u/Diplotomodon

For the record, we just learned that money could have paid the yearly operations costs for 13x Academy of Natural Sciences.

It is unfortunately common. Weddings, receptions, board meetings etc. are all solicited pretty often. I've never been a fly on the wall of any museum admin who makes those decisions, but I suspect your theory is correct - and I also suspect they get tunnel vision and start treating their private event functions as the primary purpose of their institutions.

For the record, we just learned that money could have paid the yearly operations costs for 13x Academy of Natural Sciences.

Drexel rep said they were exploring additional donors & partnerships (and none materialized), while the board chair said the search was stymied once Drexel issued their ultimatum. Would love to see more documents produced about this

If you were the guy driving down Arch St this morning in a pickup truck with several "Official Bigfoot Search Vehicle" seals plastered on the side, please know that you made my day much better

This appears to be the testimony that the rep from Merlo's office presented to council yesterday, so nothing new here

From the sounds of it, Council will be explicitly subpoenaing Merlo and Trish Wellenbach for November

Oh you're in for a treat. Watch Isaiah Thomas's face when he realizes what the past seven weeks have actually been about

The Drexel rep was explicitly asked how much money they were saving by closing the museum and their answer was basically "we're figuring that out" which shows you how much thought actually went into this

And before the inevitable "Drexel innocent" comments start showing up, the Inquirer mentions one of the sections of the original 2011 affiliation agreement, quoted during the hearing:

Drexel is financially responsible for the Academy, according to the September 2011 affiliation agreement between the two institutions, “and shall cause sufficient funding to be made available to meet any operating deficits, liquidity needs, and budgeted capital improvements … that may be incurred.”

It would be helpful if the Drexel rep present mentioned the supposedly astronomical deferred maintenance costs even once, but ¯\(ツ)/¯

If you wanted to watch the whole hearing, link here. Juicy stuff starts around 1:06:35 if you're short on time (edit: and skip to 1:51:29 for the "million"-dollar question)

I mean, if you've been paying attention, you'll know that the Academy board is also facing the heat for all this.

the left

lmao

I initially assumed the gallery renovation was supposed to house the upscale artsy fare and the Changing Exhibits room was supposed to host the more traditional traveling exhibits (live frogs, robot dinosaurs etc.) - but then they went ahead and shuttered the Changing Exhibits room entirely. The article talks about the mindset of recent leadership

It's a spicy one. For those interested, the City Council hearing on the 26th will be streamed online here.

It was mentioned in the article, but the City Council hearing on all this is set for the 26th, subpoenas and all.

Counterpoint:

“I really don’t know why, while that deficit ballooned, Drexel didn’t work with the Academy to say, ‘Why is this happening? Look folks, we’re going to have to cut ties,’” Daeschler said. “So that’s to me the mystery, and I’m afraid I don’t have answers.”

Archive link: https://archive.ph/9VJFH

A year gives them time to pursue actual long-term funding options though, instead of shuttering everything at a breakneck pace for zero discernable reason

A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE

Not even anonymous - a free year's worth from the William Penn Foundation, maybe the most significant philanthropic institution in the city. (Technically it hasn't been refused yet, but Drexel's main negotiator called it "a band-aid" so make of that what you will.)

Is being quoted in NYMag good enough to confirm it?

e: archive link in case it's paywalled for anyone else

That's based on info from actual paleontologists who have tried to examine the material. (I've heard of only one singular case where someone was allowed to study it, but unfortunately I have no details on that)

Casts of the holotype exist, but obviously casts can't replace the real thing

Washington Crossing the Delaware except it's Hurts Sailing Over the Atlantic