Five years later, EMP isn't striking much of a chord

The Experience Music Project, which opened to the accompaniment of an international oompa media marching band in June 2000, seems brilliant on its surface: a high-tech celebration of rock 'n' roll's heritage housed in a unique building that is among Seattle's cultural jewels.

A P-I SPECIAL REPORT

- Rough times for EMP
- A 'secretive culture'
- EMP no Hall of Fame
- What if the music dies?
- Uses for an empty EMP
- EMP responds
- Sound off: Your opinion?

The expectations were huge -- that it would attract 800,000 visitors each year, that it would provide a dazzling array of edgy exhibits, that it could thrive without billionaire co-founder Paul Allen's dollars.

But as the museum's fifth anniversary approaches, things aren't going as planned: All rotating exhibits have been canceled or frozen, and of the roughly 250 people employed by EMP, 14 percent are temps who fear their contracts won't be renewed because attendance is half of what was expected.

There's nothing to indicate that Seattle's interest in EMP is growing -- between 2001 and 2003, admission revenues were down 46 percent.

The Electric Bus, the icon of EMP's education program, was sold in 2003, and just two months after denials from a top executive, EMP downsized its administrative offices, moving from Third Avenue and Broad Street to the old AAA building just off Aurora Avenue North last Friday.

A shift in the museum's structure preceded the move to the new headquarters, named Launch Pad (music lovers on staff console themselves by calling it "LP"). Former chief executive Bob Santelli's title changed from director of programs to artistic director. He is expected to focus on fund raising and development. Successfully operating a cultural non-profit is tough. The economy crashed after 9/11 and in the past two years, Seattle saw the demise of the Fringe Festival and Bellevue Art Museum. Empty Space Theatre and 911 Media Arts Center are barely hanging on.

At EMP, last year kicked off with a massive round of layoffs, a corporate turnaround man as the new sheriff and deep budget cuts. Now the turnaround man is gone, the museum is on its third chief executive officer since 2003.

Are the austerity measures enough to get EMP back on track?

More than a dozen insiders, most of whom spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from Allen's lawyers (all signed intimidating non-disclosure agreements as a condition of employment), say EMP's woes can be blamed on its ruthless management style, its culture of secrecy and its lack of a community mission. If these things don't change, the museum will continue to struggle.

The famously deep pockets funding EMP seem to prevent arts supporters from seeing it as an institution in need of help, despite the fact that Allen has said it should be able to survive without relying on his money -- easier said than done.

"Non-profits aren't meant to be profitable and most don't even manage to break even, unless you're the Getty," said Fred Silber, who headed up EMP's legal department.

Whereas most non-profits tend to sprout from small, grass-roots efforts, EMP just sort of appeared, wholly formed, on Seattle's doorstep. And it's been a bumpy ride ever since.

In four years, the museum has experienced three rounds of layoffs and diminishing ticket sales. The last of the original curatorial crew, senior curator Jim Fricke, left in July to become the Harley-Davidson museum's curatorial director in Milwaukee.

EMP spokeswoman Paige Prill remains mum on the possibility of more layoffs. "All the best organizations have developed the capacity to adjust their activities to existing and emerging priorities," she said. "And any staffing changes or adjustments are a part of this natural process."

In November 2003, then-CEO Santelli stepped down to become director of programs and was replaced the next month by Paul Abramowitz, who had neither curatorial experience nor a background in music. But he is respected as someone who gets flailing companies back on track by slashing costs -- which is what he did at EMP shortly after his arrival, cutting the staff by 37 percent.

"Anyone who came in and laid off people would turn it around because you're going to reduce salary, aren't you? It doesn't take any particular talent or genius to do that," said one former staffer. "Then what?"

Abramowitz's yearlong contract ended in December and Kristy Dooley (an employee of Allen's Vulcan Inc.) stepped in as interim leader. Prill said an outside firm (whose name she wouldn't provide) is seeking a new CEO.

Santelli -- who, despite the layoffs, has maintained a $267,000 annual salary -- says he's "really happy" with changes made over the past year. "It's a combination of getting your expenses down to a point that is manageable ... and creating a relationship with corporations and foundations and major donors so that they will support the institution."

