Vacaville Museum reopens on Thursday
Featured exhibit is on the Italian roots of Solano County
In a survey released in late July of 760 museum directors, 33 percent said there was either a “significant risk” of closing permanently by the fall or that they didn’t know if their institutions would survive the economic fallout due to the coronavirus.
But, after closing for several months due to state and county COVID-19 regulations, the Vacaville Museum on 213 Buck Avenue is reopening on Thursday, October 8. Through October, the museum will be open Thursday through Saturday from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Days and hours could be revised in November.
“We understand it’s really important to keep our community and our employees and our volunteers safe,” said Executive Director Joanie Erickson. “So we’ve complied and in the meantime, we’ve been doing everything we can to get ready to open back up. We’ve purchased the equipment we need and the signage and have a plan in place.”
But keeping the museum afloat during the pandemic has not been without its economic perils.
“We certainly suffered like many other businesses,” said Erickson. “Our big challenge has been that the majority of the fundraising comes from events and with the pandemic the way it was you simply couldn’t have people safely at events. And certainly now people are very focused on helping those who are hurt by the fires. So it’s been a struggle for all non-profits, I think particularly for the arts.”
The museum took advantage of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program
that was specifically designed to keep workforces employed during the COVID-19 crisis. In addition to Erickson, the museum employs registrar Heidi Casebolt and administrative assistant Kristy Vasquez. Casebolt makes sure all the museum objects are properly documented and cared for and does historical research. Vasquez takes care of communications and social media.
The museum relies heavily on a superb cadre of volunteers, members of the Museum Guild.
“Without them, we couldn’t do this,” said Erickson. “They do amazing things.”
Erickson added that the museum’s survival during this time was aided by some very generous patrons and a matching campaign led by Jean Cox, a member of the museum’s Board of Trustees.
Cox, who has volunteered at the museum since it first opened in 1984, said, “I got several strong supporters of the museum to put up a set amount of money and then we put out a letter to all of the membership challenging them to donate to the museum and we, in turn, would match whatever they donated. We challenged them to donate collectively up to $10,000 and we ended up with a total of $20, 130.”
The museum also participated in the Travis Credit Union’s matching challenge, which ended on September 30.
Cox has also revived a wildly popular fundraiser from five years ago called We Know Jack, which was the brainchild of Vacaville’s Lisa Rico. The concept is the same with a new name.
“Jean took Lisa’s very, very good roadmap, and with some advice and support from Lisa, we have Jack is Back,” said Erickson.
The 2015 fundraiser was built around 20 or so identical giant fiberglass jackrabbits which were then painted by local artists.
“We’re using a smaller, more upright jackrabbit,” said Cox, whose model this year is the terra cotta jackrabbit from her front porch which is about 25 inches high. “We recruited sponsors and artists and we have 24 rabbits. Each artist took them and put their own interpretation on them. Two are still being painted, while 22 have come back from the artists.”
The rabbits were on display for the community in the museum courtyard on September 12. Over 100 people attended, around 25 at a time to ensure social distancing. Now the bunnies are being placed around the community to be on exhibit with the artist’s name, the rabbit’s name and the spon
sor’s name. They will be out there until spring when they will be brought back to the museum courtyard for a people’s choice parade. Attendees will vote on their favorite and then the artists will be rewarded first, second, and third-place cash prizes. The following weekend the rabbits will be auctioned off to benefit the museum.
Sponsors gave a f lat amount to pay for the costs of the rabbits and promotional material. Artists got a small stipend to cover the cost of materials. The rabbits are displayed at the sponsor’s business, including places like the Vacaville Opera House, Holzapple Construction, Stems Florists and Western Ranch Supply. There are also multiple rabbits on display in the window of the museum.
The museum’s current featured exhibit displays the Italian heritage of Solano County. It focuses on Italian-American life and the immigrants who came to Solano County at the beginning of the 20th century and through the time of the first and second world wars and the influence the immigrants had on the community.
“Many of the early Italian immigrants came as prisoners of war,” explained Erickson. “They were Italian soldiers when Italy was part of the Axis and when they surrendered (in September 1943). So there were Italian prisoners of war at the Benicia Armory during World War II. And they were treated so well and they just learned to love the country and many of them stayed.”
The exhibit features paintings, many old photographs and artifacts, such as kitchen implements from the 1920s and old musical instruments brought over from Italy.
“There are some interesting stories in the pictures and the descriptions,” said Erickson. “For instance, there was a woman I believe it was in the 1940s, she was an American citizen but she married an Italian citizen who was living in the U.S. And because he wasn’t a citizen, she was stripped of her American citizenship and had to live as an alien. In the 1970s her family petitioned and had her citizenship reinstated. We have her original
birth certificate and passport showing how she went from being an American citizen to a registered alien and then all that she did to get back her citizenship.”
Erickson noted the parallels to today’s struggles in the United States concerning the issue of immigration.
“In many ways, we have been here before,” she said. “Negative attitudes about immigrants are nothing new, whether it was the Irish, the Italians. It just seems it is often what immigrants have to go through. It’s quite unfortunate. We hope we learn lessons.”
Erickson, who took over the helm from former Executive Director Lanie Keystone last January, has always loved museums and is thrilled with her new job.
“This is what is really for me exciting about this new job,” she said, “just being able to learn so much about the history and the culture of Solano County, so many things I didn’t know. That’s just been so much fun.”
Erickson, who worked in healthcare for 35 years as director of public affairs at both NorthBay Healthcare and Kaiser Permanente and as executive director of the Solano Coalition for Better Health, is very grateful for all the support she has received.
“This is a community museum and a lot of volunteers put a lot of time and effort into it,” she said. “I’ve never seen a non-profit, except for maybe the hospital guild, where the volunteers in the community are so involved in the operations. It’s very inspiring.”
And, unlike possibly a third of the museums in the country, the Vacaville Museum is surviving. Erickson hopes it will thrive.
“We don’t want to be one of those, so we’re going to work hard to show our value to the community and to do everything we can to make sure that we’re spending our resources wisely,” she said. “But it’s going to be a challenge.”
The museum is launching a new website at www.vacavillemuseum.org. You can also phone them at (707) 4474513 or email them at info@ vacavillemuseum.org.