Intrepid Museum Foundation

The mission of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is to honor our heroes, educate the public and inspire our youth. As an educational and cultural not-for-profit institution, the Museum is dedicated to promoting the awareness and understanding of history, science and service through its collections, exhibitions and programming. <br><br>Founded in 1982 and located on the Hudson River in New York City, the Museum is one of the world's most successful historic ship museums, drawing more than one million visitors annually. The Museum's exhibitions feature a former aircraft carrier USS Intrepid designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986, the NASA space shuttle Enterprise (included in 2013 in the National Register of Historic Places), a collection of 27 World War II and Cold War era aircraft, the Cold War era submarine Growler, a British Airways Concorde and a Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft that traveled from the International Space Station in 2005.

Intrepid will deliver the intersection of history and innovation worldwide to educate, enrich and in

Goal One: Remain Unique, Important, Inclusive and Competitive: Serve as a local community cultural hub to attract visitors Address gaps in education (e.g. STEM) for underserved students Lower barriers of entry

Goal Two: Ensure long-term sustainability: Preserve Intrepid, a National Landmark, and Museum artifacts Connect collections to 21st century issues Foster inclusive workplace Grow and diversify revenue streams

Goal Three: Create Best User Experience (UX) for visitors: before, during and after visit -Expand capacity for visitorship -Ensure greater accessibility and engagement for lifelong learners: onsite and virtual

The Museum views investing in its personnel as a strategic priority and is committed to the professional development of its team. The Museum provides professional and technical training in skill sets to help staff in certain positions excel both personally and professionally. Staff are encouraged to attend and present at conferences and participate in industry organizations, as well as publish articles in professional publications. Staff are encouraged to participate in key cross-departmental strategic and operating committees. Periodically departments present at the Museum’s board meetings and those staff participate in developing the presentation as well as presenting. Management promotes from within when possible, both vertically and laterally. Staff who are cultivated to embark on roles that are more senior are offered external leadership courses, specific to their discipline and through American Management Association, to prepare them for increasing responsibilities.

In March 2020, in response to guidance provided by state and local governments regarding large public gatherings, to safeguard the health of its visitors and employees and as a precautionary measure to limit opportunities for the spread of the COVID-19 virus, management temporarily closed the Museum to the public and provided remote work options for non-essential staff where possible. Within hours, Intrepid’s IT department had delivered laptops to those staff who were able to work remotely. Management then took the difficult step of furloughing most of its front of house staff, reducing overall headcount and cutting expenses where possible, while pivoting its programmatic efforts towards virtual delivery and engaging audiences online. Museum staff delivered 9 virtual astronomy live programs to over 223,091 unique viewers, its annual Memorial Day and Veterans Day programs virtually. Intrepid partnered with other museums and organizations to deliver educational live streaming events and its annual Youth Summit, with 457 participants from 14 countries, who spent an average of over 2 hours online. Given the broad audience reach – national and international – it experienced throughout 2020 and into 2021, management plans to continue the virtual delivery of many of its programs. Intrepid increased its presence on social media, ensuring visibility and promotion of its free programming, and expedited bringing its collections online. Staff held daily meetings virtually, ensuring consistency, communication, and seamless implementation of all. The Museum launched an aggressive fundraising campaign in lieu of an annual fundraising gala, worked with grant funders to redirect dollars for program and other initiatives. In addition, Management secured a liquidity facility, drew on its line of credit, secured two PPP loans to meet operational and programmatic expenses and received an SBA SVO grant to ensure the post-pandemic sustainability of the Museum.