The N&R’s Doug Clark says the International Civil Rights Museum can be saved:
Critics complain about the low number of visitors. That’s a problem. So, have you bought an admission ticket and been through the museum?
I have, and it’s a worthwhile experience. I’ve also bought some items — a coffee mug, a book, note cards — in its gift shop.
By now, 3 1/2 years after its opening, everyone in Guilford County should have been there. Whether or not the museum gets more public support, it ought to get more support from the public — meaning us, the people who live here.
Is it being managed and marketed as well as it should be? The council needs to consider that. It ought to see a plan for how $750,000 in city money would be spent. There should be reasonable expectations of success.
But regular folks shouldn’t need a marketing campaign. They shouldn’t need an invitation. They should just go and help out.
Save the museum. Buy a ticket. Buy a coffee mug in the gift shop. Learn something while you’re there.
Bad enough Grits Gauger insulting our intelligence with his cornpone humor, but we expect more from Doug Clark— evidently he didn’t read the numbers in his own reporter’s story. If every man woman and child in Guilford County paid the adult ticket rate, it would put the smallest of dents in the museum’s massive $30 million debt.
Regarding the museum’s $1.5 million request from the city, Clark says he “would ask why the request should not stop at $750,000. See how that’s spent. If necessary, give some more later.” Yeah, I’d say it will be necessary.
