This is something I have been working on for awhile, and with the assistance of a very ‘investigative’ South DaCola foot soldier, I finally got to the bottom of it. Well, almost.
Let’s start at the end. Supposedly last October (2013) there was a vehicle/deer collision near Wall, SD. No worries, the passenger and the driver are OK, no one got hurt, I can’t say that much about the deer (I am assuming deceased) and the van they were driving–Toast. But fortunately, ‘the package’ they were carrying also survived with no damages.
See the Pavilion, in all of their wisdom decided that they would transport paintings on loan from the Sioux Indian Art museum (a division of the Journey museum) in Rapid City to Sioux Falls, according to an official at the Journey. Nothing wrong with this practice. Many museums do this, usually not across an entire state though. So what’s the story here? First off, I just want to say that I am glad the two ladies are okay that were involved.
Secondly, why didn’t the Pavilion do what most professional art museums do? Hire a transport company that is insured and bonded in this kind of shipping. Were the paintings insured while they were transported by the Pavilion employees? And more importantly, what if they weren’t and they got damaged? Or employees got seriously injured while on the clock? They can kiss that $10,000 admission fee good bye.
What I can’t figure out is if they were on the ‘Up and Up’ with all of their insurance and transporting detail (which they may have been) why not tell the public about this accident? What’s the harm? The ladies are fine, the art is okay, wouldn’t the public like to know about this? I guess they only like to get the public involved when they have a mis-bid on window replacement or a leaking Cinedome roof. The Pavilion only speaks to the ‘have-nots’ when they need money from us.
Now onto a little story in the SFBJ today.
The Pavilion finally decides to hire a development director;
The Pavilion did not have a development director for the year.
The position was filled recently by Ann Parker, the former head of corporate communications and investor relations for Sonifi, formerly LodgeNet Interactive Corp.
The position will help build development and sponsorships, Toll said.
So first off, we have a co-president who was managing LodgeNet when they were going through bankruptcy and he hires a person from that former bankrupt company?
Nice. They must be bonding well.
The Pavilion is consistently talking about raising money, yet they don’t fill the very position that is responsible for fundraising for a full year? And yes, they have yet to say why the other development director left. Maybe those secrets died somewhere by Wall Drug? I bet they are hoping so.
Two things were pointed out to me last night since I posted this. Someone told me there may be a couple of different reasons this has been kept quiet, and it has nothing to do with the wrecked van.
– The accident and the self-transport by the Pavilion may affect their certification with the national museum org they belong to.
– They may have been transporting other are besides the SIM collection, and it may have gotten damaged.
It seems the more I look into Pavilion stuff, the more questions I have.
Doe, a deer a female deer. Ray, a drop of golden paternalism. Me, what others do that Huether takes credit for. Fa, the 60 miles to Huether’s home on a lake near Madison. So, answer given for city debt. LA, city with less corruption. Tea, city we move to with better infrastructure. Dough, income from public funds fraud.
If the pavilion did not have a dev director for a year 2013. Why from budget article does it show that 2012 salaries were 2,762,168 and 2013 jumped up to 2,863,313. $100k for an fte that wasn’t filled. Maybe it went to a damage claim or to ec.
85th Stuckee discovered the 100k budget transfer from Pav financial statement.
Nothing against the incumbents personally, but the Pavilion needs to go back to being managed by someone who has a background in this sort of thing. It’s novel and sort of parochial that its board thinks that kind of talent can be found in other local industries among people who’ve never spent a day running a non-profit arts institution, but there’s actually a knack to this stuff that you don’t learn by running phone companies and providing outdated porn to hotel rooms.
The Pavilion gets run in an amateurish manner because its board is too clueless to realize the expertise to run it well doesn’t exist within Sioux Falls. There’s just nowhere in town that one can cultivate those skills.
Oh dan then they have the gall to ask for city subsidy more finds diverted to mmm. I wonder how far the states attorney will let our mmm goof go until a forensic audit is demanded. Litz I’m sure will get a nice job from mmm when minn county has had it with him I’m sure mmm and city attorney fiddle faddle are up late figuring the next screw job on the tax payer not too many of us left in this social cesspool they call Sioux Falls
Horn guy (#5) has a point. Simply, people with public positions never had to produce a profit and wouldn’t know how. Private business types must answer to stockholders, lenders, and customers. Can privatization be applied for the Pavillion?