Category: Uncategorized

Rewriting History

Two for one day today as Grand Lodge is tomorrow! This is a long installment that I simply didn’t want to divide into two parts.

When I left for the Fort Scott on November 1, 2015, the six galleries for the Ladd Museum and majority of text panels were both finalized and approved. There were only a few museum meetings left and they were to focus primarily on some small details and the interactive exhibits. The museum team needed these meetings to end so that they could create and submit their final proposal; one that would include all the estimated expenses associated for the opening exhibit on June 24, 2016. The date that decisions had to be finalized was December 1, 2015. Until that time, the museum team remained on retainer as the scope of the project had yet to be finalized or agreed upon by both parties.

Jump ahead to March 16, 2016, when the part-time curator for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center emails me: “The objects planned for the exhibit galleries has changed pretty drastically and I have been spending all of my time cataloging the newly selected artifacts and developing new object lists for Mia and the preparators [sic].” Remember, the grand opening was June 24, 2016 – just two months away.

It is essential to understand the timeline for the initial exhibit design, artifact selection, thematic layout, and museum committee meetings from November 2014 until November 2015 in order to understand how continued changes jeopardized the entire endeavor and final deliverables.

When I was first hired as the historical consultant August 1, 2014, the CEO shared his dislike for all of the visuals that the museum team had presented to date during both the task force meetings and subsequent board of directors meetings. In November 2014, the CEO directed me to meet with Joel Woodward (Woodward Design) and Mia Schillace-Nelson (Outhouse Exhibit Services) to determine whether he should continue to retain their services or seek their replacement.

If we really needed to replace them, I needed to someone else to recommend for the design as we could not start a search from scratch. Therefore, I called Rick Polenek to see if he was available to work on the project, explaining my directive from the CEO. Rick was the designer for the 1996 touring exhibit “Theatre of the Fraternity: Staging the Sacred Space of the Scottish Rite, 1896-1929” and is a brilliant designer for a variety of venues, plus he was familiar with Masonic artifacts – a must.

However, during my meeting with the museum team, they explained that no one was providing any information about Freemasonry and they were solely “shooting in the dark.” It was at that point that I weighed all of my options and their enthusiasm, deciding to recommend that the CEO keep them on board, even though it would mean holding their hand throughout the entire process and assuming the role of Exhibit Curator myself. According to Schillace-Nelson, they were rapidly running out of time to design and build a six-gallery exhibit for a June 2016 opening.

By January 2015, I was working extensively as Exhibit Curator, creating timelines, mission statements, artifacts surveys, and thematic flow charts for each gallery. Schillace-Nelson and I spent long hours examining the entire Minnesota Masonic Historical Society and Museum collection; identifying potential exhibit artifacts, selecting and setting up a “staging area” for exhibit galleries, and recommending certain pieces for outside conservation work. Schillace-Nelson could not accomplish this work alone, nor select any appropriate artifacts as she was unfamiliar with Masonic memorabilia and the various fraternal organizations.

As previously posted in installment #40, I flew to Washington D.C. during February with the CEO, general director, and a local Scottish Rite Mason to present our project and select a Masonic Scholar to research and write all of the exhibit texts and object labels.

In April and May 2015, I wrote extensive thematic layouts for each gallery, identifying every item within a gallery and pairing objects together in specific areas.

Other than myself, our assembled museum team included Art De Hoyos (Masonic scholar for national and international content), Brent Morris (Masonic scholar for national and international content), Mark Campbell (Masonic scholar for local content), Terry Tilton (Masonic scholar for anti-Masonic sentiment area), Mia Schillace-Nelson (Exhibit Construction), Joel Woodward (Exhibit Designer), Steve Johnson (Exhibiit Video), MMC Director of Communications (Script writer for videos and in-house museum text editor), the general director, and the CEO. I also intended to have one non-Masonic scholar who could look at the exhibit with fresh eyes as Campbell had recommended Janet Wolter, unfortunately she was never brought on board.

In June, July and August of 2015, I headed all of the weekly museum meetings. These “Museum Roundtable” meetings included a conference call for those unable to journey to Bloomington every week. At every meeting went over my artifact recommendations and thematic layouts for each gallery. My documents were posted to a website where all of the committee could view gallery information, objects, floor plans and graphic designs. After the meeting, I would condense the notes and include my minutes, emailing Schillace-Nelson for her to distribute my corrected documents. Our exhibit designer Woodward created a website to distribute and update information; it still appears to be up and running at http://www.theladdmuseum.com/index.php.

