A Tale of Two Museums

Charles Allis Art Museum (top) Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum (bottom).

As Milwaukee County Supervisors contend with funding requests and budget deficits coming at them from all angles, cultural institutions are being reminded that they are already on the chopping block and it’s up to them to save their necks.

In recent weeks supervisors have heard updates from the two organizations working to take control of the Charles Allis Art Museum and the Villa Terrace Museum and Gardens. They heard a tale of two museums. For the Villa Terrace it appears to be the best of times. For the Charles Allis the most challenging of times.

The two museums were previously operated by one entity and owned by the county. But the county split them up in 2024, handing Villa Terrace to its friends group and Charles Allis to the Charles Allis Villa Terrace, Inc. (CAVT), the non-profit that previously ran both of them.

Both organizations have an option to purchase the museums and their collections for $1 each, provided they meet certain requirements. CAVT is being offered much less funding support than the Friends of Villa Terrace and also faces a shorter timeline before it must exercise an option to purchase. But the county has also placed much lighter requirements on CAVT than the friends group.

The friends group is on track to exceed to fundraising and revenue requirements. It has already raised $3.7 million, far more than the $400,000 it needed to raise by this time. “The Villa Terrace Museum and Gardens is off to a rocking start,” said Barbara Velez, a museum board member

CAVT needs to raise $100,000 by the end of the year, and it remains to be seen if it can.

When the split was finalized at the end of 2024, the Charles Allis lost event revenue from Villa Terrace, which was its primary source of income. Its funding from the county was also split in half, with 50% going to the friends group to run Villa Terrace for the next year. As a result, nearly the entire Allis museum staff was laid off. If the organization does not raise $100,000 by the end of the year, the county will not provide operating support in 2026, per the agreement.

During a meeting of the county board’s Committee on Parks and Culture this month, Sup. Sheldon Wasserman asked interim Executive Director Marquayla Ellison what will happen if the organization does not receive county funding next year. She said the non-profit would likely fold.

The group still doesn’t have an permanent executive director, or a full board. The county is asking the group to achieve this by the end of August. Ellison told the committee the organization is on the verge of hiring an interim-executive director.

“Why are you hiring for an interim director when you needed a long term permanent executive director?” Wasserman asked.

Ellison explained that they can’t hire for a role that may not still exist on Jan. 1 next year. “I think it would be nicer to tell people… that we can guarantee their employment through the end of the year, but we also are aligned with raising 100k by the end of the year.”

Noting that there are fewer than six months left in the year, Sup. Anne O’Connor asked, “Do you feel like that is sufficient time for someone on a part time basis to be able to address the myriad of issues facing the institution?”

Ellison said she thought it was, adding that all of the tasks would not fall to the executive director. The non-profit has recently contracted with Mame McCully to consult on fundraising and the museum’s business model.

From the beginning of negotiations with the county, CAVT officials said the organization was not set up, or prepared, for a fundraising campaign. This has not fundamentally changed.

“I would say, instead of fundraising, we are kind of rebuilding in many different ways,” Ellison said. “So revisiting our events and rentals and contracts, re-establishing our liquor license, but looking at many ways to get to the $100,000 by the end of the year.”

In the meantime, the organization is looking to grants for revenue. It applied for a $25,000 grant from the Herzfeld Foundation and was awarded $10,000, Ellison told the committee.

After the meeting, CAVT treasurer Thomas Frenn reported to the board that the non-profit has raised $40,000 in grants so far this year, not counting the Herzfeld grant, and has raised roughly $9,000 in cash.

Wasserman asked why the group was still calling itself the Charles Allis Villa Terrace, Inc. “I think it’s very confusing,” he said.

Ellison said the public name is Charles Allis, and that renaming the non-profit was low on the list of priorities right now.

The way the deal was structured in 2024, if CAVT folds, the Charles Allis art collection will either go to Villa Terrace, or be sold, Erica Goblet, county economic development director, told the committee.  In either case, the historic, 114-year-old mansion, designed by famed Milwaukee architect Alexander C. Eschweiler, will be sold.

CAVT still owes the friends group money, according to a report from the organization. There is the matter of $30,000 in rental income Villa Terrace is owed, per the deal, Velez said. There is also $350,000 from a bequest earmarked for the Villa Terrace it has not received.

CAVT is waiting to release these funds until it signs a lease agreement with the county, Ellison said. But the county is waiting to formalize the agreement until CAVT can show some progress in building a self-sustaining organization.