Home>Museum News >Group Launches Push for Finger Lakes Museum

NEWS AND TRENDS - Rochester Business Journal - 8/29/08
Group launches push for Finger Lakes museum

By NATE DOUGHERTY
Rochester Business Journal
Less than a year after a trip to the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks inspired John Adamski, he and a team of officials are working to bring a museum of natural and cultural history to the Finger Lakes.

A 22-member group, including Finger Lakes tourism and local wildlife officials, met last week to discuss the museum's mission and to brainstorm ideas. The museum would include wildlife displays like those at the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks, known as the Wild Center, which has indoor displays of native fish as well as outdoor observation areas. It also would focus on the cultural history of the region, similar to the focus of the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake.
The group has formed a board of directors and is applying for 501(c)(3) status so it may begin fundraising. Members also separated into subcommittees to research possible locations, determine costs, devise fundraising and marketing efforts and develop master plans.

Since he first wrote about the idea in the spring issue of Life in the Finger Lakes magazine, Adamski said response to the idea has been overwhelmingly positive.
"With all the support, I found myself in the position you always hear, 'Someone ought to do something,'" said Adamski, a Dansville resident and wildlife photographer. "We're working with a core group of 40 volunteers, and I've also got a one-inch-thick stack of e-mails from others asking how they can help."
The museum has gained the support of the Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance. President Cynthia Kimble will serve on the finance and marketing committees and said she plans to help form other partnerships within the community.
"With tourism being a large driver in the economy in the Finger Lakes, adding one more entity that will help attract tourists will just enhance the experience," Kimble said. "We have an arm of the Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance devoted to economic development, and we will be working with the museum group as an incubator to help get it up and going."

Organizers also discussed the idea of the museum serving as a linking point to other tourism attractions in the region. William Banaszewski, professor emeritus at Finger Lakes Community College and a member of the museum's board, said the museum could include nature trails and information on where in the Finger Lakes visitors could travel to see bald eagles, white deer and other wildlife.
"The idea is to have a lot of links and partnerships with other areas in the Finger Lakes," said Banaszewski, founder and longtime chairman of the environmental conservation department at FLCC. "Being able to point people to other attractions in the region is a critical part of what we're doing."

Though plans remain in what organizers call "embryonic stages," Adamski said he envisions either a campus with three buildings or a large building with three halls-one devoted to agriculture and winemaking, another for Native American history and the last for natural history. Included in the natural history exhibit would be an aquarium featuring fish native to the Finger

Lakes and possibly a cordoned-off section including invasive species.
The 44,000-square-foot facility would contain antique boats and farm equipment and outdoor exhibits with live specimens of native wildlife in natural settings, museum documents show. Detailed exhibits will show how each of the 11 Finger Lakes were created by glaciers which receded through the area 12,000 years ago.

An art and photo gallery, auditorium, a bookstore and a research library would be included as well as flex space for other museums and historical societies within the 14 Finger Lakes counties to present exhibits on a rotating basis.

The museum has received a green light from the state Department of Education, which charters museums. It also has received a commitment from officials at the Wild Center, in the Adirondacks community of Tupper Lake, to give support through the planning and design phases.

In July, Wild Center officials took Adamski on a tour of the inner workings of the museum, meeting with the curator and museum and facilities directors to talk about what went into the creation of the museum, which opened in 2006.
"They've been through all of what needs to happen to start a museum and can help show us the ropes," Adamski said. "They've even said they'll help get us in touch with exhibit designers who worked with them."
natdougherty@rbj.net / 585-546-8303

08/29/2008 (C) Rochester Business Journal