After each gallery was approved, Woodward would then start to design the physical layout and stylistic appearance of each exhibit space to place objects in their specific topic area. Similarly, I would selected individual authors to write text panels and object labels, based on their past research and specialty.

By September 2015, the entire museum team gathered together in Bloomington for a final meeting; there, we would all read and edit the text written by De Hoyos, Morris, Campbell, and Tilton. During that same visit, De Hoyos and Morris would also examine all objects so that they could start writing each object for Gallery 1 (History of Freemasonry), Gallery 3 (The Fanciful History of Freemasonry) and Gallery 6 (Extensions of Freemasonry). Tilton would write both the text panel and object labels for anti-masonic sentiment, whereas Campbell would write the object labels for Gallery 2 (History of Freemasonry in Minnesota) and Gallery 5 (Minnesota Masonic Charities). Johnson and Johns would assist Campbell with additional content for the Minnesota Masonic Charities gallery. Unfortunately, it was evident that the quality of writing among the scholars greatly varied. We asked our in-house editor to rewrite the text of Tilton and Campbell, attempting to unify their work with De Hoyos and Morris. To the group we announced that our in-house editor would “tweak everyone’s writing for uniformity” to avoid any hurt feelings.

Jump ahead to November 2, 2015. This was my first day working with the scenery in Fort Scott. This same week, the in-house text editor and CEO started to rearrange the placement of objects in various topic areas, even altering the written text by De Hoyos and Morris. The previously approved galleries began to change dramatically. For example, the Minnesota Masonic Charities Gallery swapped places with the Extensions of Freemasonry, putting it in the place of greatest prominence and ending the inclusion of a transitional space for touring exhibits.

By March and April of 2016, Schillace-Nelson and Campbell were still identifying new artifacts for the various galleries. I knew this, because Schillace-Nelson would stop by with daily updates, often parking her minivan in the driveway attached to my office/library processing facility due to continued construction.

It is crucial to note that the first “drop dead date” for artifact selection, text, and graphic images was June 1, 2015. The intent was so the production team could then estimate the expense with ample time remaining for construction. The museum team repeatedly explained, they needed an entire year to manufacture the exhibit. The June 1 deadline was then shifted to September 2015. After that, December 1, 2015; they didn’t meet that deadline either as the museum began the redesign process at that point. So when I entered the Ladd Museum on June 24, 2016, the exhibit appeared a mere shadow of its September 2015 vision; I was mortified for not only my sake but that of De Hoyos and Morris.

It was not until we left the building that my husband shared his indignation on my behalf; the museum brochure listed me as simply a historical consultant – nothing more. Furthermore he grew even more angry as he explained to Paul Jacob Roberts and myself, “And I counted seven – SEVEN – pictures of the CEO in the museum exhibit!” I shrugged and smiled at them both, “It might all be for the best as that exhibit is nothing that I had hoped it would be.” I simply couldn’t send the promised pictures of the museum to De Hoyos or the museum brochure that listed him simply as “historical consultant” and not a principle author for the exhibit text.

I then understood why neither Art De Hoyos nor Brent Morris had been invited to the Grand Opening; they would notice the substantial changes and possibly comment on them. There were only a few of us who notice the discrepancy between what had been approved in 2015 and what was actually built in 2016.

The story that I have told lives only in the minds of those who worked on the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center museum exhibit from 2014-2016. The museum’s history was re-written on June 8, 2016 and is available as a Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center link: http://www.masonicheritagecenter.org/2016/06/muscle-making-museum/

To be continued…

Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover

Eventually, we made our way to the Ladd Museum and Nelson Library during the grand opening for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center. The two staff members assigned to the space were wearing their new name tags. Both would become two of the three individuals to assume my responsibilities as Curatorial Director once my position was eliminated the next month. Theresa Norman had increased her position from an eight-hour-a-week freelance curator in the Minnesota Masonic Historical Society and Museum to Curator at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center. I wondered if she had left her full-time position at the Scott Historical Society yet.

Smiling warmly as I congratulated Theresa on her the new position. She looked a little shocked and appeared very uncomfortable. I thought that her awkwardness might be from her continued insistence throughout the fall of 2014 and all of 2015 that she could never work for the Masons full-time, explaining, “They simply doesn’t understand how to run a museum!” She noted how the general director frequently offered her a full-time position, even after she repeatedly declined his offers.

Since the fall of 2014, I had helped Theresa navigate the maze of fraternal organizations, even creating pamphlets that would help her identify the correct Masonic order as she catalogued a variety of objects, such as officer jewels, tracing charts, aprons, and a sundry of other Masonic memorabilia. You see, Theresa was completely unfamiliar with Freemasonry, its emblems, symbolism, regalia and paraphernalia; heavily relying on her two octogenarian volunteers to verify the name, purpose, organization, and other informational details about various artifacts.

