CUTS, CUTS, CUTS ...While much of the public outcry has focused on the attacks on research at the Institution, Small has made it clear that he plans to replace the career civil service staff of the Smithsonian with minimum-wage, benefitless contractors, who can be hired and fired without the protections of the civil service system. This includes, for example, the staff of the Institution's print shop, its motor pool, and, it is rumored, perhaps even its guard force. Mail service is to be greatly reduced. MEMORANDUM PROTESTING THE ClOSURE OF SMITHSONIAN PRODUCTIONS
April 26, 2001 TO: Lawrence Small, Secretary THROUGH: Rex Ellis, Chair, Division of Cultural History, NMAH FROM: Howard Bass, Dwight Blocker Bowers, Camy Clough, John Fleckner (NMAH Archives Center), Rayna Green, John Hasse, Cynthia Hoover, Ellen Hughes, Niani Kilkenny, Kennith Kimery, Charlie McGovern, Marvette Perez, Bernice Johnson Reagon (Curator Emerita), Patrick Rucker, Kenneth Slowik, Atesh Sonneborn (Smithsonian Folkways), Gary Sturm, Jim Weaver, James Zimmerman (except where noted, Division of Cultural History, NMAH) SUBJECT: Smithsonian Productions It was with the greatest dismay that we heard of the elimination of Smithsonian Productions. The effect of such a decision is profound and the intention of this document is to draw attention to the many ways in which this superb unit serves the interests of the institution and those of audiences across the country and around the world. Outreach is crucial to our mission at the Smithsonian, and arguably there is no single unit that embodies outreach like Smithsonian Productions. The staff’s commitment to excellence and dedication to producing products of the highest quality serve as an example to all of us. That their colleagues in the industry hold them in the highest regard is clear from the many awards they have received. What message about the Institution’s long-term media strategy does demolishing this unit send? We are also profoundly disturbed that such actions are taken without consultation with those who have worked closely and successfully with Smithsonian Productions for many years. For more than 35 years, Smithsonian Productions (previously the Office of Telecommunications)—working with a wide variety of SI collaborators and others from the media world including PBS, NPR, Arts and Entertainment, and Public Radio International (PRI)—has created hundreds of radio and television shows and series, recordings, and exhibition audio and video, many of which have won the industry’s top accolades, including the Academy Award, local and national Emmys, Peabody, Grammy, DuPont-Columbia, among many others. Such products bring the Smithsonian’s collections, research, and messages to millions of viewers and listeners throughout the world, places where other methods of outreach cannot easily go. Virtually every major exhibition at NMAH (and many at other Smithsonian bureaus) is produced with the collaboration of Smithsonian Productions, whose videos often comprise some of the most memorable experiences for our visitors. (See attachment for partial list of recent projects.) Without Smithsonian Productions, there will be no one our staff can go to for impartial advice on planning and budgeting; no one to provide independent assessments of the myriad outside broadcasters, producers, and production houses. We will be forced to work with non-SI contractors who lack knowledge of the ins and outs of the Smithsonian's curatorial divisions, collections, programs, politics, and offices; as a result, no outside contractor will be able to provide the directness and time- and cost-efficiency routinely provided by Smithsonian Productions. Besides the additional cost, this will entail a significant amount of staff and administrative time locating contractors, competitively bidding contracts, and creating contracts and purchase orders; here lies part of the hidden cost of this action. In short, Smithsonian Productions provides far more than nuts-and-bolts production services. It is integral to our work here, essential to our communications and outreach, critical to maintaining the highest standards of quality in research and presentation that is the ineluctable bedrock of our brand equity with the public. The value of close working relationships established over many years cannot be estimated in dollars alone. Institutional memory and loyalty to a common cause simply cannot be outsourced. Projects of the quality and integrity that come from Smithsonian Productions are a result of a commitment to excellence that has been a hallmark of this institution. Such products, if they indeed can be duplicated in a future without Smithsonian Productions, will be far more costly. In reality, without our own in-house production unit, in many cases such projects simply won’t happen at all. The decision to eliminate Smithsonian Productions is thus a mistake, one that will become clearer over time. All of us are aware of the difficulties the Institution faces with budget issues, and recognize that cuts are at times a necessary evil. But we urge you to reconsider this decision with full knowledge of the important role played by this unit. We also ask that when such decisions are contemplated that there be direct consultation with those who are positioned to know the value of such entities, and the real costs and meaning of such a decision. cc: Robert Bailey, Sheila Burke, Spencer Crew, Martha Morris, Jim Gardner Attachment A sampling of recent examples of Smithsonian Productions projects and products:
Among countless other highly regarded projects: Black Radio, Wade in the Water, Jazz Singers, and Remembering Slavery, most of which are both radio programs and commercially available recordings and thus crucial to ongoing efforts to reach traditionally underserved audiences |
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