The other weekend I had the pleasure of checking out another hot new neighborhood taking shape in Midtown. In the quickly changing Post Office Park neighborhood (“POP Square”?), a cultural hub is taking shape. Three new museums, all located within a block of each other, hosted opening receptions the same evening, and the crowds came out. The Center for Photography of Woodstock (CPW), now located in Kingston, was packed with many out-of-towners as well as locals. And the Center for the Holographic Arts and International Museum of Dinnerware Design were quite busy with visitors enjoying their exhibits. Each museum is fascinating, and I must say the Dinnerware Museum is not what you think. Just go! By the enormous turnout — braving the cold and rainy January night — the museums’ collective economic potential was clearly apparent.

I’ve always enjoyed visiting museums. Like many other people, I like seeing a few exhibits and then taking a little break. If there’s a gift shop, café or garden around, I’ll go there. If not, I’ll leave and move on with my day. However, if there are multiple museums in the same area — a clustering — I can spend the better part of the day just in that neighborhood. Perhaps the grandest clustering many of my readers will know is Museum Row on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Groupings of museums can act as the foundation for a destination site, a place where locals and visitors like to frequent. Museums often encourage complementary businesses to open in the neighborhood, like galleries, cafes, restaurants and event spaces where people can visit, explore, shop, dine and socialize. In comparison, stand-alone museums, except for the very large or sensational, have little economic impact on their surrounding community.

Museums are also places where social capital can be built between people at a time when many traditional places for meetings or common events are disappearing. According to Lisa Cline, executive director of the Hudson River Maritime Museum (HRMM), museums are valuable assets in both the expected and lesser-known ways. The HRMM, for example, not only attracts tourists. It also offers maritime-related training and certification programs, and hosts career days. The museum buys and hires local and is a go-to resource and support for the local maritime industry. Its space is frequently used for public events, helping to build community connections.

Museums can also have a regenerative effect on neighborhoods. The HRMM is a leader in the transformation of Kingston’s waterfront. The museum, along with the Trolley Museum of New York (TMNY) across the street, and the Reher Center for Immigrant Culture and History along Broadway, represent another Kingston cluster of museums. Collectively they bring energy and attention and have helped catalyze the waterfront’s transformation. We see tourists visit these museums and then patronize local restaurants and shops, take a boat tour on the Rip Van Winkle, and walk along the promenade. This is a prime example of a destination site.

Historically, Kingston and Ulster County have not focused much attention on its museum assets as a group. There’s no standing museum committee or organization, no collective advocacy and no liaison with local government on its behalf. Operating mostly in isolation, museums receive little encouragement or support to work together for community development purposes. While many will say they recognize the importance of our local museums, too often they remain as backdrops to what are considered more important draws, such as outdoor recreation, food, craft beverages, etc. As such, they remain underleveraged assets.

It’s possible some view our local museums as less than interesting to our visitors from, say New York City or Boston, as each has world-class museums of their own. However, locals, weekenders and repeat tourists often look for new things to do, and when they “discover” one of our museums, they are often happily surprised. “I still meet first time visitors who live locally and were unaware of our museum,” Cline said. Given that museums are non-profits, they have very limited staff, rely on grants and donations and have little bandwidth or money for promotions and marketing. Margaret Carney, art historian, anthropologist and director of the new International Museum of Dinnerware Design, summarized the situation by saying museums could sure use a lot more help in getting the word out.

In Kingston and Ulster County, the arts deservedly get a great deal of attention, and have a tremendous creative and economic impact. But while museums often fall under the arts umbrella, they sometimes do not. Museums can focus on many topics such as history, like the Reher Center and the Friends of Historic Kingston Fred J. Johnston House do. There are industry museums such as the HRMM and Kingston Volunteer Firemen Museum, and heritage museums such as the Persen House, Senate House and Hurley Heritage Society Museum. There are many other kinds of museums such as science, children’s, anthropology and natural history that would not naturally fall under an “arts” designation.

I’ve always thought that Ulster County would do well to declare a “museum month” and provide coordinated promotions, marketing and even transportation, like the UCAT Nature Bus, to showcase our museums and the communities where they reside. There could be coordinated openings and receptions and events. Additionally, there should be more effort on the part of our local school districts and museums to engage. Museums are natural classrooms. And given our uniquely large and active creative community, Ulster County and Kingston should seek ways to bring a world-class museum here — on the level of DIA Beacon, MassMoCA and Storm King. Think big.

Happily, I can report that some help may be on the way for our museums and heritage sites. Last year, Ulster County’s legislature formed an advisory committee to create an Arts and Culture Master Plan. The initiative seeks to inventory creative resources, quantify the arts economic impact, identify strategies to empower the ecosystem, guide future investment and ensure it’s inclusive.

The plan, according to Peter Criswell, chair of the Ulster County Legislature and project chair of the advisory committee, will be presented to the full county legislature this April. Criswell noted that the plan “will propose strategies to maximize [museums and heritage sites] potential as economic engines.” To emphasize that follow-up actions will be taken, Criswell shared that Ulster County will be adding a new position specifically focused on arts, culture and open spaces (as in space use). “This role will include working on issues directly related to museums, heritage sites and other cultural assets. ... This initiative is part of our broader strategy to provide more focused support and resources for this vital sector,” according to Criswell. I look forward to seeing the committee’s plan.

With research showing that groupings of museums can be economic development catalysts, combined with Kingston’s vibrant arts community, growing walkability and robust tourist economy, backing our museums would seem like a no-brainer. When conditions such as the formation of a new museum hub develop, local governments should focus on nurturing it. It’s time to show our museums some love. I encourage everyone to visit a local museum that you’ve never been to, especially during these quieter winter and spring months. Go with a friend or family member and take a break from your digital lives. More likely than not, you will be pleasantly surprised by what you find.

Raleigh Green is a local business owner specializing in marketing communications consulting and services. If you enjoy this column, please “like” it on social media and share online. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer; they do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Kingston Wire Editorial Team.