Over the past eighteen months, we had engaged in extensive discussions about the library’s impending need for a separate software system as books should not simply be entered as artifacts in the current Past Perfect database. She explained that all books, with the exception of handwritten records, should be de-accessioned and processed as part of the new Nelson library.

During March of 2016, I emailed Theresa to continue our discussion on the increased volume of incoming acquisitions and where we could store books prior to processing as she was desperate for additional space. Many of the new book donations were directly dropped off at my office as members understood it was the library processing facility, although a few continued to be deposited in the MMHSM museum.

Teresa responded in an email,

“A high majority of the ‘books’ on the tables inside the entrance to the basement storage room are Lodge records (minute ledgers, financial ledgers, etc.). There are also a fair number of Bibles but those will most likely not be added to the historical collection – I just haven’t had a chance to go through them yet. There are grocery boxes underneath the tables on the right side that are filled with books [the general director] brought downstairs last year that I thought were meant for the library and, if so, they can be removed from the workroom.

I think the discussion concerning storage of ciphers and handwritten rituals can wait until after the new museum opens. The objects planned for the exhibit galleries has changed pretty drastically and I have been spending all of my time cataloging the newly selected artifacts and developing new object lists for Mia and the preparators.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you need anything else.”

Around the same time that this email was generated, a visitor stopped by my office after interviewing with the general director and Theresa for a new position at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center. He was being hired to move the St. Paul Masonic Library from my office to the new facility and would directly report to Theresa. “But that makes no sense!” I exclaimed. “She only works eight hours a week and has been adamant that she wanted nothing to do with a full-time position or the incoming library.” It appeared fruitless to have someone supervise his handling of the books when she had never even seen the St. Paul Masonic Library contents.

I suggested to my visitor that Theresa must have finally agreed to a full-time position. Ironically, both the general director and CEO had asked my opinion earlier about her joining the MMHC staff. Obviously my suggestions had fallen on deaf ears; I insisted that it was imperative for the individual who would supervise the processing of Masonic artifacts be familiar with both Freemasonry and fraternal history. Theresa was not.

These same qualifications would apply to any future librarians who would process incoming books for the Nelson library.

We needed to find individuals like Heather Calloway  or Mark Allen Tabbert; scholars who deeply understood the Fraternity’s material culture.  Heather had worked at the House of the Temple in Washington for fourteen years and was now at George Washington College as their Archivist and Special Collections Librarian(https://www.washcoll.edu/live/profiles/8881-heather-k-calloway).  Mark Tabbert was Director of Collections at the George Washington Masonic Memorial (an.org/video/?297214-1/george-washington-masonic-memorial).

Those handling the artifacts at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center needed direction from someone with the ability to identify specific Masonic emblems and understand the purpose of each ceremonial object.

My visitor then explained that he would not start his new position until June 1. “Why?!?” I asked. Shocked, I continued, “There is so much to do and I honestly don’t see how you can familiarize yourself with the collection, pack it up, transport it, and organize it on the shelves in that limited time. How will it ever be accessible to future scholars? “

To be continued…

The Foundation of the Fraternity

 We had just exited the theatre when the graphic and exhibit designer, Joel Woodward, grabbed my hand and said, “Come here, come here!” He brought me to a spot near the entrance and faced me toward the stained glass window. “Look! Look at what we did!” he exclaimed. Then he began to recount all of our meetings when we redesigned the entire aesthetic for the building after the initial interior designer was let go – this was during January 2015. “Do you remember?” he said, shaking me by the shoulders, “All that time and everything we went through to get it just like this? It worked!!! The designs we made looked just like this!” I agreed, but still felt empty inside. However, I had a small feeling of relief; so Joel didn’t realize what was going on either.

I extracted myself from Joel’s grasp, wishing that I could truly enjoy the opening. Grabbing my husband’s hand, I asked, “Are you ready to see my painting in the lodge room?” He nodded and we went up the steps, passing the Col. James B. Ladd museum. “Want to go in?” he asked.

“No, not yet,” I responded, intending to save the worst for last. I knew that it was nothing like the approved designs from September 2015. Reflecting on all of my work to select the artifacts, construct the thematic content, and run the museum meetings, I didn’t want to see what it had morphed into under the CEO’s curatorial direction. It was the visit to that particular space that I was absolutely dreading – well, that and the library.

