Bishop Museum urges lawmakers to sustain state subsidy as federal grants shrink; highlights collections, digitization and neighbor‑island access

Janet Bullard, vice president of advancement and acting director of government relations at Bishop Museum, and Anne Botticelli, board chair, briefed the House Committee on Culture, Arts & International Affairs about the museum's collections, operational needs and risks from federal funding reductions.

Janet said Bishop Museum’s collections include the library and archives (items such as sheet music and handwritten diaries), an ethnology collection of about 77,000 objects, a herbarium with about 600,000 preserved plant specimens, and entomology holdings described as among the largest in the United States (she cited 14,000,000 specimens). She said the museum houses archaeological, malacology (snail) and vertebrate collections and operates the state’s only cryopreservation lab used for DNA analysis and services tied to public health (for example, rat‑lungworm testing).

Janet told the committee the museum conducts active fieldwork and research and that its education department serves about 20,000 students annually. She said Bishop is undertaking a large digitization effort for its holdings so collections can be preserved and shared; she characterized the project as a primary method for both conservation and outreach.

On funding, Janet said that in 2019 the museum received a much smaller state subsidy (about 9% of the budget). She said state operational support since 2019 has “made a tremendous, tremendous difference” and allowed investments in IT infrastructure, data security and fire suppression. She also warned that federal grant funding has recently been cut: “We have about $4,000,000 in total federal risk right now,” she said, and noted multiple termination notices and uncertainty about National Science Foundation funding for programs that place teacher cohorts in labs and fieldwork.

Board chair Anne Botticelli said state funding helped address historic wage compression at the museum and allowed the board to begin an endowment campaign; she said the museum’s endowment is currently about $8 million and the board believes an endowment on the order of $170 million would provide long‑term stability. Janet and Anne both described CIP work now underway: campus roof repairs, IT cabling, active installation of fire suppression, an environmentally controlled warehouse for collections storage, and an expansion and equipment upgrade of the cafeteria (in partnership with a local vendor) to increase earned‑revenue capacity. Janet said many CIP projects aim to complete by next June.

When asked about neighbor‑island access, Janet said the museum is digitizing collections and building online assets; prior neighbor‑island outreach (a portable planetarium and mini‑museum visits) ended with a grant two years ago and the museum currently lacks staff and funding to resume that program. Janet said the newly hired CEO, Chris Helgan, supports exploring options such as permanent mini‑installations in public libraries on other islands to provide access and encourage visits to the Oahu campus.

Committee members asked for examples of research at risk; Janet cited the teacher‑cohort program funded by NSF that places teachers in labs and fieldwork and develops curricula for classroom use, and the plant database and digitization work that many state agencies (including the Department of Agriculture) use. The briefing concluded with committee members thanking museum staff and expressing interest in site visits and interim collaboration.

Ending: No formal committee actions or votes were taken at the briefing. Museum officials requested continued state operational support while they pursue private fundraising and digitization to mitigate federal funding losses.