Happy 2023! This is a big year for the CSPM as we celebrate the completion of our ten-year strategic plan, Vision 2023. Back in 2013, the Museum staff, leadership, and key stakeholders carved out an ambitious plan to guide the museum over the next decade. Earlier this month, board members and staff met for an afternoon retreat at the Penrose House. We talked about how far we’ve come and what more need to be accomplished. Here are a few of the museum successes since 2013.
Updated 95% of exhibition galleries.
Reimagined programming to create meaningful connections with visitors.
Achieved our highest visitation record of over 100,000 visitors.
Established new systems to ensure financial strength.
Connected people to objects through innovative exhibits, like Story of Us.
Led the Sesquicentennial Commemoration for the City of Colorado Springs.
Completed a $1.5 million exterior restoration project on the historic 1903 El Paso County Courthouse.
Activated Alamo Square Park as a community gathering place for programs like Food Truck Tuesdays.
Complete $500,000 HVAC project at our collections storage building and funded a similar project for the main building.
Earned reaccreditation by the American Alliance of Museums.
Set a course to open the first new exhibition space since the 1990s.
Over the coming weeks and months I will share with you our plans for the coming years as those take shape. One of the most pressing matters will be the upcoming HVAC work in the 1903 El Paso County Courthouse. This transformative project will vastly improve collections storage conditions and allow for more of the building to be used for exhibits. The work will disrupt museum activities for a while later this year. We will give you those details as the schedule firms up.
I wanted to end today by sharing with you the “vivid description” that we wrote a decade ago to describe what the museum would look like in 2023. Please read it over and decide for yourself if we were successful. Thank you again for your support.Â
By 2023, CSPM will be brimming with activity, excitement, and energy. We will become renowned for the effective ways we use our building, the ever-expanding collection, our programs, and grounds to engage people in our region time after time. We are more than a building. Hundreds of thousands of people will connect with the Museum and all it has to offer in innumerable compelling ways to discover the past, make sense of the present and shape the region’s future. Within ten years, the Museum will have sparked a new era of community pride and citizen engagement. History will be impossible to ignore. Our museum will be viewed as an essential taproot for students, educators, scholars, and civic leaders.
Matt Mayberry, CSPM Director
719.385.5636 | Matt.Mayberry@coloradosprings.gov