We slowly worked our way toward the lodge room and entered the space. My eyes were immediately drawn to the glowing blue of the ceiling and I cringed; I hated that graphic and the lighting made it look even worse. The neon blue gave the entire lodge room a foreign discotheque feel.

This ceiling graphic was the artistic vision of the CEO. He had selected the image and carefully guided Joel Woodward, our museum designer, to create the graphic. Joel had functioned as our digital interpreter for the entire project; the architects didn’t use the software that created the three-dimensional renderings. For the ceiling of the lodge room, the CEO wanted to replicate the painted one in Freemason’s Hall, London.

Unfortunately, square footage for the original ceiling was much smaller and surrounded by a gold and hand-painted décor. The CEO’s interpretation stretched this composition to over 40’ long in a barrel vault, surrounding it with white and cream coffers. This created an entirely different aesthetic. I had tried to add various trim colors to help blend the two aesthetics, but that much painted trim was deemed too expensive.

At only one point the CEO sought my opinion, asking, “So, what do you think of it?” It radically departed from the remainder of the entire complex and I knew that nothing I could say would change his decision anyway, so I focused on two small details: the shape of the stars and their color. At the time, I recommended five-pointed Egyptian stars and metallic paint, not just the flat color gold. The placement of metallic stars on a barrel vault facilitated a traditional scenic illusion. This would make it a little more historical and allow the ceiling to “sparkle” in low-light conditions or when members moved throughout the room. Against my advise, the CEO selected large white pentagrams.

This choice reminded me of Marvel Comics and Captain America. All we needed was a little man with a cape, a Masonic apron, and top hat shouting, “Seek the Light!” in a word bubble.

This ceiling design had appeared mid-way through my own mural designs, and it became increasingly difficult to blend the two compositions. This graphic cheapened the effect of an otherwise grand room. All of my historical research pointed toward romantic skies depicting the appropriate constellations and planets, laid out as Pike had specified in his Middle Chamber lecture.

I had struggled to integrate the mural aesthetic with this contemporary graphic one when a colleague asked, “Why are you trying to match ugly?” Then he smiled saying, “Just let the clash occur and people will realize why digital and hand painting are not one in the same.”

Upon entering the lodge room, I realized that my colleague had been right; there was no point in trying to match the ceiling aesthetic, especially with the current lighting.

I then gave a congratulatory hug to the man who, as it turns out, would replace me as one of three individuals take on the responsibilities of Curatorial Director position. He was the newly retired Scottish Rite Secretary, who had accepted a position at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center, although neither he, nor the CEO would ever tell me what his actual job title was. I now know; he was my replacement as historical consultant for the center and their new Masonic scholar.

He first appeared to be the local Masonic scholar for the museum and replaced me to survey the existing inventory and weed through artifacts at the Minnesota Masonic Historical Society and Museum. When the museum exhibit was redesigned during my absence while at Fort Scott, this same individual had been approached to identify new artifacts for the galleries.

He had also explained to me that spring, he was really the best candidate to “interpret” the CEO’s vision for the Ladd museum, plus he had been involved in most of the significant Masonic events over the past few decades.  I thanked him for all of his hard work on the project and left the room. That would be my theme for the night, thanking everyone for all of their hard work and showing my sincere appreciation.

Once the neon blue ceiling was out of site, I remembered a quote by a Masonic author who said,

“The genius of Freemasonry is not our Masonic buildings and temples or trappings of our organizations. It is not our great charities or community activities. It is not our beautiful rituals or their teachings. It is the ‘practice of Freemasonry’ by Freemasons. Yet we cannot practice that which we do not know or understand. Thus Masonic education is the foundation of our Fraternity.” (by Michael L. Wiggins)

That was it, I realized. This was what I had been battling since my return from Fort Scott; the CEO couldn’t practice what he did not understand.

To be continued…

Someone is on Your Side, No One is Alone

For years, I have given individuals and organizations “the benefit of doubt.” This is who I am; I have an overtly optimistic look on life and people. It is hard for me to ascribe malicious intent to others, when I could not fathom taking such actions myself. Although I am able to identify challenges down the road in terms of work and come up with plans to trouble-shoot and problem solve, I cannot always do this with people.

This essence makes me who I am and is one of the reasons that I was initially drawn to the Fraternity as a whole. The Masonic messages, the degree instructions, the duties, and the obligations all struck a chord of truth with me. To believe that people took these oaths and acted with malicious intent seems unfeasible to me. I have often viewed organized religion with this same astonishment. Am I naïve? No, I just honestly believe that people mean well and try to be kind and decent individuals. The majority of Masons are amazing men, honorable and trustworthy. I knew there were some men who used Freemasonry for financial gain and power, but I never worked for one before.

