Milwaukee Public Museum president and CEO Ellen Censky and chief planning officer Katie Sanders joined the Milwaukee Rotary Club recently to discuss the transformation of the Milwaukee Public Museum. MPM is planning to build a new 230,000-square-foot development at the northeast corner of North Sixth Street and McKinley Avenue.
Censky said the museum is planning for a $150 million private fundraising campaign to support the project to go along with an anticipated $90 million in public support from the state and county.
The costs for the development and construction of the new facility are projected at $170 million, but that total swells to $240 million when including the cost of purchasing the site, transitioning to the new building and moving collections, building out space for Betty Brinn Children’s Museum and growing MPM’s endowment.
As far as large fundraising campaigns go, a $150 million target would position MPM “between (Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra) and the art museum”, referring to the Calatrava addition in the early 2000s. MSO leaders say they are nearing completion on the $139 million campaign to support the Bradley Symphony Center project and build the organization’s endowment.
“So, it’s not the biggest private fundraising done in this community,” Censky said. “But, again, remember we consider ourselves not just this community’s museum, but the whole state’s museum, so we will not just be raising money in this community; we plan that to be a statewide effort.
In partnership with the Rotary Club of Milwaukee.
