The New York State Museum as seen from the fifth floor of the Capitol. There is talk about if moving miSci into the museum's cavernous spaces could give the Schenectady science museum a much needed home, and a relevant boost to the aging State Museum.
ALBANY — Word that Schenectady's Museum of Innovation and Science will close if it doesn't find a new home has brought a flurry of ideas and speculation about where it might best succeed.
The former ShopRite supermarket in Slingerlands, a property now owned by Price Chopper? The building wouldn't have the storage needed for miSci's extensive archives, nor would it offer the visibility needed for the museum to thrive long-term.
The former Mexican Radio space in downtown Schenectady? Ditto on the storage, plus limited parking.
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The Massry Center on the soon-to-be-vacated College of Saint Rose campus? Maybe ... but the building, which includes a state-of-the-art auditorium, is probably better suited for a performing arts organization.
But here's an idea that just might work: A miSci merger into the New York State Museum at Empire State Plaza.
Bringing a private museum into the fold of a public institution would obviously involve no small number of complications and compromises, including funding considerations, but there are obvious advantages to pooling resources. A house united and whatnot.
The State Museum, as I've mentioned here more than a few times, has grown stale and could benefit from the new attractions and energy that miSci would offer, including its rotating exhibits.
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And miSci needs cheap space — preferably rent-free — in a location more visible than its current home on Schenectady's Nott Terrace, where irreparable structural and hydraulic issues in the basement are putting valuable archives at risk. "We need to save this place, and we're busting our butts to try to do it," Neil Golub, the chair of miSci's board and retired Price Chopper CEO, recently told me as he and Director Gina Gould went public with the museum's plight.
Empire State Plaza offers visibility and the State Museum apparently has the available space. A merger could also provide the reliable funding stream miSci so desperately needs.
The region, meanwhile, could finally enjoy something akin to the comprehensive museum it lacks. The State Museum's natural history offerings — highlighted by the Cohoes Mastodon, of course — would be complemented by the technology-focused exhibits furnished by miSci, which is operating, in part, as a de facto vault for General Electric's storied history of innovation.
If that long-planned renovation of the State Museum ever gets underway, we might have a dynamite attraction on our hands — a vibrant museum with an antique carousel and more. Maybe the newly remade space could even attract an eatery or two.
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None of this, by the way, is a pie-and-the-sky idea cooked up by a dreaming columnist. Merging miSci with the State Museum is an idea that is actively being discussed among state officials and others in positions of influence.
"Conversations are ongoing," said JP O'Hare, a spokesperson for the state Department of Education, which oversees the State Museum.
Conversations! That's good!
I can't imagine how many moving parts would be involved in making the merger happen, but the marriage obviously would need to involve changes to State Museum operations. For one thing, it wouldn't make sense to put more on the museum's plate without additional resources, given that much of its stagnation seems tied to chronic underfunding.
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But for the sake of New York's capital and its region, there should be a way to make this work. It needs to work. Albany needs the lift.
As just one piece of evidence, consider that the regional Make-A-Wish Foundation chapter recently moved its headquarters from Albany to Saratoga Springs in part because it wanted to be closer to attractions.
"Not only is there so much stuff to do, there's lots of stuff for different types of kids to do. There's a dance museum, there's a car museum," Make-A-Wish Northeast New York President and CEO Jamie Hathaway said to Times Union reporter Andy Tsubasa Field. "There's all sorts of things that this town — because people know Saratoga is a natural space — gives to the wishing process."
Hathaway didn't say it directly. But implicit in that quote is the acknowledgement, obvious to anyone who's paying attention, that there isn't enough to do in Albany — for children, certainly, but also for everybody else.
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A State Museum remade with miSci would be a major step toward correcting that, while also ensuring that the region doesn't lose its only science museum.
Ambitious? Yes.
Complicated? I'm sure.
Worthwhile? Without a doubt.
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