I was unprepared when the CEO called me into his office, explaining that I would be let go after the opening of the building because I simply didn’t have the “skill-set” for the job as Curatorial Director. He stated that I was primarily a theatre practitioner and not a Masonic scholar, librarian, or museum expert; I just had been “learning on the job” since I started in August 2014. At the time he was explaining this to me, I gave the CEO the benefit of the doubt – maybe he really didn’t understand what I had accomplished over the past 18 months, let alone the past 28 years.

I took a deep breath to steady a surge of anger. “Well, that’s really unfortunate,” I said. Then I looked him in the eye and calmly began explaining my past experiences with museum exhibits, library archives, and my publications as a Masonic Scholar.

“But your resume only lists theatre restoration and art!” he insisted.

“Well,” I responded, “In July 2014, I reduced my curriculum vitae to solely support my role as historical consultant for the MMHC theatre space and future scenery collection.”

An the end of our conversation, he explained that he MIGHT be convinced to keep me on IF I could prove my history in working with museum, archives, and Masonic scholarship. I would think that my work over the past eighteen months had demonstrated my capabilities and my contributions to this entire endeavor. Regardless, he went on, there were some stipulations if he were to allow me to stay: I would no longer have the title of Curatorial Director, I would take a 25% pay cut, my new boss would be the general director, and I would greatly have to increase my workload.

The CEO had intended to hire a whole crew of interns, but if they kept me on, I would have to complete the majority of their anticipated workload myself. Furthermore, I would also have to rewrite my new job description, showing a flowchart and where I was placed below the general director. Then, I smiled at him from across his desk and requested a little time to come up with the paperwork. After all, I was in the final stages of completing the mural for the lodge room, finalizing the details for the start of the restoration project, and getting ready to leave on my trip to Europe.

“You can’t take longer than a week though,” he warned, “as I am in the process of hiring people for your job.” So, holding my head high, I walked back to my office and painted on the mural a bit to brighten my mood. I was heartbroken. The CEO was willfully ignoring all of my accomplishments to date. All of my hard work to be demoted and work the general director, someone who had yet to prove he could follow basic instructions and complete any task without an assistant. In hindsight, I realize that the CEO completely understood what he was doing and this was simply another attempt to break my spirit and have me work for even less money.

Fortunately for me, Jean Montgomery was still processing the library, so I sought her counsel. She had known me since the beginning of my academic career in 1987 when I first started at the University of Minnesota theatre department. She later was the editor for my doctoral dissertation, “Scenic Shifts upon the Scottish Rite Stage: Designing for Masonic Theatre, 1859-1929.” Now she was a friend. Jean was the best person to guide me through this entire process as she had worked extensively with contract negotiations at the university and elsewhere.

First of all, she explained, he has asked you to redefine your job description. Don’t do that! You could start with simply submitting your CV as part of your annual review, allowing him the opportunity to read it before beforehand. After all, your contract stipulates that your position will be reviewed annually, right? And he’s your supervisor? I nodded. At that point, I started updating my 37-page curriculum vitae, thankful to have Jean on my side.

It was quite therapeutic to look back at the age of 46 on my academic training, professional decisions, and the choices I had made up to that point in your life as I updated my CV. I would repeat the entire journey again in a heartbeat – even my participation in the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center.

To be continued…

We Must Pass Through Darkness to Reach the Light

The CEO repeatedly asked, “What will it take to get you on staff?” during the first half of 2015 when I was his historical consultant. This question was followed by, “How do you envision your future role at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center?” As part of these ongoing discussions, the CEO directed me to create and submit a job description for myself. I already owned a business, Bella Scena, LLC, and this was not an easy decision for me to make. It would necessitate my walking away from a company that had taken years to create and gain a national reputation. The various projects for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center had consumed all of my time since August 2014, causing me to temporarily shut down my company until after the June 24, 2016 opening.

On June 1, 2015, I accepted the position as Curatorial Director for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center. Both the general director and I reported to the CEO. I was responsible for the collections management and the general director was responsible for facilities management. My duties included acquisitions, collections, and exhibits for the Museum, Theatre, and Library, whereas the general director’s duties included events management, building management and financial management. Although many of my responsibilities could not commence until the facility opened, as salaried staff I continued to function as the sole historical consultant for all of the planning and construction of the complex, including design, painting and scenery restoration.

