After years of planning, the Bishop Museum is pushing its primary focus back to its visitors. It’s begun a 5 year plan to help the museum become more self-sustaining and less reliant on government funding. The museum has already implemented a $24-million renovation to Hawai‘i Hall and the J. Watumull planetarium.
Future goals include the renovation and restoration of Bishop Hall, as well as more than three-million dollars in infrastructure improvements to the campus. The organization will also sell millions of dollars of property on Hawai‘i Island that’s become a financial drain on the museum. More than 500 acres of agricultural land in Waipi‘o valley will be released as well as the Amy Greenwell garden in Captain Cook which will close at the end of the month. Blair Collis is the President and CEO of Bishop Museum.
Collins says changes to staffing as well as branding are also in the works.