The Queens Museum of Art has been an MTA member since 1992.
As the Queens Museum of Art celebrates its 25th anniversary, the board is creating a vision for the future. “Developing a board that will serve the museum today and in the 21st century is a number-one concern,” says executive director Carma Fauntleroy. The museum is aggressively focusing on board composition: cultivating, recruiting, and orienting trustees who have the diverse expertise and backgrounds the museum needs.
Like many urban institutions, the Queens Museum serves a rapidly changing constituency. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Queens is the most ethnically diverse county in the United States, with 2 million residents who speak more than 70 languages and come from more than 120 nations. The museum has changed, too, from an art center that depended on trustees’ hands-on involvement to a professionally staffed museum with a $2 million budget that needs its board to generate resources and raise visibility. The recent expansion and renovation of museum facilities in the historic New York City Building, the last remaining structure from the 1939 World’s Fair, resulted in a new image and expanded programming.
Two years ago, revisions to the museum bylaws were implemented to limit trustee service to three consecutive three-year terms. With more positions to fill each year, the board now takes an active, purposeful approach to identifying and recruiting trustees from the community. A board composition analysis singled out three needs: specific professional expertise, ethnic diversity, and variety in age; trustees were asked to suggest candidates in these categories. The second “class” of new trustees takes office this spring. The goal, Fauntleroy explains, is to find board members who fit these categories, “can contribute and seek financial support, and provide the expertise we need to move ahead.”
In its quest for a broader pool of prospects, the museum competes with larger, better-known institutions in Manhattan. Board president Constance Cooke says the museum is working to “reach out and invite people in the community to identify with us.” A new marketing plan is in the works. She describes the consistent personal effort required to make connections with different communities. Through relationships she built while director of the Queens Borough Public Library (she is now retired), Cooke has been able to pinpoint possible trustees and let community leaders know about the museum’s interest in diversifying its board. Local government officials, corporations, and the Chamber of Commerce are all resources Cooke uses and recommends.
The infusion of beginning trustees led the museum to create its first board orientation program — a useful experience for both new and current trustees — and a revised board manual. During the transition, board leaders took care to assure continuous leadership. Cooke, who became president last July, has been a trustee for eight years. Her predecessor Murray Tarnapoll now chairs the nominating committee.
