Discussions during a recent Jacksonville City Council meeting have left many people with the impression that the Jacksonville Area Museum may soon have to close its doors because a particular operations fund, which has been paying the institution’s utility bills, is about to run out of money. We want to assure everyone that the museum is in no danger of closing.
Quite the contrary, our Phase Two expansion project is well underway and we look forward to debuting that impressive and engaging space around the city’s Bicentennial in October. That expansion has been made possible by the extremely generous donations that people have made to the Jacksonville Area Museum Foundation.
The issue is that we don’t want to pay our monthly operating bills by dipping into the money that people have donated toward our new exhibit area. Such a practice of paying utility bills by using funds that were donated for a specific purpose is unsustainable, will upset donors, and will discourage others from donating toward the cause.
We sincerely thank Rabbi Rob and Lauren Thomas for offering to help replenish the museum’s operations fund and their advocacy for the cause before the city council.
We hope this most recent publicity will encourage all of you to visit the museum if you haven’t already, or re-visit us to check out our progress. We continue to be open Wednesday and Saturday from 10 to 4 and Sunday from 1 to 4.