Cambridge fashion museum’s future in doubt over debt issues
“We’re tired.”
That’s how Fashion History Museum founders Jonathan Walford and Kenn Norman feel as they wait for a decision by the City of Cambridge that could make or break the future of historical clothing curation in the city.
Walford made a plea to city council during 2024 budget talks last month, sharing the financial issues faced at their Hespeler location.
In 2023, the museum was paying $79,000 in rent for the year to the city, which has owned the building since 2020.
Even with a city grant of almost $52,000, 2023’s rent was only paid until May — $33,166 in total — the remainder went to utilities, maintenance and insurance.
Walford requested forgiveness of the $46,433 of remaining rent due, a reduction in rent to $1 a year — which Norman contends is in line with Canadian museums across the country — and annual support of $35,000 for utilities, maintenance and insurance.
Three months into the new year the past-due rent has climbed to about $64,000.
The museum is slated to open for the season on March 30 and Walford admits that could be in jeopardy.
He believes they won’t hear if they are getting a city grant for 2024 until April or May. He and Norman are currently using personal credit cards to pay staff.
“If they demand the rent, then yeah, we’re closing. We don’t have $64,000,” Walford said.
“If they decide to forgive the rent, reduce it to $1 and give us $35,000 a year to cover the cost of actually maintaining their building, through insurance, maintenance and upkeep, and overhead, we will be here,” he said.
“One time we were asked, if we were supported, would we be committed the city? We committed to the city, and we’ll stay here if they commit to us. If they don’t commit to us, then we will have to close.”
The pair don’t think the ask is unreasonable, considering that under city ownership the museum pays more than double the rent they paid in previous years.
From 2015 to 2019, the not-forprofit museum’s annual rent was locked in at $36,000, which included maintenance and utilities. The amount was covered by a city grant set at $88,000 in 2016. But their grant was whittled down to $52,569 in 2020.
When the city bought the building in September 2020, the museum had already paid $15,000 in rent from January to May, and a rent increase of $19,200 from June to August. For the remainder of the year, the city charged them $6,633 in rent.
In 2021, the city charged $79,000 in rent, but they received the same grant as in 2020. A federal COVID-19 subsidy for rent made up the difference.
The rent remained the same in 2022, with a city grant of $103,000. The balance paid some of the insurance, maintenance and utilities, but did not cover all of it, Walford said.
Everything came to a head financially in 2023.
After Walford’s presentation to council, Coun. Mike Devine commented in chambers, saying, “What these guys have done is value added to the community. I agree with his request — I entirely agree with it.”
But so far, Walford said, a decision has not been made.
The city said in an email they are unable to comment at this time about the request, which, Norman said was first made a year ago.
“I don’t know what they’re waiting for,” Walford said.
The stall has caused a trickledown effect, Norman said. Since the museum is considered to be operating in deficit, their application for Ontario Trillium Foundation Resilient Funding to hire three staff members for 2025 and 2026 was rejected, he said.
“We may have ended all of our funding from outside sources, other than self-generated income like admissions, memberships and donations,” Norman said.
“This is strictly the actions of the City of Cambridge now causing this domino effect and the consequences,” he said. “We went through a motion made last March at city council to ask city staff to review the lease, and it’s been sitting there ever since.”
Besides funding, the museum is stuck, space-wise, Walford said.
With all the artifacts and displays, they could easily move into a space three times the 3,000 square feet of exhibition area they currently have. The other 3,000 square feet in the current building is used for support, library, office and storage space, and a caretaking apartment.
The only complaint from visitors, Walford said, is the museum is too small.
The pair are exploring having a satellite site to display oversized artifacts, mannequins and resale stock that take up 500-sqaure-feet of off-site storage space costing over $12,000 a year.
They believe a satellite space in Toronto, Oakville, Guelph or Stratford could generate money for the museum.
Until then, the duo is trying to rationalize their future in Cambridge.
“When we were approached by mayor (Doug) Craig at the time to actually establish ourselves here in this city, we did not anticipate that there would be such a difficult journey ahead of us,” Norman said.
He added issues are coming as Hespeler’s downtown is becoming more vibrant, with restaurants and events, and the museum itself bringing in around 12,000 visitors a year.
“I’m in an emotional state and I don’t want to be in an emotional state. This is a business decision. But it’s just bad business,” Norman said.
Three months into the new year the past-due rent has climbed to about $64,000