Museum’s Space Woes May Be Thing of the Past

After two years of learning the ins and outs of the Ventura County Museum of History and Art, Executive Director Tim Schiffer is tackling the largest project of his career--doubling the museum’s size to allow larger art collections to visit Ventura.

The museum, which collects local memorabilia and historical books and documents, exhibits artwork, crafts and artifacts that reflect the county’s past.

For years, museum leaders have acknowledged the need to expand. With 25,000 artifacts overflowing into the basement, as well as 35,000 historical photographs and 100,000 negatives, many of which are housed off-site, the 25-year-old building is beyond cramped.

Prospects changed earlier this year when the City Council awarded the museum $400,000 as part of a matching grant to build a 2,500-square-foot art gallery with advanced lighting, climate control and security features.

“We are making that leap from talking about it to actually doing it. The city grant was the catalyst to get us going. It really forced the process to begin,” Schiffer said.

But before construction can start, the museum must raise additional funds for the estimated $3-million expansion, which will provide more gallery and storage space. City leaders also hope it will create a showcase in downtown Ventura for cultural events that regularly bring in prominent artists.

“It’s very important because it will allow them to increase their exhibition space, which is really critical because we don’t have sufficient space for visual arts,” said Consuelo Underwood, cultural affairs manager for the city.

“By giving them the gallery space and making it a quality space, they are going to be able to bring in exhibitions that never could have come to Ventura before, and that is very exciting.”

The museum’s space for traveling exhibits now has a show on earthquakes in Ventura County. Another exhibit borrowed from the National Steinbeck Center featuring agricultural labels from food containers and vegetable crates is scheduled for soon after the new gallery is built. The museum also plans an Ansel Adams show with more than 100 images from the famed nature photographer, Schiffer said.

The addition would double the 15,000-square-foot museum, which sits back from Main Street across from the San Buenaventura Mission. Along with the gallery, the expansion will provide meeting areas, a cafe and a public plaza.

Local stone sculptor Paul Lindhard has been commissioned by the city to design the site along with an architect, whom museum officials will select from 35 applicants early next year.

“It will have much more of a face in the community because the whole front will open up to Mission Park and Main Street. It will give a real distinctive presence,” Underwood said. “If you think of the Whitney and the Guggenheim [museums], part of it is the architecture and design of the building that attracts people to come see it.”

Since being promoted from curator to executive two years ago, Schiffer, 46, has spent much of his time trying to find a home for the museum’s growing collection, which includes 1,000 farm implements being stored behind the museum and in borrowed barns throughout the county. The museum is working on using a 20-acre site at College Park in Oxnard to house and demonstrate the farm equipment.

Area’s History Largely Intact

Schiffer, who was curator for six years, is familiar with renovating and changing exhibits at the museum. In 1997, he oversaw the museum’s largest expansion to date--a $175,000 overhaul of the main history gallery.

“One of the most interesting things about it is how intact the history is--a lot of the families that came here in the 1860s and 1870s are still here,” said Schiffer, who lives in Santa Barbara with his wife, Pam, and three daughters, ages 9, 13 and 16.

A trained painter with a bachelor’s degree in art from Yale University, Schiffer received a master’s of fine art from UC Santa Barbara, where he taught art and ran a gallery before coming to Ventura.

“Doing exhibits is like doing three-dimensional artwork. It’s very artistic; there are a lot of components to it,” said Schiffer, who enjoys spending his free time combing other museums for ideas and layouts he can use in his own exhibits. “When you do a history exhibit, you have to find the substance, and then you have to organize it. You really have to create a story line that explains the events to people.”

Schiffer has become fascinated by the work--whether finding holdover traditions from the Portuguese community that can be traced back generations or chronicling a Mexican American family’s history back to when family members first arrived in the county early in the 20th century.

“You call people you’ve never met and try to explain what you are doing and convince them to loan you their stuff,” he said. “They don’t realize that things they have all their lives might be really interesting to people. . . .To me the interesting part is the people. It’s personal. A lot of it is anecdotes or personal experiences.”

Schiffer admits his background gives him less foundation for the administrative side of running a museum. Nonetheless, he decided the executive director role would be a good fit. “I decided I had already put six years into this place, and I really believe in it. I thought I’d give it a shot,” he said.

Updating Role in Community

The job hasn’t been easy. Within months after taking the top position, he had to hire replacements for more than half of his eight-member staff, who left for other jobs or personal reasons, according to museum officials.

“I think I underestimated what was involved,” Schiffer said. “To try to run the organization and grow its resources at the same time is the real challenge.”

Until now, Schiffer has spent much of his time learning the operations of the nonprofit museum, which has an annual budget of about $600,000 and operates with more than 150 volunteers.

“He is very easy going but very intelligent and detail-conscious. But with a job like his, he has to be. It’s a three-ring circus he runs,” said Susa Caughey, museum board president. “I’ve been amazed at how big the job is . . . from budgets, to worrying about who is going to repave the sidewalk and getting art for the exhibits.”

Now with the planned expansion, Schiffer must determine what needs to be built and envision the role an updated museum will play in the community.

“It’s not just picking a style. It’s redesigning the organization as you expand it,” he said. “It’s really exciting and it’s changing the whole relationship of the museum to the street.

“It’s a local museum and it’s important that it reflects a community. I would like it to keep that,” he said. “I wouldn’t want it be the Getty or the Guggenheim, where it’s geared to a mass audience. It’s really about serving this community. I’d like it to reflect the identity of this county.”