FIT trustees vote to close Foosaner Art Museum, relocate its art collection

The Florida Institute of Technology Board of Trustees voted today to close the Foosaner Art Museum at its current location in the Eau Gallie Arts District because it's too expensive.

The board determined that continuing to operate the museum at 1463 Highland Ave., Melbourne, is not financially sustainable, Wesley D. Sumner, vice president of marketing and communications, said in an email statement this afternoon.

"The Board of Trustees asked the administration to develop a plan to sell the real property and relocate the art collection," according to the statement. The plan is to be presented at the board's next meeting in April.

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It's too soon to predict where the museum's permanent collection might end up, Sumner said. One possibility would be for it to be moved to Florida Tech property where students can better take advantage of it.

"We'll know more in April about what the next steps may be," he said.

Florida Tech acquired the former Brevard Art Museum in 2011 after a $1 million gift from the Foosaner Foundation and Dee Negroni-Hendrick, who died in 2017.

Andrea Lee Negroni said she feels blindsided by the news.

"If she hadn't died last year, my mother, Dee Negroni-Hendrick, would be devastated by this news," she said via email. "She would not have made a $1 million re-naming pledge to the museum in 2011 if there was a prospect of the museum closing. As her estate administrator, I am hugely disappointed — I would have expected FIT and the museum to notify me of this possibility before I had to read it in the newspaper."

Tom Powers was chairman of the Brevard Art Museum Board of Trustees at the time. He said selling the current museum, which includes the main Foosaner building and an education center across the street, is inconsistent with the agreement made between the university and the museum board.

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"The agreement we made was that they couldn't sell any of the property that they received within 10 years," he said.

Sumner said Florida Tech plans to honor that agreement, just not in the arts district.

"The bottom line is, the university is continuing its commitment to the Foosaner Art Museum," he said. "It's just that location is not sustainable."

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The museum is an important part of the Eau Gallie Arts District, Powers said, but he's more concerned about what will happen to the museum's art.

"If they felt that the museum would better serve them and the public, I wouldn't be fundamentally opposed to (it being moved)," he said. "I think it could be a good thing. But I don't want them to put our permanent collection in a warehouse somewhere and sell off the real estate."

The museum's board decided to merge with Florida Tech after the recession of the early 2000s left the institution strapped for money. The hope was that the museum would continue to be a community asset, Powers said.

"They must have assumed it would be to their benefit," he said, "or they wouldn't have taken it."

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The university has since spent approximately $1.8 million to bring its facilities up to code, Sumner said, something Powers acknowledged.

"They did a lot of great updating of the infrastructure," Powers said.

Sumner said moving the museum will make it more accessible to Florida Tech students. As for educational programs such as art classes and workshops offered at the Foosaner, Sumner said those won't go away, though it's too soon to tell how they will be handled.

"Everything we do is educational," he said. "Educational offerings from Florida Institute of Technology are not changing."

Activities at the museum, including exhibitions, special events and classes, will continue as scheduled until further notice.

Another important component of the plan to be presented to the Florida Tech board in April will be a way to appropriately honor and recognize past contributions and donors to the museum, Sumner said. That includes Negroni-Hendrick and her parents, Renee and Samuel Foosaner.

"As I recall — and it's been 30 years — my grandfather, Sam Foosaner, donated the funds that enabled the Brevard Art Museum to purchase the Eau Gallie property on which the Renee Foosaner Education center sits," Negroni said. "A sale of that property breaks faith with the original donor.

"I don't know whether my mother had an opportunity to review the financial situation of the museum before making her pledge, but she anticipated the Foosaner Art Museum would be a lasting legacy. Of course art museums are expensive. But art enriches public sensibilities and that's why my family has supported it in Brevard County for 30-plus years. Hopefully, FIT and Brevard County can use creative fundraising strategies to avoid the plan to close the museum."

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"It’s kind of shocking," said Lisa Packard, executive director of the Eau Gallie Arts District Main Street Association. 

"To have an art museum in the middle of an arts district is kind of an important thing," she said. "We hate to see it go."

If the property is sold, Packard said she hopes it is to a business that will add something to the arts district.

Powers said regardless of the museum's physical location, he hopes it remains a community asset.

"They don't really own it," he said of Florida Tech. "They're really just stewards of it. It really belongs to the people of Brevard."

Email Leonard at sleonard@floridatoday.com.

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