FAYETTEVILLE — Visitors to the new Arkansas Air and Military Museum won’t notice changes beyond the name, officials from the Arkansas Air Museum and the Ozark Military Museum said Monday.
Leaders from the two museums expect a merger will be completed in the next six to eight weeks, combining the two entities under a single nonprofit umbrella.
AT A GLANCE
Dollars And Cents
Arkansas Air Museum
The air museum had operating revenue of $108,948 and expenses of $121,700 in 2010, the most recent year available through federal documents. Net assets were listed at $360,278.
The museum listed $23,511 as “gross receipts from admissions, merchandise sold or services performed, or facilities furnished in any activity related to the organization’s tax-exempt status.” It finished the year with $64,830 in savings.
Ozark Military Museum Association Inc.
The military museum had operating revenue of $7,973 and expenses of $31,181 in 2010, the most recent year available through federal documents. Net assets were listed at $577,495.
The military museum listed $7,881 as revenue from membership dues, fundraising events and all other contributions. It finished the year with $18,812 in savings.
Source: Internal Revenue Service Form 990, U.S. Department Of The Treasury
“This has been in the works for a lot of years. It hasn’t happened before for a variety of reasons, but we’re moving forward with it now,” said Ray Boudreaux, president of the Arkansas Air Museum board. “It’s just a matter of being easier to promote them together, as a single museum.”
The neighboring museums already are coordinated in many ways, and have some historical crossover. Visitors purchasing an $8 pass to either museum have gotten complimentary access to the other for about five years.
“Everything but the name will remain status quo as far as the visitors are concerned,” said Leonard McCandless, president of the Ozark Military Museum board of directors and the sole employee.
Details of the new museum’s management and operating structure are still being worked out, Boudreaux said. Initially, all members of both museum boards will probably make up a new Arkansas Air and Military Museum board, he said.
The Arkansas Air Museum opened in 1986, inside the historic White Hangar at Drake Field. The Ozark Military Museum moved in next door in 2002, relocating from Springdale.
The air museum’s goal has been the preservation of Arkansas aviation history, while the Ozark Military Museum has focused on aircraft, vehicles, weapons and other items from World War II and other modern conflicts. Both museums include flyable and stationary airplanes.
The merger proposal, which had been circulated for several months throughout the airport community, was announced Monday in a news release by the Fayetteville Visitors Bureau. The announcement surprised leaders of both museums.
“We would have liked to put out the release ourselves, as our museums are the principals here,” said Warren Jones, director for the Arkansas Air Museum.