The Online Hermann-Paul Project

I wanted to follow up on the financial state of the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi. One year after its opening the Ohr was not generating enough revenue to cover its operating expenses. The O’Keefe Foundation voted to extend another $100,000.00 to the museum but that barely covers electricity for a year. What I learned from this second look at the Ohr was enlightening.

Museum officials planned to appear before the Biloxi City Council  to request financial assistance; that appearance never materialized. Instead they sat for interviews with the New York Times. That makes sense. The Ohr is suffering for lack of paying guests. A Times interview could help to raise its national profile.

While wading through these stories, I browsed the comments to sample local opinion. Needless to say, the cultural divide we see on the national level thrives locally as well. There were instances of class warfare, “Building a Frank Geary [sic] design in Biloxi was casting pearls before swine. Listen to the pigs oink!” (Before you call anyone swine, learn to spell the architect’s name). And some ol’ fashioned victimization, “Just for your information, I am a Christian woman. I am not swine.” (He didn’t call you by name but you still took it personally.) And some Tea Party sentiments, “If the PRIVATE Ohr-O’Keefe museum can’t pay its way, then, like other businesses they should shut  down.  No taxpayer money should be used to support this. ” And on and on.

When John Edwards looked up from his mistress and said, “There are two Americas” he was more correct than he could have known. However, his scope wasn’t large enough; we’re divided by more than financial strata.  (Yes, I used two elitist semicolons in one blog post – what are going to do about it?)

When the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art opened in Biloxi, Mississippi it was greeted with skepticism. After all, when you think of the ‘Redneck Riviera’ the fine arts don’t generally come to mind.

But Biloxi is home to George Ohr, the experimental American ceramics artist whose work can be seen as a harbinger of abstract form which became popular in the mid-20th century. If the location wasn’t the best cultural fit, Mississippi certainly seemed like the proper place to showcase the Mad Potter of Biloxi.

Sadly, it seems, the naysayers might be right. The museum is teetering on the edge of failure just one year after its opening. The Ohr has exhausted its grant money and revenues aren’t enough to cover operating expenses. Out of options, the trustees asked Biloxi for financial assistance but this isn’t the best economic climate to approach a municipality with one’s hat in hand.

The O’Keefe Foundation voted to extend another hundred thousand dollars which will cover the museum’s electric bill for a year but its salaries alone amount to $450,000.00 a year. It’s hard to imagine the Ohr will be open a year from now….