Major donor, 8 others quit Bellevue Art Museum board

By Warren Cornwall and Sheila Farr
Seattle Times staff reporters

	Mary Shirley
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A crucial financial backer of the Bellevue Art Museum and eight other people have resigned from the board, delivering another blow to the organization as it tries to recover from a crisis that forced it to close in September.

Mary Shirley, wife of former Microsoft President Jon Shirley and a widely recognized patron of the arts, left the board roughly three weeks ago, said board President Rick Collette.

"She's been involved for a long time, and they (the Shirleys) have been huge supporters," Collette said. "I think they just thought this was time to break away and do something else."

Collette said he has been calling individuals on the board and asking if they are ready for the hard work needed to revive the museum. After those conversations, nine of 26 board members left, and two others are uncertain, Collette said.

Among departing board members, Mary Shirley has the highest profile.

She and her husband, who is not on the board, were pivotal to the successful financing of the $23 million building the museum moved into at the start of 2001.

The Medina couple contributed $2 million to purchase the museum's downtown Bellevue site. Several other major donors said they gave after the Shirleys approached them.

Mary Shirley, who joined the board in 1996, followed up in 2002 with a $1 million matching pledge for a new fund-raising campaign. Of that pledge, the Shirleys wound up giving between $700,000 and $800,000, Collette said.

Bellevue Mayor Connie Marshall said, "I think Mary has been one of the godmothers of the arts in Bellevue."

Shirley could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Collette predicted that with Mary Shirley gone, the couple would probably donate less money to the museum.

But he said it may be healthy if it forces the museum to broaden its donor base rather than relying on a handful of major backers.

Several bankers and a number of community volunteers also left. They are: Tony Chalfant, a U.S. Bancorp executive; George Brace, of Pacific Northwest Bank; Stephen Harrison; Arlene Alton; Gigi Jack; Dale Johnson; Victor Melfi; and Gerry Lederman, Collette said.

It's not clear if two other people, Michael Klein, curator of the Microsoft arts collection, and Beth Haimann will remain on the board, Collette said.

Collette said there were numerous reasons people left: One person was moving, others had been volunteers for a long time and were tired, others had pressures at work, he said. Several will continue to volunteer at the museum in other roles, he said.

The exodus comes as the board wrestles with how to resurrect a museum that two years ago was the toast of the town, with its distinctive architecture and soaring ceilings. Before that, the museum was housed on the third floor of the Bellevue Square shopping center.

The museum has repeatedly cut staff because of lower-than-expected donations and revenues from art classes and attendance and higher-than-expected costs. The museum also has been the subject of complaints about its artistic direction, which tended toward contemporary art. Museum director Kathleen Harleman resigned in August, saying she wanted to pursue more avant-garde art.

The fiscal meltdown reached its peak in September, when the board suddenly voted to close the museum, saying it was on the verge of running out of cash.

The museum has since hired an interim managing director, Mark Haley, a Tacoma businessman and arts booster. He has been directed to work with the board and community leaders to devise a business plan to reopen the museum.

Collette has said they hope to have that plan in place in early 2004.

Seattle Times staff reporter Cheryl Phillips contributed to this story.

Warren Cornwall: 206-464-2311 or cornwall@seattletimes.com

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