City staff will review the lease agreement it has with the Fashion History Museum after a grant shortfall threatened the future of the Hespeler landmark.
The move will keep the museum afloat and could save the co-founders from having to apply to the city's grants program every year to help cover rent.
Bottom line; the museum isn't going anywhere.
Tuesday night's directive from council will come as a relief to many, especially co-founder Kenn Norman, who appealed to councillors to reconsider the amount of funding granted to the museum after the committee tasked with dividing up the $361,000 available decided to only give half of what the Fashion History Museum had asked for.
Norman requested $96,800 since the museum uses the grant annually to pay $80,000 in rent to the city, with the remainder considered a contribution toward utilities, insurance, security and other expenses.
When they learned they would only receive half, Norman and museum director/curator Jonathan Walford took to social media to express their dismay and warn it could lead to the museum's closure.
The city's chief financial officer, Sheryl Ayres, said 49 applicants requested $994,706 through the grants to groups program, which has a budget of $361,000. The amount requested is nearly three times what is available.
Organizations applying to the program include everyone from Reep Green Solutions to the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra.
Coun. Donna Reid made a motion to amend the grants to groups recommendation to ask that the museum's lease agreement gets a full review.
It was seconded by Coun. Mike Devine who is adamant the museum, which operates out of the city-owned Hespeler Post Office, shouldn't have to go through grants to groups to pay their rent.
"They should not have to go through grants to groups and bite their nails every friggin' year for funding," he said. "We have to find a better way."
Devine praised the museum for what it brings to Cambridge in terms of prestige and tourism.
"If anybody's not gone in there, shame on them," Devine said, admitting he might not have walked through the doors if he hadn't been elected to council. "It's an icon to our community. We're lucky to have it."
The sentiment was shared by Julie Oakes, who wrote to the city from Whitby after learning the museum was at risk of closing.
"This museum is a jewel in the City of Cambridge," she wrote. "Fashion history buffs come from all over the world to view the exhibits here, and they don’t just spend their money at the museum."
Norman said that in addition to helping to "put Cambridge on the map" and bringing in tourism dollars, "site selectors also look to the types of amenities a city provides in the quality of life. It's attracting business, it's attracting jobs and it's retaining employment for people here, including families."
Norman said the internationally-recognized museum houses over 12,000 items, many of them rare, hosts training sessions for the film industry, and has travelling exhibitions that have appeared in places like Hong Kong and Bahrain.
Council voted unanimously in support of the recommendation to provide various grants to groups, including 37 organizations seeking grants under $25,000 and 12 organizations seeking grants over $25,000.
A second amendment will give the Cambridge Cultural Association a small bump in funding. The organization that hosts a multi-cultural festival in Forbes Park will now get $3,000 instead of the $1,000 granted by the committee.
The extra $2,000 will appear as a budget variance.
