Sample Program Matrix

Phake Museum of Contemporary Art
Del Lago, Texas

Our mission is:
The Phake Museum is dedicated to interpreting, exhibiting, and collecting contemporary art from across Texas and around the world.

We are unique in our community because:
We are the only local organization that seeks to engage and educate our community with contemporary art and ideas.

Our primary focus is:
Our primary focus is on Texas artists from the 1960’s through the present, with strengths in abstract and experimental two-dimensional work; work by African-American artists; and photographic work from the 1970’s.

Secondary interests/other areas of focus are:
We have an interest in linking artwork to the music and literature of the same time period. We have a focus on artists from the South Texas region. We have an interest in printmaking in Texas.

Our primary audience is:
Retired snowbirds that live in Del Lago during the winters. They are predominantly white females, over the age of 60, with a household income level between $65,000 and $80,000, most have had some college, but few hold degrees, some serve as docents, most have a second home in other states, most are Christian with a prevalence of Catholics, most also play bridge and bingo, a large number are birders, most have strong community values.

Other definable groups that comprise our audience are:
Local families. These are year-round residents who are predominantly Hispanic, with a median age of 42, an average household income of $85,000, most have children in local K-12 schools, most have college with advanced degrees and hold professional jobs, most are Jewish with a prevalence of Hasidism, most also play polo and soccer, a large number are amateur astronomers, most have a strong sense of community values.

Other audience groups are:
K-12 students and their teachers
Local artists
Members of the XYZ Country Club
Junior League members
Local art collectors
College students from the local university
Art patrons from neighboring town of Amigo
Members of the local printmaking cooperative
Chamber of Commerce members

We are working to enhance participation from this segment of our current audience:
We are currently trying to increase our interactions with the teen population in our community and their teachers.
We want to enhance our relationship with Chamber of Commerce members.
We want to find new ways to use local artists in our programs.

We are working to expand the people from this segment of our current audience:
Art patrons from neighboring town of Amigo
Local art collectors

We are working on attracting this new audience:
Art patrons from the following neighboring towns of Beyond, Further, Away
Students from the local community college

The current perceptions of our organization and our programs in our community are:
We have exciting, but often difficult-to-understand, exhibitions of artwork. We only show paintings. We have an annual festival that is fun for the whole family. We are a predominantly white organization and somewhat elitist. The work we show is mostly from Texas, but not regional.

We want to enhance these perceptions:
We have exciting exhibitions
Our festival is fun
We show Texas art

We want to change these perceptions:
We are elitist
Contemporary art is hard to understand
We only show paintings
We don’t show regional artists

We want to build these new perceptions:
We are a community treasure
We support living regional and Texas artists
The jazz program is a museum program
All of our events are fun

Our five most popular programs/events are:

1. Our annual fall festival
2. Family days at the museum
3. Jazz in the square in front of the museum
4. Mini hands-on exhibitions in the local libraries
5. Artist studio tour

They are popular because:
All are experiential; most involve the whole family/different generations; most have some hands-on or participatory aspect to them; most are outside of the museum itself

We do them because:
They build audiences, attract attention, fit with our mission, make money, and educate the public

Our least popular programs/events are:

1. Exhibitions from our permanent collection
2. Academic lectures
3. Literary series

They are not popular because:
They are not very experiential; they are usually not well packaged by the museum; they are not well promoted by local media; they are not very interactive.

We do them because:
They are low cost and not very staff intensive; they fit with our mission; they are educational; they are traditional fare for museums

The programs/events we do that are outside of mission are:
Tomato growing contest
Annual exhibition of Fiesta gowns
Jest for fun: Annual Pun-off

They fall outside our mission because:
They have nothing to do with contemporary art, Texas artists, etc.

We do them because:
We always have. The community would be disappointed if we stopped. We get special funding to do these programs. They make money.