At this same time, another opportunity appeared on the horizon. I was asked to present a paper on Masonic Theatre scenery in Stockholm as part of the OISTAT (International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians) Research Committee conference during June of 2016. The event was titled “An Open Window on Pictorial Performance Design.” (http://www.oistat.org/Item/list.asp?id=1440, being held to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Drottningholm’s Slottsteater with a meeting in Stockholm and Drottningholm dedicated to the legacy of painted scenery.

Rick Boychuk (author of Nobody Looks Up (http://www.counterweightrigging.com/), and I were scheduled to present the unique aspects of Scottish Rite scenery collections across North America. The Fort Scott Scottish Rite scenery at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center and the Masonic scenery from Winona, Minnesota were to be my primary focus. I intended this event to be part of a larger campaign to establish national and international connections with other professional organizations for future endeavors at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center. After all, my job description specified, “the arranging of loans between institutions.”

Once the conference dates were established, I asked the CEO’s permission to participate in the event. The conference was scheduled from June 10 – 11, 2016, and would not interfere with the intended timeline to either restore or hang the anticipated scenery for opening. I anticipated only leaving for a week after the restored scenery was hung. The CEO happily agreed and suggested that I take even more time as there was little I could do the week before the opening as “everything should be done by that point.” Therefore, we agreed that I would return just in time for the opening of the complex on June 23. For the opening I would be in the theatre with an assistant to answer public questions about the scenery, rigging, equipment, and décor.

As I finalized my itinerary, I emailed the Minnesota Masonic Charities and Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center staff on May 17 to remind them of my upcoming absence: “I will be in Europe from June 9-22, 2016. On June 11, I present a paper on Masonic design and scenery for OISTAT in Stockholm. This is the “Organisation Internationale des Scénographes, Techniciens et Architectes de Théâtre” (“International Organisation of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians). I was able to extend my stay a few days longer so that I can make connections with other Curatorial Directors specializing in Masonic History, Theatre, and Literature in Europe.  This is a great opportunity to internationally promote the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center as a destination location for scholars.

To date, my post-conference stops include:

1.) The exhibition of La Franc-Maçonnerie (French Masonry), at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France – Paris. This exhibit is only up for two months, so my timing is superb.

2.) The Musée de la Franc-Maçonnerie (French Museum of Freemasonry)

3.) Cesky Krumlov Castle Theatre in the Czech Republic (oldest painted scenery before Drottningholm Castle theatre)

4.) Freemasonry Museum in Linz, Austria (Schloss Rosenau).

Vienna and Budapest are also on the list of potential candidates, but I might not have enough time. I will have my Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center business cards, but would greatly appreciate a letter from the Grand Lodge verifying my position as Curatorial Director at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center during my travels. This will help overcome some potential barriers in speaking with museum staff who are masons.”

Three days before my departure, on June 6, I received the following email from the CEO:

“Your note indicates that you will be presenting information on our facilities as MMHC Curatorial Director.  Please be advised that your activities at the conference do not come within the scope of your duties as Curatorial Director and will in no way be considered a part of your responsibilities.  Your time spent presenting at the conference and subsequent touring is not within the scope of your employment and is purely an activity engaged in at your instance and is not directed by or approved by me on Minnesota Masonic Charities.  Your time away from your duties is pursuant to our Paid Time Off policies for employees.”

And that’s when I figured out my entire position had been a scam. My position as Curatorial Director for the Masonic Center was in name only, allowing the CEO to secure my services for an entire year at a 40% discount. All of the pieces fell into place for me as I contemplated his email.

I had never been publicly recognized in my new staff role other than a short internal memo for a few Minnesota Masonic Charities and Minnesota Masonic Home staff members. It had been a struggle to have the OAC (Owner/Architect/Contractor) meeting minutes change my business affiliation from Bella Scena, LLC, to my new employer. The 2016 Minnesota Masonic Charities film at the Grand Lodge breakfast showed me, as “the national expert to restore the scenery,” but didn’t state that I was the center’s Curatorial Director. I had not been allowed to directly hire my painting assistant or library assistant; both hires were listed as working for the general director as “museum interns.” The entire staff had a credit card except me.

On paper, I had worked solely as an historical consultant since the beginning. Only my business cards and the initial job offer gave me the title of “Curatorial Director.” I am certain that the business cards were an oversight as I had asked the Director of Communications to order new ones with my correct title. Before I was on staff, they gave me “Historical Consultant” cards to use with vendors to make it “look official” as they didn’t want me handing out my Bella Scena, LLC, business cards.

