Ste Claire attempts to put commission on the spot

In July 2014, after only a six-month exhibition, the Journey Experience closed at the Visitor Information Center. About $150,000 was spent to acquire, build, maintain, and curate the physical exhibit.

The exhibition fabric, including text panels, photo murals, fabric sleeves, dioramas, video, touchscreen kiosk, etc., are currently in storage or on loan to various community organizations.

Although this was the first public presentation of the proposal, Ste. Claire and the St. Augustine 450th Commemoration have obviously been working, behind the scene, with the Board of Directors of the private Lincolnville Museum & Cultural Center, Flagler College, and the St. Johns County School District.

As the 10-minute presentation drug out to over 20-minutes, Ste. Claire called to the podium Dr. Otis Mason of the Lincolnville Museum and member of the City of St. Augustine African-American Advisory Council, Donna DeLorenzo and Barry Sands of Flagler College, along with two Flagler students who each told their ideas for re-opening the Journey exhibit in the Excelsior High School building on Martin Luther King Avenue. The building, owned by the School District, currently houses the few exhibits that comprise the Lincolnville Museum.

What started as a request for “direction” from the commission if they had interest in learning more about the project, came to a sudden halt when Ste. Claire and DeLorenzo began to corner the commissioners into a commitment to give away, as a gift, the components of the exhibit.

Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline asked, “Would the exhibit still be available to travel as we had originally planned?” Ste. Claire had sold the commission in 2013 on the traveling exhibit idea as part of his justification for project costs that came in three-times higher than estimated.

Commissioner Todd Neville questioned Ste. Claire, specifically, if it was his suggestion that the city loan, or rent, or give the exhibition to the museum?
Mayor Shaver and others on the commission seemed to like the idea of the city making a public use of the exhibit, especially during the 450th Commemoration activities, and Lincolnville was the obvious place to hold the exhibition, if that were to be done.

However, the museum and cultural center is not a formal entity; they are not incorporated as a non-profit, and they don’t own any significant artifacts of museum quality — many of the items are photographs and reproductions, or items of sentimental more than historical value to a few who have made donations of personally owned family heirlooms.

Enter Flagler College, an established private college that enjoys non-profit status, established benefactors, a recently opened virtual Civil Rights Museum online, and at least two professors who are passionate about the idea and willing to pursue redevelopment grants to upgrade the Lincolnville Museum building to accommodate the Journey exhibition.

One speaker opined that since the Dow House museum still reported 13,000 admissions at $8.95 each last year, it would be reasonable to expect that if the city gave the exhibit to the Lincolnville group, they could enjoy “at least that many admissions”.

Of course, $130,000 in admissions wouldn’t cover the cost of rent, utilities, insurance, security or salaries — not to mention the fact that it wouldn’t cover the cost of the exhibit, if it had to be replaced.

DeLorenzo and Sands seemed to think that other donors would come forward with financial support; and, even though they could not speak for the college or Dr. Bill Abare who Sands said has not approved the project, he believed would financially add support.

Commissioner Sikes-Kline tried to clarify, “I am hearing you as a couple of individuals offering the city your personal assurances for the short term, but I’m not hearing any hard commitment for the long term. I think I’d like to hear that.”

Otis Mason, for whom the local school is named, was the first and only black superintendent of schools, at a time when the superintendent ran for election. Mason, who is 86-years-old, grew up in Lincolnville and volunteers on the Lincolnville Museum board.

The School Board has considered selling the Excelsior High School Building, largely because of its current state of repair. The last published estimates quoted a cost of about $250,000 for replacement of the air conditioning system. During his presentation, Ste. Claire listed repairs to all the necessary systems, including climate control, relative humidity control, UV light mitigation, and physical security.

“I would like to recommend that the City of St. Augustine donate the Journey exhibition to the Lincolnville Museum, or specifically those parts of the exhibit the city owns,” Ste. Claire wrote to City Manager John Regan before the meeting.

Commissioner Neville cried “foul”, noting that presenters need to be “thoroughly vetted” before being placed on the agenda. “This was not fair to Donna DeLorenzo,” Neville said, noting that he was not prepared to give away city assets without first having an opportunity to evaluate the proposal.

Despite pressure to commit at that moment, the commission only gave its support to the idea, generally, with many questions still to be answered before any commitment is made.