Kinetic Museum to temporarily close due to financial woes

Eureka’s Kinetic Museum will be closing at the end of November due to the financial burden of keeping the space open, parent nonprofit organization Kinetic Universe announced Monday.

But the move is expected to only be temporary.

“We need enough money to be able to put on this race in 2022, so the board made a really hard decision,” said Kinetic Universe president and three-time race champion Steve McHaney. “Our purpose as a nonprofit corporation is, first and foremost, to put on the Kinetic (Grand Championship) race. And that has to be our No. 1 priority.”

For McHaney, the closure is a sad turn of events.

“It’s a tremendous disappointment. It really is not only a place to see the artwork of many racers before me, but it was a place to highlight my own artwork,” he said. “It’s a disappointment that we have to temporarily close the museum.”

In a news release, Kinetic Universe announced it did not have the necessary income to hold the Kinetic Grand Championship race and pay the museum’s rent. Due to the situation, the nonprofit’s board voted to prioritize resources and volunteer efforts on hosting a live race event in 2022.

The race is not only a beloved community event for Humboldt County residents, but it is also the largest source of revenue for Kinetic Universe, with 62% of its revenue coming from the event in the form of racer fees, sponsorships and merchandise sales at the event during the 2018-2019 fiscal cycle, the last cycle Kinetic Universe held a race.

The nonprofit describes raising funds to cover its expenses as increasingly difficult.

The museum’s landlord allowed for extra time to repay back rent on the museum, letting Kinetic Universe pay off 14 out of 18 months of back rent on the site to assist the group.

“The landlord’s been really, really good to work with, and the rent did not increase,” McHaney said of the rental situation.

In an effort to keep the museum open, McHaney and his incoming board members launched a series of end-of-year fundraising efforts. However, these were determined to not be reliable enough to keep the museum open.

“We did some outreach and fundraising which was successful. We then applied for a series of grants, and we were successful in that, but those are one-time COVID relief grants. So we got grants to help pay rent and another grant that was available that we can use for operations, but when these one-time grants were done, there are no more grants to (cover expenses) and we don’t have a museum program to be able to sell to donors,” McHaney elaborated.

The nonprofit’s president says the closure is an unfortunate event, but can allow for the board to move forward to develop a new, sustainable iteration of the museum.

“It’s really important for us to sort of close this chapter, reinvent the museum and rise like a Kinetic phoenix to have a sustainable long-term museum of the future. … I see it as an opportunity for a reimagination of what the museum can be and an opportunity to engage our greater Kinetic community in the development of what the new museum (will be),” he said.

With the museum closing, artifacts on display will be returned to their owners or be put into storage. Kinetic Universe will also be looking to partner with local businesses and organizations to display sculptures in the community.

McHaney reiterated the yearly race and its future is in good hands despite the financial challenges behind the museum’s closure.

“The board of directors is very much focused on preserving that tradition, and part of the ways we preserve the tradition is not only preserving the artifacts from the past, but it’s really essential to the board that we preserve the races of the future, because that’s going to make more history,” he stated.