Brooks Museum building – Memphis Flyer

The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art’s board of directors announced that the museum will have a new name, upon the opening of its riverfront location.

The museum will be known as the Memphis Art Museum in 2025.

“We have worked with the greater Memphis community for years on our vision for a new museum, and as it begins to take shape, we are proud to see that it will be a place for community and connectivity unlike anything in our city’s history,” said Museum Board president Carl Person. “It is truly Memphis’ art museum.”

During the new facility’s $180 million capital campaign, the board of directors offered a naming rights incentive for “lead gifts.” According to officials, Barbara and Pitt Hyde’s donations “earned them this right.”

“This is our city’s museum and should be known as such, now and forever,” said Barbara Hyde.

The museum was initially named in memory of Samuel H. Brooks in 1916 by his wife, Bessie Vance Brooks. The museum said that they plan to honor the original vision, as well as their “contributions to the founding collection” in the new facility.

“The Brooks name will remain attached to the collection – now one of the largest and most comprehensive in the Mid-South – that was assembled while the museum was located in Overton Park,” said the museum in a statement.

Mayor Jim Strickland said that the new name “reflects a dedication to welcome and celebrate everyone in our city.”

“While it has been my privilege to be involved with the Brooks for years, and the current building will maintain that name, I’m excited about the new museum’s place in our downtown’s future,” said Strickland.

Mayor-elect Paul Young also said that the Memphis Art Museum “will be a catalyst for the development of an even more culturally dynamic downtown landscape.”

Construction on the new museum, designed by Herzog & de Meuron and archimania, began in July 2023. According to the museum, the 122-square-foot design will provide 50 percent more gallery space, and 600 percent more art-filled public spaces than the Overton Park facility.

Kevin Barre Photography

Brooks Museum of Art

Other organizations would “love to have the opportunity” to move into the current location of the Brooks Museum of Art should the organization move, said Doug McGowan, the city’s chief operating officer.

The museum’s board of directors recently voted to add relocation to a list of its future facility needs, a move announced Tuesday. McGowan said, “I haven’t been given any indication that, if they decide to move, that it would be anywhere but here in the city of Memphis.”

A statement from Brooks officials said the museum is growing. That “is revealing some concerning limitations about our current physical plant, which we must address,” said the museum’s executive director Emily Ballew Neff. Brandon Dill

Emily Ballew Neff

Museum officials have been silent on the issue since the release of Tuedsay’s statement, giving no interviews or further details to media outlets.

McGowan said the city owns the museum building, which is maintained by city crews. Also, the Brooks gets about $571,448 annually from city taxpayers to run the museum and maintain the city’s assets there. It’s an agreement akin to the Memphis Zoological Society’s contract with the city to run the Memphis Zoo.

McGowan said Mayor Jim Strickland’s administration is “excited by the opportunity that they want to grow and expand” and that anything that would help the Brooks reach more people “is a good thing for the city.” But he said he understands the needs of a growing organization.

“We’re certainly willing and excited to help them do whatever we can to meet those needs,” McGowan said. “They’re a valuable partner here and there is obviously plenty of people that would love to have the opportunity to occupy that space, should they move. There’s plenty of compelling places in the city where they might consider moving.”

[pullquote-1] A (financial) year at the Brooks

The Brooks generated revenue of more than $4.2 million in 2014, according to the latest tax information filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The lion’s share of that — just more than $3.1 million — was from contributions and grants. Only $136,418 was made through admissions and other service fees.

After expenses, though, the Brooks lost $100,286 in 2014, according to tax documents. That was slightly better than the $166,662 the museum lost the previous year.

Brooks memberships brought in $506,667 in 2014. Fundraisers brought in $77,000.

In 2014, the Brooks dipped $1 million from its $5.4 million endowment fund. The fund ended the year at just more than $4.4 million.

Salaries were the largest expense for the museum in 2014. It paid around $2.3 million to its 152 employees that year.

The only employee to earn more than $100,000 was then-executive-director Cameron Kitchin, who made $141,224 as a base salary and had a benefits package worth $4,546.

Taxpayer art

McGowan said the Brooks nonprofit organization owns most of the art in the museum and some of it is on loan from other places. But the city owns a few pieces of art in the Brooks collection.

He said he wasn’t sure just how much of the art is city-owned. Nor was he sure how, exactly, the city came to own the pieces.
“Either it was given to us or we purchased it in some way, shape, or form years ago,” he said. “I do know it is the largest art collection in the state of Tennessee. It’s something for us to be proud of, and it’s a real state treasure here right in the city of Memphis.” [pullquote-2]