The University of Arizona has begun planning a new approach to reopen the Arizona State Museum after the Arizona Board of Regents declined in 2024 to act on a $50 million funding request, leaving the museum closed for more than a year, the Arizona Luminaria report said and the Associated Press distributed.
The museum requested $50 million in system revenue bonds in September 2024 for upkeep that included repairs to electric and plumbing systems. The Board of Regents declined at the time, with Regent Gregg Brewster saying, “I would rather see us polish the young people of Arizona with $50 to $90 million in state-funded education than I would like to see the UA have to stand up and deliver because the state has ignored this project for years and years.”
While the museum is operated by the University of Arizona, state statute places the onus of managing the museum with the Arizona Board of Regents, according to the report. The Arizona State Museum sits in historic buildings near Old Main and is part of the university’s campus history going back to 1893, with the museum described as holding cultural treasures spanning more than 13,000 years.
University leaders said they are now pursuing a plan that does not depend on the original $50 million request. Mitch Zak, a university spokesperson, told Arizona Luminaria that “Over the past several months, the university’s facilities management team has been assessing building conditions and developing options,” and that leaders expect to receive a recommendation by early summer.
In parallel, the report said the Board of Regents in September approved plans to raise rates and fees by as much as 265% for people and organizations working on Arizona state lands that require cultural resource compliance, including utility companies, public agencies, conservation programs and tribal partners. Zak said in a statement that “The updated fees help ensure that these highly specialized services are appropriately supported without relying on tuition revenues,” and the report said the changes include increases for administrative, professional and specialist service rates as well as curation fees to store archival materials. The report said the fee increase will not affect museum visitors, and that the museum has been closed since August 2024.
Nick Opich, a board spokesperson, told Arizona Luminaria in a statement that “There have been no further developments regarding the Arizona State Museum.” Meanwhile, the museum council chair, Maura Raffensperger, said the new administration under UA President Suresh Garimella has been helpful and committed to moving the museum forward, describing the work as “a very complex issue you’re dealing with hundreds of thousands of artifacts and it’s monumental. It’s a monumental task.”
Raffensperger said the administration is working on what she called a three-building solution. She said the plan is to open the South Building to the public, while the university looks for a new 40,000 square foot off-campus curation and research facility to house archaeological research collections currently held in the space. Raffensperger said the South Building is filled with archaeological repositories that were mandated by law to be kept and that a storage space is needed so the building can be opened as a public space, saying, “The South Building is filled with archaeological repositories which were mandated by law to keep and so we need a storage space for all that’s in that building so that we can open it up as a public space.”
The report said the collections continue to grow, expanding by an average of about 1,000 cubic feet per year. Raffensperger also said relocating the collections would free up the museum’s two historic on-campus buildings, which would then be rededicated to education and public outreach, including space for teaching, exhibits, research laboratories and multi-purpose rooms for public programs.
The report noted that improvements to the former museum building, known as the North Building or Raymond H. Thompson Building, have been halted due to a lack of funding from the Board of Regents. Raffensperger said the North Building has severe maintenance issues, including original 100-year-old electrical wiring encased in wood, along with outdated fire alarms and suppression systems. She said the university has prioritized updates for the South Building to enable reopening, but that the North Building “is still not a priority at this point of the university,” and said the museum’s online note has shifted from saying it was closed for an “extended-temporary period of time (probably 2 years)” to stating there is currently no plan to reopen the North Building.
Despite conditions in the North Building, Raffensperger said some vaults have protected environments and can be visited through private tours by contacting Darlene Lizarraga, the museum’s director of marketing. Beth Murfee Deconcini, the museum council’s vice chair, said her primary concern is reopening a public space so people can see the collections. She said she runs into people who recall visiting the museum on field trips and that “The longer we don’t have a public space, the more people will not have that experience.”