He adds that anyone who thinks EMP ought to have more than 400,000 visitors a year is misguided in their expectations. But just days before its opening, an EMP representative told the P-I that 800,000 visitors were expected annually.

Fiscal future

EMP officials make it sound as though the layoffs, budget cuts and shrinking attendance were all part of its plan. It's not as if the museum is broke -- its assets include the building and its collection. EMP also received a $1 million donation from the Raynier Institute & Foundation earlier this year. Prill says 2004 revenues are up (possibly owing to the significant cutbacks). Until the museum files its 2004 taxes in November, the public won't know for sure how it fared last year.

Regardless, Prill is proud of the 27 exhibits and spotlights shown at EMP since its opening. The museum is a venue for local and big-name performers alike, and its staff certainly can put on a successful show -- the 2003 Annie Leibovitz exhibit, last year's Steven Jesse Bernstein show and the current Bob Dylan retrospective stand out.

But there are no new exhibits on the horizon this year, meaning that EMP could become a Hard Rock Cafe-style theme park, unworthy of its non-profit status. Insiders say 2005's only exhibit (a roots-of-rock deal) is on hold -- indefinitely -- and that management wants to recycle old exhibits (such as 2003's hip-hop exhibit, "Yes Yes Y'all," which sources say will return this summer) rather than creating new ones.

"We will never consider ourselves a stagnant institution," said Prill, adding that "longer-term plans have not yet been finalized." She offered nothing when asked about new exhibits, but she mentioned that the Dylan exhibit will show through fall, attracting summer tourists.

And while Allen's Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, which opened in June, isn't getting rave reviews (Prill says it had 117,000 visitors in 2004), it's at least functioning. That's more than one could say about Artist's Journey, the buggy EMP "ride" it replaced.

SFM director Donna Shirley already has cut her hours in half, Prill said, in order to spend more time with her family, but she added that Shirley's "commitment as a director is still very much in place."

Allen has another cultural venture in the works in central London, one which echoes EMP. The billionaire bought an old hospital there for $8 million in 1996 and has spent more than $100 million to transform it into a private club -- with live venues, a gallery studio space and a restaurant -- for music fans. The Hospital only recently opened, but Fortune magazine already has tagged it a "money-loser." The June 2003 story mentions projected pretax losses until 2007 ($9.6 million in 2003; $5.9 million in 2007).

The Hospital and EMP have a few things in common: a breathless promise of better living through music, high-tech gadgets and a reputation for being money pits. The Leibovitz show and "Yes Yes Y'all" also have been on display there.

If there is a plan for EMP's next five years, it hasn't been articulated. Santelli said that one will soon be drafted by the board of directors, most of whom are Allen's business associates and lawyers employed by his favored firm. Employees say the board meetings are a sham, that they are held only to maintain the museum's non-profit status.

"We have board meetings. They occur. Decisions are made within the board meetings," said Santelli. "Employees are not at the board meetings, so it's speculative for them to determine or say what goes on or what doesn't go on." They're not the only ones who don't know what happens at the meetings: The P-I's request for board meeting minutes were denied as a matter of procedure, said Prill, not in an attempt to hide anything.

Possible missteps

The museum's low attendance could be blamed, at least in part, on its steep admission fee. It starts at $19.95, but visitors who want the full EMP experience pay closer to $30. Renting an MEG (a hand-held gadget used to download commentary and other information about exhibits) costs $3 more. Plus, admission to the Sci-Fi Museum (housed in the 13,000 square feet formerly occupied by Artist's Journey, which used to be included in the cost of the EMP visit) costs an additional $6.95 -- or $29.95 for a combo EMP/SFM pass.

A $19.95 admission fee is virtually unheard of in the museum world outside weightier institutions such as the previously struggling Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and New York's Museum of Modern Art, which still has free Friday nights and is 4 1/2 times the size of EMP. The only free areas in EMP are the Digital Lab (an electronic archive of its collection), the JBL Theater (for film screenings, etc.) and the Costume Gallery, which is the lobby joining EMP to SFM.

