Talk host Dan O’Donnell is blasting Milwaukee’s $240 million museum overhaul, warning that iconic taxpayer-owned exhibits could be scrapped or sold off in the name of “cultural competency.”
In an exclusive report, O’Donnell details how the Milwaukee Public Museum is also recategorizing exhibits to be called “components” which alters what Milwaukee Public Museum may do with the museum’s possessions not planned to be featured in the new building.
He notes that those possessions which are currently owned by the taxpayers, could no longer belong to taxpayers if the new classification allows for MPM Inc. to offload or sell these “components”. Whether the proceeds of the sale benefit taxpayers is unknown.
O’Donnell asks listeners whether time honored exhibits like the Streets of Old Milwaukee are being cast aside to eventually be sold by the MPM Inc., a private organization, without the consent of the public. His question is two-fold, asking whether the city can sell something that belongs to the taxpayers and whether something nefarious is going on inside Milwaukee Public Museum who has determined certain exhibit elements as no longer reflecting cultural competency standards. O’Donnell adds his commentary saying, “they want to get rid of what they don’t consider woke enough to make the journey to the new museum”.
Concerned about the public oversight of the transition, Cori Houston appeared in person at the Sept. 2 Committee on Parks and Culture meeting to ask whether the public gets to give input on the fate of museum possessions. She asserts that being told to “trust the professionals” is not enough for the public who has paid for those items and would like to have access to them.
In another post, Houston praised supervisors Steve Taylor and Anne O’Connor for asking excellent questions of the representatives from Milwaukee Public Museum. (RELATED: Wisconsin Black Student Test Scores Rank Lowest in Nation)
The aged facility and rising maintenance costs are also among the reasons stated as the need for this project. In the committee meeting, a figure of $2.5 million annually in operating savings was quoted as a result of the new project which comes at a $240 million dollar price tag. Work on the new museum began in 2024, partially funded by the $85 million given by taxpayers, and another $40 million from the State of Wisconsin.
The Milwaukee Public Museum calls this project a once-in-a-generation opportunity and has earned buy-in from multiple actors through state and private philanthropic support.
As museum staff work to organize the preservation and transportation of certain exhibits to the new site, it remains to be seen how much transparency the public will be offered about the new direction of the Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin.
The Milwaukee Public Museum is set to move to its new location and adopt the new name Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin beginning in 2027. (RELATED: Record Breaking Rains Dump Billions of Wastewater into Lake Michigan)