Heard Museum has good, bad fiscal news

Heard Museum is struggling to keep its branch in Surprise afloat, but there isn't the same concern for the branch museum in north Scottsdale.

Last week, the Surprise City Council approved $71,150 to aid the fledgling Heard Museum West in balancing its fiscal 2008 budget.

Since opening two years ago, the Surprise museum has been unable to draw enough visitors to its gallery or its gift shop. In an effort to cut costs, museum officials reduced its hours from six to three days through September.

But that's not the case at Heard Museum North Scottsdale.

"We have 12 years of experience in the north Scottsdale market," said Juliet Martin, director of marketing communications for the Heard Museum in Phoenix. "North is doing very well."

Between July 2007 and May 31, 13,420 people visited the Scottsdale branch.

"It's a bigger facility for us, and that gives us an opportunity to show more exhibits there," Martin said. "We think we have made good inroads at reaching out to the community."

One major challenge facing Heard Museum West is its location, away from a major street and in an area that's seen much construction. Its nearest intersection is Bullard Avenue and Bell Road.

"It's tucked in there and hidden," Martin said of the building.

Scottsdale Heard moved in 2007

Heard Museum outgrew its first Scottsdale location at el Pedregal Festival Marketplace. At the time, not much else surrounded the marketplace, yet the museum survived.

"The community was very small out there and was very supportive," Martin said, noting that the area became a tourist destination.

Construction of the current 11,000-square-foot Scottsdale facility was completed last year. The $3 million facility was built with two exhibit galleries, an interpretive garden, a larger gift shop and a cafe.

The location at the Summit at Scottsdale shopping center, 32633 N. Scottsdale Road, relies on two in-house businesses to support the satellite museum.

The first revenue source is from visitors, most of whom pay from $2 to $5 for admission. Children under 6 years old, Native Americans and Heard Museum members are free.

"The other is our museum shop. It works a lot like a trading post," Martin said.

'A huge trust factor'

The museum purchases its inventory for the shop directly from artists, which allows visitors and customers to know they are buying the real deal.

"A lot of people like to shop and buy from the Heard shop because it's guaranteed authentic," Martin said. "There's a huge trust factor and knowledge base around the material that we purchase."

However, the museum requires a steady flow of visitors to remain open.

Free on Saturdays in July

To ease the seasonal summer slowdown in the number of visitors, Heard Museum has teamed with department store Target to allow free admission on Saturdays.

At Heard Museum North Scottsdale, the exhibit Tradition and Innovation, which includes pieces from the Inuit art community in Canada's Arctic, is on display until Oct. 5.

The ongoing exhibit, Choices and Change: American Indian Artists in the Southwest, features an array of paintings, sculptures, jewelry, baskets, and pottery from the Heard Museum collection.

"People come in and they are amazed what they see," Martin said. "That's why these programs are really important."

Graziella Manfroni (left) and Lisa DeZotti look at Native American woven baskets in the Heard Museum North Scottsdale shop.