Attendance may be increased by a Disney music exhibit that was planned for this year. Insiders say the show has been postponed for budgetary reasons, but Prill said EMP wants to time the show to the 50th anniversary of Disneyland Records next year. An even greater source of friction among staffers is the possibility that Allen's Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection will be shown there. His collection is rumored to include roughly 40 pieces (by Van Gogh, Gauguin and Monet, among others). The show would guarantee a bump in attendance, even if it has nothing to do with music.

Santelli said he can't confirm items on the museum's still-unannounced 2005 schedule. Staffers say that the Impressionist show is being curated by Vulcan, not EMP, which again, stirs the ire of insiders who bristle against what they term "the Vulcan grip."

"What Mr. Allen would want to do is up to him, not up to me," said Santelli, who stopped short of denying the show is being considered. Prill denied knowing about the show.

But admissions aren't the only potential sources of revenue. EMP is not accredited by the American Association of Museums, which would make it eligible for additional grants. However, the AAM accreditation process is an arduous undertaking that requires almost total transparency and an independent board, two things EMP lacks. Santelli says that getting accreditation hasn't been a priority, but could be in the future.

EMP's board also apparently has considered selling off its collection of about 100,000 pieces, a move that has the staff questioning EMP's mission to protect and maintain a cultural heritage. Prill says museums routinely evaluate their collections, and that "any purchases or sales would be part of that larger process."

A significant management failure was the board's game of musical chairs with EMP's liquor license. State liquor laws prohibit any license holder from accepting sponsorship funds from alcohol companies. In an attempt to attract such sponsorships, they transferred the liquor license from the Turntable Restaurant to an entity outside EMP called Museum Food Services Inc. (the name on the license is Nathaniel Brown, a vice president at Vulcan).

In the event of a show sponsored by, say, Miller Light, EMP could then outsource a beer garden through Museum Food Services Inc. as a contractor. But it was all for nothing, and Prill said "no significant liquor sponsorship materialized." After about two years, the liquor license was transferred back to the Turntable.

However, EMP's party line is rosy; Prill even said that non-alcoholic sponsorship revenues (excluding Allen) grew by 41 percent between 2003 and 2004.

The mission

Educating the public about the history of rock 'n' roll is certainly a worthy goal. Which, in theory, is what EMP is doing via programs such as its summer Arts Camp (which was canceled last year, but is back on this year) and its sponsorship of the Sound Off underage band competition.

"I think EMP is currently doing some good stuff, and that I think that we need an EMP done right in Seattle," said Dave Meinert, club owner, band manager and concert promoter, adding that EMP has "a lot of great potential."

But insiders say the intangible good that comes from thoughtful, well-curated shows is no longer a priority, citing the Disney and Impressionist shows as proof.

"The promise of the institution far outweighs the premise of it. I don't even understand, necessarily, the mission of the organization, having been there a year. It's not well articulated ... to the staff, and to the public," said curator Larry Reid, who voluntarily left EMP in June.

They've "failed miserably" in identifying and attracting an audience, said Reid. Indeed, it seems EMP has focused on bringing in tourists and less on attracting real music fans locally.

Jonathan Moore, director of Jasiri Artist Management in Seattle, has worked with EMP on several projects, including the "Northwest Hip-Hop" exhibit and the museum's summer camp. On the whole, he says, the experience was positive, but like his partner, Marcus Lalario, Moore hasn't visited EMP just for fun. It's too much of "a rock-oriented thing" for him. Like many people who have regard for the history of the art form they love, Moore also struggles with the concept of taking a live animal like rock or hip-hop and placing it under glass cases.

"When something is in a museum, it's no longer living. It's a relic," said Moore, echoing what other artists said.

Lalario, who organized shows at EMP, said the internal structure of the museum was tricky to deal with. But as a music fan and a major player in the local hip-hop community, he thought there wasn't much there for him.

"They've run it more as a tourist destination rather than outreach into the community," another former employee said.

"Maybe they should focus more on people who live here."

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