October 14, 2004 – May 2, 2005
Chicago Architecture Foundation
Racine Art Museum Board of Directors: Janna Waldeck, past president; Mary Walker; Bruce Bernberg, president.
Photographed at the Charles A. Wustum Museum, Racine
Racine Art Museum Board of Directors
Raising the money to build the Racine Art Museum was the largest capital campaign the city had ever experienced. The job of convincing the philanthropic community of the museum's feasibility fell to board member Mary Walker, as chair of the capital campaign. Bruce Bernberg, who has since succeeded Janna Waldeck as president of the board, chaired the building committee during RAM's construction process. A craft collector, Bernberg gravitated towards the Charles A. Wustum Museum after retiring from a career in finance and general management. His professional experience helped him in his role as Building Chair. In this capacity, he worked with the architect and the general contractor, on behalf of the museum, to insure that key decisions were made and that the project remained on budget and on schedule.
We adopted a simple philosophy: we wouldn't commit to spending money unless we had raised it. We looked at our total project cost and said, “What is the core? Do we have to do this?” If we did, we authorized it as soon as we raised the money. We continued to implement the remaining pieces of the project as we raised the money. It was something that financially ended up very, very responsible. We were only over our budget by 3 percent.
We proved that you can have a world-class project managed in a responsible way. That is what I am most proud of because that was ultimately my responsibility. My personal interest also comes as a resident—think about what this has done and will continue to do for Racine. The museum was conceived of as an anchor of downtown development. It is something that the community can rally around and feel positive about. In the evolution of the community, it all fit.—Bruce Bernberg