open until city officials finally allocated money to operate it four years later.

Although the museum has had difficult periods, its permanent collection has expanded to 85,000 pieces focused on pre-Colombian, American Indian, African and Oceanian objects. It also features changing exhibitions that explore the art and cultures of California, the Americas, Africa and the Pacific Rim.

The quality of the museum’s collection policies and public service was recognized last month when it received accreditation from the American Assn. of Museums, a respected Washington-based organization. Of nearly 8,500 museums in the United States, the association has accredited only 739.

“It’s very difficult to get that (accreditation),” said Bowers director Peter Keller. “It’s something that is awarded, on average, after a two-year study. They look at all aspects of the operations of the museum.”

The museum is now in expanded and renovated facilities that opened last year and took four years and $12 million to complete. The project, designed by Newport Beach architect George Bissell, doubled the museum’s exhibition space and tripled its size while maintaining the original structure’s mission-style courtyard and bell-tower entrance.

The expansion project took its toll on the Bowers’ budget, however. Last month, the museum instituted cost-cutting measures that included shortening hours and reducing salaries. About one-third of the museum’s $3.1-million budget comes from the city; $1.2 million is generated from the museum’s store, restaurant, admission fees and facility rentals; the remainder comes from private donations.

In the 1980s, the city formed a private nonprofit group, the Charles W. Bowers Museum Corp., to run the institution and address major fund-raising. The city will gradually withdraw its funding until the museum is self-supporting by 2007.