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Livingston County Museum outlines Phase 2 expansion, cites $445,000 NYS arts grant
Summary
Anna Kowalczyk, director of the Livingston County Museum, told the Board of Supervisors the museum will expand storage and gallery space, add environmental controls and an immersive salt‑mine exhibit; funding includes a $445,000 New York State Council on the Arts grant, $72,000 from a small project fund and $200,000 from IMLS (earmarked).
Anna Kowalczyk, director of the Livingston County Museum, addressed the Livingston County Board of Supervisors to describe a major Phase 2 expansion of the Geneseo museum at 30 Center Street. She said the project will add about 667 square feet of gallery space and roughly 1,111 square feet of climate‑controlled storage to improve collections care and visitor flow.
Kowalczyk said the work focuses on newer, nonhistoric additions to the 1838 building so the museum can preserve the historic fabric while building modern exhibition and storage areas. "We have no storage whatsoever that's proper with HVAC considerations," she said, describing a separate environmental control system for collections and another for public spaces.
The presentation included plans for an accessible ramp, a ramped experience into a simulated salt‑mine gallery and a glass wall that will display a conserved Wadsworth coach visible from the green space. Kowalczyk said the design meets State Historic Preservation Office requirements for connecting new construction to the old building.
On financing, Kowalczyk cited three principal grants and fundraising progress: a $445,000 grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, $72,000 from the New York Small Project Fund, and a $200,000 award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services earmarked for storage. She told supervisors the IMLS grant was briefly rescinded and later reinstated and that the museum has put bids out to contractors and storage equipment vendors. "We have a huge chunk of change that we're grateful for the New York State Council on the Arts, which is a $445,000 grant," she said.
Kowalczyk said the museum launched a capital campaign July 10 and had raised about $100,000 toward local matching and project costs, and that artifact relocation and off‑site conservation are already underway. She invited supervisors and community members to a Sept. 25 presentation about the project.
The supervisor who requested privileges for the museum noted the board’s annual support of the institution; no formal action on county funding for the project was recorded at the meeting. The museum presentation concluded with Kowalczyk offering to answer questions and encouraging financial support from towns, villages and the county.
