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V O L . X X I I N O. I I Corporate membership grew substantially, from 42 to 65 members. More than 60% of its $7.9 million operating budget was raised through contributions and grants. Its "Free Friday" evenings attracted 33,700 visitors, with overall attendance for the year pushing 140,000. All good. So why rock the boat? "One of the infl uences on my thinking on man- agement is a book called 'Moneyball,'" Bessire replies, referring to Michael Lewis's bestseller describing how the Oakland Athletics in 2002 built a winning team on a limited budget after losing several big stars to major market teams that could aff ord to pay much higher sal- aries. e book, he says, helped him realize that a small museum, no less than a small-market Major League Baseball team, can't aff ord to rest on its laurels, not even for a season, without risking a loss of relevance and a corresponding decline in membership and revenue. "Moneyball," he adds, also helped frame the Portland Museum of Art's challenges around two fundamental questions: ¡ How do you compete in a small market? ¡ How do you identify value to compete way over your scale? e result of that introspection is "Your Museum, Reimagined," an ambitious eff ort that Bessire expects will fundamentally change the way the public inter- acts with the museum and its collections and pro- grams. Changes already completed include digitizing the museum's entire collection of more than 18,000 artworks, creation of an art study and conference room and publication of the museum's fi rst-ever cata- log featuring its most important artworks. As one of the anchors of Portland's downtown arts district, PMA's eff orts carry signifi cance beyond the museum's walls. A 2010 economic impact study of Maine museums prepared for the Maine Arts Commission by economist Chuck Lawton and Lindsay Rowe quantifi es total spending by PMA visitors at almost $23 million, with average daily spending by an overnight visitor estimated at $203 and for a day visitor at $95. Bessire wants to strengthen those numbers and make sure they grow in the years ahead by enhanc- ing visitors' experiences with art at the museum. "Our competition is the entertainment business and the time pressures on everyday life — not other cultural institutions," he says. " e PMA fi ghts every day for relevance and market share. We fi ght for every dollar, whether it's admissions, the store or having a functioning café that's excellent." Embracing change In many ways, Bessire says, the multi-year reimagin- ing eff ort is an "encore" to the $10.5 million national capital campaign that included the successful $2.8 mil- lion restoration of Winslow Homer's studio at Prouts Neck. Renovated by John Calvin Stevens in 1883, the 2,200-square-foot studio became Homer's fi nal home, the place where he created seascapes that are consid- ered among the greatest masterpieces of American art. e restored studio opened to the public for museum-led guided tours in September 2012 and the P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Moneyball meets the museum Portland Museum of Art reimagines its mission as an arts leader B y J a m e s M c C a r t h y » C O N T I N U E D F R O M C O V E R JA N UA R Y 2 5 , 2 0 1 6 18 Mark Bessire, director of the Portland Museum of Art, stands near sculptures by Bernard Langlais in the newly installed 'Modern Menagerie' exhibit on the fourth fl oor of the museum's Charles Shipman Payson building. G R E AT E R P O R T L A N D F O C U S

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