Commission pulls reins on Clinton museum

Operations to wind down at year’s end

FAYETTEVILLE — The Advertising and Promotion Commission on Monday voted to “wind down” operations at the Clinton House Museum with the intention of letting the lease with the University of Arkansas expire next year.

Commissioners voted 6-0 to scale back programming at the former home-turned-museum of Bill and Hillary Clinton. Beginning Jan. 1, the commission will pay only rent and maintenance expenses until the lease expires Dec. 31, 2021.

The university system’s board bought the 1,800-square-foot Tudor Revival-style house for $249,950 in 2005. The commission rents the property for $1,300 a month and is in charge of running it.

The Clintons were married in the living room of the house in 1975. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.

The museum houses a number of exhibits and pieces of Clinton family memorabilia. Distinguished lecturers speak there a few times a year, and the house plays host to a number of historically themed events. It has its own nonprofit organization with a board.

The garden features the favorite flowers of the nation’s first ladies.

The building closed to the public in March because of the covid-19 pandemic. It opened Sept. 10 and hosted an online speaker event last week. Two more speaker events are planned next month, and new exhibits are planned this year and next.

Molly Rawn, chief executive officer of the city’s tourism bureau, Experience Fayetteville, said she will work on a plan to wind down programming, as directed by the commission.

The commission governs the bureau.

“Putting together a winding-down plan is not pleasant; it’s not how we thought we would’ve ended the year,” she said. “But it also doesn’t mean there’s still not a really great future for the house out there. I’m committed to working with the Clinton House Museum board to figure out what that looks like.”

Mark Rushing, university spokesman, said he understood the disruption created and the financial impact caused by the coronavirus public health emergency.

“We look forward to working with the A&P Commission and the Clinton House Museum board regarding future plans for the museum,” he said.

In June, the commission cut about $1.3 million from its nearly $5.4 million budget for the year because of covid-19. Most of the commission’s revenue comes from half of the city’s 2% hotel, motel and restaurant sales tax. The other half goes to parks.

Subsequently, the commission cut the budget for the Clinton House Museum to about $185,000 from a $240,000 operating budget approved at the beginning of the year. Rawn projected about $115,000 in actual expenses for the museum to operate through the end of the year. Expenses mostly cover personnel, maintenance and events.

Revenue from store sales, donations and renting the space for private events has always been lower than expenses. Last year, for instance, expenses were about $249,000 while revenue was about $19,000.

Commissioner Todd Martin proposed scaling back the Clinton House Museum operation, saying its costs are resting on the shoulders of the commission. A meeting

was held last month with Martin, Rawn and members of the museum’s board and staff. Martin said he felt the museum’s board and the university should take an active role in handling the house.

“It is the magnitude and totally the situation we’re finding ourselves in at this point that’s bringing this about,” he said.

The museum had about 5,800 visitors in 2017 and about 5,500 visitors each in 2018 and last year. Its director, Angie Albright, took over in 2016, shortly after Rawn was hired.

Albright said visitor numbers were strong at the beginning of the year before the pandemic ushered closings across the state. The museum’s hours were reduced from six days a week to Thursday, Friday and Saturday after opening this month. Staff is now Albright and one part-time employee, as opposed to two full-time and three part-time employees.

Closing down a tourism site to the public seems counter to the commission’s goal of promoting tourism, Albright said.

“Whatever kind of business model it can operate under, whether I’m a part of that or not, I just believe profoundly in our community stories and how we shape our community identity,” she said. Stacy Ryburn can be reached by email at sryburn@nwadg.com or on Twitter @stacyryburn.