Cape Ann Museum, Inc.

The Museum has set out an ambitious agenda to become one of the best small museums in the country, one that will offer an experience of the full scope of art made on and about Cape Ann, and its relationship to the history of art in America, with a library and collection of architecture and artifacts which grounds this art in a powerful sense of place.

The Museum will engage and enrich the lives of residents and visitors, leveraging its expansive collection, its first-rate facilities and its dedicated staff to take full advantage of all resources. The Museum will carefully plan for growth and capacity, being mindful to preserve the intimate and inviting setting that is one of the organization's greatest strengths.

The Museum strives for excellence in every aspect of its operations, including collections care and preservation, exhibitions, programming, facilities, staff and visitor services.

The Museum maintains a strong commitment to its community as the repository for its art, artifacts and archives and as champion of its traditions.

The Museum benefits greatly from collaboration with other cultural organizations and with individuals and will continue to foster such partnerships while maintaining our own distinct identity.

The Museum highly values scholarship and encourages it among staff members and those who use the organization's many resources.

The collection is critical to CAM's mission and vision to connect with audiences. Elevating the care, interpretation, and ability to share the collection is a key need, particularly as the collection continues to grow. The Museum will strengthen its capacity to care for, interpret, and build its collection, which is essential to its vision.

CAM has identified a set of facilities needs to better support stewardship of the permanent collection, exhibitions, programming and staff effectiveness. The Museum will pursue facility enhancements to fully support the current organization and allow room for future growth.

CAM requires a set of investments to support operations and facilities needs. The Museum will launch a capital campaign to fund investments needed to enhance its platform for growth.

CAM's progress on its mission to serve a broad audience shows promise for continued expansion; there is greater work to do in this area to fulfill the Museum's mission. The Museum will enhance marketing in order to lift its profile among regional museum audiences and donors.

Pursuing the ten-year vision of the Strategic Plan of 2018 will require committed and aligned leadership. The Museum will proactively plan for staff and Board succession to ensure that it has the ideal leadership for pursuing its long term vision.

The Museum reaches for 2023 when it will celebrate its 150th anniversary as the City of Gloucester celebrates its 400th anniversary. This milestone year is a goal to have completed a significant capital campaign that will provide a collections management center, additional gallery and exhibition space, enhanced gallery space to tell the story of Gloucester as America's oldest seaport and to significantly increase the Museum's endowment.

To reach these goals, the Museum will embark upon feasibility studies in 2018 that will lay the groundwork for raising the funds through a capital campaign to facilitate this work.

After a five year planning and development period, CAM will be in a position to enter a new phase of organizational growth that will enable the Museum to achieve its vision.

The Museum has undergone a 1 1/2 year update to its Strategic Plan, which will be implemented in April 2018. Following the goals of the plan, a capital campaign is being formulated, with plans to conduct feasibility studies during the remainder of 2018. From the results of the study, a campaign steering committee will work with the board and staff to establish campaign leadership to begin working with donors and supporters in 2019. In that time, the off-site Collections Management Center will be the first priority of building, enhancing the Museum's ability to care and conserve its growing collection. Various committees of the board are working on building studies, marketing plans, financial models that include additional staffing support.
The Museum completed a Museum Assessment Plan in 2017 which will lead to seeking accreditation. A major goal in accreditation would be to show an ability to care for the collection as it grows.