I had been hired directly by the CEO without any search, interview, board approval, or public announcement. That is also how the general director was hired too so I thought little of it at the time. The CEO had (and may still have) sole hiring and firing power for everyone on staff without any real oversight or accountability. The crushing realization that I had been played to attain my services at a discount was devastating; forever changing the way that I view Minnesota Masonic Charities, the Minnesota Masonic Home, and Freemasonry in Minnesota.

To be continued…

It’s the Last Midnight

My access to the stage for restoration work was initially delayed from April 1 until May 9; the construction was woefully behind schedule due to excessive change orders. It was then further delayed until May 23. I would have just enough time to restore one scene and hang it for the opening on June 24.

These delays were problematic in securing individuals to restore the scenery. From the beginning of March, my restoration crew had remained on “temporary standby” the entire spring. Each week, I asked the CEO if we were still intending to restore drops for the June 24 opening. His standard response was “Certainly, ” but my biggest concern during this time was keeping a crew “on hold” without any guarantee of funds or a signed contract. This meant that they had to turn down other paying gigs and simply wait for me to call, “Start!”

Therefore, I altered the demographic of my crew, now targeting older theatre professionals and retirees who were interested in the experience and not necessarily the money. Then, if the entire project were postponed for months, they wouldn’t be financially devastated when they turned down other opportunities in lieu of this project. For the future, I would consider this a training ground for students. For now, I wanted a crew of competent adults who were familiar with historic scenery and could follow instructions. Although I had interviewed many individuals, I was hesitant to commit to students who needed secure summer work. I looked to my colleagues who were on sabbatical, those would not be teaching during May and June; those who had requested over the years to work with me on a restoration project.

On May 2, 2016, at 8:34am – three weeks before our restoration start date – I sent the following email to both the CEO and general director:

“Good morning. I hope you both enjoyed the weekend.
Two quick questions as we are three weeks away from starting the drop
restoration:
1. Can I guarantee my restoration crew a start date of May 23?
2. Have the requested restoration supplies been ordered?
Have a great day!“

Three minutes later at 8:57 am, I received the following response from the CEO: “Before deciding on when to begin drop restoration, we need to discuss the timing and availability of space and the time needed to rig drops. I suggest that we meet at 10:30 am tomorrow to discuss.”

I was told the next day that the restoration was now postponed until after the opening of the building on June 24, 2016. The new start date for the crew was now Monday, June 27.

Oh no, not again. I sent out an email to my crew “I am so sorry for the continued delays, thank you for your patience with our endeavor. The restoration work has now been postponed until June 27. I’ll keep you updated and confirm that date in early June.” As this was now after the opening, I created a new timeline for the first phase of restoration

By the beginning of June, all of restoration materials had been delivered and new timelines constructed for the first phase from June 27 through September 15. The general director had no intention of renting the theatre space that entire summer. On June 8, I emailed the CEO: “Today, I am confirming with the restoration crew that the project commences on June 27. Please verify this start date.”

The CEO immediately responded, “Work on the drops cannot commence on June 27. Construction delays due to untimely material deliveries and other factors make it necessary to delay the commencement of any work. Once a definite schedule is presented by the builders it will be possible to decide on a commencement date.”

“I completely understand and will release the crew from their obligation,” I emailed, writing, “As I explained to you during December 2015, I believe that some of the ready labor hires did not put the battens in the correct storage slots. The construction delay allows me ample time to identify and make sure that we will be able to locate and pull the necessary items for restoration quickly. Please verify that I will have access to the storage unit on June 27 as I know we all will be tired after the opening. See you on June 24 as I have everything prepped to staff the theatre for the grand opening and answer visitor questions! Have a great week!”

He confirmed that my access to the storage unit on June 27 and the music from “Into the Woods” began playing in the back of my mind:

“It’s the last midnight
It’s the last wish
It’s the last midnight
Soon it will be boom
Squish!

Told a little lie
Stole a little gold
Broke a little vow
Did you?”

To be continued…

Send in the Clowns

On Tuesday, March 29, the CEO requested that I create a timeline and deliverables for the entire Fort Scott scenery restoration. Again, this was so that riggers could estimate the cost of hanging the entire scenery collection. It is crucial to note, that during the time of this request I was only six days into starting the painting of the lodge room mural. Remember, this mural was to have been completed by March 1 to successfully move onto the scenery restoration.

On March 30 at 8:26AM, I emailed the restoration timeline to the CEO and general director. I had divided the project into ten phases over a two-year period. This was standard for any Scottish Rite scenery restoration and by this point in my career I had restored over 500 historic drops. Each phase of the restoration included the restoration of approximately nine drops, identifying the specific transportation, restoration, and hanging dates. The table of contents divided the project into succinct drop transportation crew dates, restoration crew dates, rigging crew dates, subsequent timelines, and deliverables during each project phase.

