City Offers Temporary Safe Harbor to South Street Seaport Museum

Jonathan Boulware, the South Street Seaport Museum's waterfront director in charge of the insitution's six historic boats, has been named the museum's interim president. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

The city has thrown a lifeline to the South Street Seaport Museum, three days after the Museum of the City of New York ended its nearly two-year, temporary rescue of the sinking institution. 

As a temporary measure to keep the museum afloat, the city has named an interim president and three-person board of directors for the maritime museum, which was dealt an all but  fatal blow by Hurricane Sandy. Its galleries at 12 Fulton Street closed since April, the museum requires an estimated $22 million in repairs in order to fully reopen.

The administrative changes, announced on Monday, come on the heels of MCNY’s decision late last month to end its management responsibilities at the museum, dating back to October 2011, on July 5.

Jonathan Boulware, the museum’s waterfront director who looked after its six historic vessels during Sandy, has been appointed the interim president, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the museum’s collections and its fleet of six historic ships.

The museum’s three trustees include two officials representing the mayor’s office, Christie Huus and David Sheehan, and Tracey Knuckles, the Department of Cultural Affairs’ general counsel. Their mission is to “stabilize the museum’s governance structure while a successor steward for the museum is sought,” DCLA spokesperson Danai Pointer told the Trib in an e-mail.

In a statement, DCLA Commissioner Kate Levin called the appointments “an effort to maintain the Seaport Museum's status as a nonprofit and keep alive an organization highly valued by local community stakeholders.”

Levin said the “transitional board”  is expected to serve over the next few months. “During this time, our hope is that a successor steward will take responsibility for the museum's mission and collection.”

Levin went on to say that the attorney general’s office would be consulted if a long-term steward isn’t found.
 
The officials, charged with managing current and future programming, were selected at a June 28 meeting of the Board of Trustees, whose former members have resigned.

While the galleries remain closed—strategies for repairs are “still being evaluated,” according to Pointer—Bowne & Co. Stationers and Bowne Printers will remain open, and educational programs and harbor excursions aboard the 1885 Pioneer will continue through October.

Said Boulware in a statement, “I remain committed to the museum’s presence here in Lower Manhattan, the birthplace of Wall Street and maritime corridor to the nation.”

John Fratta, chair of Community Board 1’s Seaport Committee, called the announcement “good news.”

“At least we know that the city is moving in the right direction to keep the museum afloat,” he said. “We’ll wait and see how they’re going to keep this museum viable and financially sustainable.”