However, instead of starting on April 1 and restoring 19 drops, I was now planning to restore only 9 backdrops, starting on May 9, 2016. Restored scenes for opening day would include the Egyptian Interior, Darius Palace, the Woods, the Cathedral, the Treasure Chamber, the Classical Landscape, the DeMolay Mausoleum, the FHC Constellation, and the INRI Landscape.

The remaining nine phases for the scenery restoration after the opening would be:
Monday, July 6, 2016 – Tuesday, July 26, 2016 and Thursday, August 4 – Friday, August 19
Monday, October 3, 2016 – Friday, November 11, 2016
Monday, January 2, 2017 – Friday, February 24, 2017
Monday, March 6, 2017 – Friday, April 28, 2017
Monday, May 8, 2017 – Friday, June 16, 2017
Monday, August 7, 2017 – Friday, September 29, 2017
Monday, November 13, 2017 – Friday, January 5, 2018
Monday, February 19, 2018 – Friday, April 13, 2018
Monday, May 21, 2018 – Friday, July 13, 2018

Similarly, the schedule for hanging the remaining restored scenery after the opening were:
Monday, August 22, 2016 – Friday, August 26, 2016
Monday, November 14, 2016 – Friday, November 18, 2016
Monday, February 27, 2017 – Friday, March 3, 2017
Monday, May 1, 2017 – Friday, May 5, 2017
Monday, June 19, 2017 – Friday, June 23, 2017
Monday, October 2, 2017 – Friday, October 6, 2017
Monday, January 8, 2018 – Friday, January 12, 2018
Monday, April 16, 2019 – Friday, April 20, 2018
Monday, July 23, 2018 – Friday, July 27, 2018

Additionally, having me on staff dropped the overall restoration cost by 75%. Otherwise the restoration could have quickly become cost-prohibitive for the center.

By 1:46PM March 30, the general director emailed me his response to the restoration timeline:

“The proposed schedule is highly problematic from an operational standpoint. It leaves only 11 weeks each in 2016 and 2017. And only nine weeks in the first seven months of 2018 for programming of any sort. We are marketing the space for community rentals and weddings, and already have substantial revenue opportunities. I really can’t shut the place down for the first two years to accommodate scenery restoration. We could work around a few weeks every several months, but not a total blackout including all weekends. I understood the decision on Tuesday to be that Wendy would contact rigging providers for a block price to hang the 74 indicated drops with the understanding that they would be coming out seven times to hang not fewer than 10 pieces at a time. I am extremely reluctant to commit to this specific schedule.”

Thirty minutes later, the CEO reinforced this sentiment writing, “I agree. We can’t have the facility tied up for such extensive blocks of time. Another solution must be found.”

By this stage, approximately $125,000 had been spent to purchase, remove, transport, and store the scenery collection. There were also all of the travel expenses for the initial evaluation in August, my expenses while working three weeks on site, and all of my time as a salaried employee working on this endeavor. This amount did not even take into consideration the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent to custom-design a theatre space to display an historical Scottish Rite scenery collection.

From the beginning of my involvement with this project, I had been crystal clear about the time commitment needed to restore scenery, the limitations of onsite restoration, and the overall expenses. The CEO had always responded, “Not a problem” – until now.

So my response to both of their emails was simply, “Please advise me on how you would like me to proceed. Should we meet to discuss alternatives?”

The next morning we met in the CEO’s office. He said, “So what should we do?” I explained that I had solved the entire dilemma and it would not interfere with any potential income. The CEO raised his eyebrows and said, “Tell me your plan.” I explained that each Friday I would ask the general director if the stage was available for the coming week. If it was, I would then contact my local rigger to see if he could assemble a crew. If he could, I would then assemble my own restoration crew. If both a rigging crew and a restoration crew were available, we would restore a drop. This would involve transporting it on Monday, restoring the drop from Tuesday through Thursday, and hanging the drop on Friday. It would be more expensive in the long-term, but it would never interfere with any anticipated rental income or unnecessarily tie up the space. “Besides,” I added, “I’m on staff, so I can drop everything at a moment’s notice.”

“But what will you be doing ‘on staff’ when you’re not restoring any scenery?” queried the general director.

“All of the duties that are listed in my job description as Curatorial Director, plus painting the remaining lodge room murals,” I answered.

There was an awkward silence, and I thought of a line from Sondheim in “A Little Night Music:”

“And where are the clowns?
Quick, send in the clowns
Don’t bother…
They’re here.”

To be continued…