In 2004, the couple opened the Rubin Museum of Art (RMA), a 70,000-square-foot showplace in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. The RMA, the first and only museum in the Western world dedicated to Himalayan art, has won rave reviews. Art critic Holland Carter, writing in The New York Times, paid the Rubins what is perhaps the ultimate compliment: "There is no question about the seriousness of its scholarly intentions."

While "vanity" museums, stuffed full of second-rate or unintelligible collections, are widespread, the number of those who invest the time and effort to establish serious institutions is growing. Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton plans to open a 100,000-square-foot museum called Crystal Bridges near Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., in 2009. Elton John will display his 20th-century art assemblage to the public in an extension to his Windsor home.

"Art should be seen, and not buried in bubble wrap. That’s what would have happened to our collection if we had donated it to a museum."

Collectors who decide to launch a museum are often surprised at the effort required. Shelley Rubin says that founding the RMA turned into a full-time job, one that they took on just when she, 63, and her husband, 71, were considering retirement. "We had never done anything with a museum other than walk in, look at the art and leave," she says.

But they were motivated by the fear that if they donated their collection to an existing organization, it would be hidden away in storage. "Art should be seen, and not buried in bubble wrap," Don Rubin says. "That’s what would have happened to our collection if we had donated it to a museum." Picking a less-expensive city for their institution never crossed their minds, in part because their collection is so unique that it might have had a difficult time finding an audience outside a cultural Mecca such as New York.

Ed Able, president of the American Association of Museums, a group that represents 17,000 large and small museums, zoos, botanical gardens and aquariums nationwide, says many people call his organization to inquire how to start their own institution, but only a very small fraction follow through. "Once most people start to investigate the true costs of starting and operating their own museum, they realize that it’s enormously more complex than most people know," he says. He has found that the biggest surprise for most collectors is that the general public is often unwilling to support a privately funded museum, either with donations or membership or even individual admission and gift shop purchases. Many visitors believe that if you are wealthy enough to start your own museum, you are wealthy enough to keep it going with or without support from the local community.

However, collectors and their heirs often feel that a museum has no business being in business, especially for the long term, if it does not enjoy a steady stream of enthusiastic visitors. For that, an institution needs to offer the public an experience that sheds new light on its understanding of art, not just a glimpse of a collection—even if it is among the best of its kind.

A museum’s endowment needs to cover as much as one-third of its annual operating budget, maintains Suzanne Delehanty, the founding director of the Miami Art Museum, who stepped down last year to start her own eponymous art consulting firm. This does not include the cost of construction or the acquisition of art. The key to success is spending that money wisely.

The Space to Succeed
Anyone thinking of starting a museum would do well to emulate the much lauded Nasher Sculpture Center, which Dallas shopping center developer Ray Nasher, 84, opened in October 2003 to exhibit the collection of modern and contemporary sculpture that he and his late wife, Patsy, had built over half a century. Nasher spent approximately $70 million to build the museum, and was immersed in practically every detail—from selecting the downtown Dallas Arts District site next to the Dallas Museum of Art, to hiring world-renowned architect Renzo Piano, to choosing smaller details such as the custom oak floors and Venetian glass.

"I was always totally involved, and I was fortunate that I had a background in real estate development," Nasher says. His collection of approximately 700 pieces of 20th-century sculpture, including nine of the famed Women of Giacometti as well as Rodin’s Age of Bronze, is so comprehensive that several of the world’s best museums, including the Tate in London and the Guggenheim in New York, have vied for it; a few even offered to build a separate sculpture garden, to no avail. "This is a lasting thing that I’ve created, and it’s totally different than giving away a collection," Nasher explains. "When you give a collection away . . . they handle it as they will, and you’re relieved of any responsibility."

But what has made Nasher’s museum a tour de force in the art world is the combination of fine art with an important architectural showcase. Robert Campbell’s comments in the Boston Globe in October 2004 were typical of reviews from U.S. and London newspapers: "This is a building that distills the uncluttered essence of light and space . . . . The Nasher belongs on anyone’s list of the best recent American buildings."

TOP VIEW: The notion that an art collection deserves to be seen provides a powerful incentive for collectors to start their own museums. But despite altruistic intentions, these projects are dogged by high costs, diplomatic snafus and the charges that their backers are motivated mainly by vanity. Collectors have succeeded by staging creative exhibitions, engaging community support and welcoming art from other sources.

The locale for such an institution can help build bridges to the community. The ideal location is an up-and-coming cultural district. This not only makes the benefactor a friend of both the community and local government, but also makes it easily accessible for visitors. The Nasher Sculpture Center helped spur development of the Arts District in Dallas. The Rubins chose a former Barney’s department store building in Chelsea, an area that in the late 1990s was beginning to attract artists and galleries priced out of SoHo.

Livia and Marc Strauss, who started the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in Peekskill, N.Y., in 2004, believed their museum could inject some much needed life into Peekskill, a small city about 40 miles north of Manhattan on the Hudson River. For the past decade, Peekskill has attempted to foster an arts community as a way to revive its fortunes. In September 2004, New York Times critic Benjamin Genocchio called the Strauss museum, located on the site of a former home improvement store on Main Street, "the most dynamic contemporary art site in Westchester [County]."

The Rubins also understood, from the outset, that it was important to engage their neighbors. Once they settled upon the former Barney’s site as their venue, the Rubins hired a project director, Lisa Schubert, and a start-up consulting team to attend community board meetings to keep local residents apprised of the Rubins’ plans. They hired another staffer to be a conduit for questions and concerns from neighbors, and invited area residents to the museum’s inaugural events. Since the opening, they have employed a staff person dedicated to community outreach efforts.

On a smaller scale, the Strausses let it be known that they are at the forefront of helping Peekskill make a name for itself as a cultural destination. Livia Strauss says she has acquired some interesting allies, including the local chief of police, who helped her secure a car when an artist decided that she wanted to destroy one as part of her public art project. "When you do something like this, you’re putting a lot of yourself on the frontline," Strauss says. "If you had asked me during year three of the construction how things were going, I would have said it was all a big mistake. But then we opened, and all these people came and said how important this museum was for the city. And that was a very powerful experience."

"If you had asked me during year three of the construction how things were going, I would have said it was all a big mistake."

The Strausses, although they have been collecting contemporary art for 40 years, started the Hudson Valley Center as a noncollecting museum. They have lent their works to the facility, but emphasize shows with a theme that remain on display approximately 10 months, as well as gallery talks and community-oriented events. They are now working on an exhibition with a politically charged theme, "Only the Paranoid Survive," about terrorism, catastrophes and the general culture of fear. Works by Darren Almond and Mark Bijl highlight the show.

An even more crucial community to court is the art world itself. It is innately suspicious of collectors who build museums strictly for their own collections. To alleviate this and build the crucial rapport one needs to succeed, backers cede control to full-time curators and give the curatorial staff reign to plan special shows. They also recommend featuring traveling exhibitions of works that do not belong to the collector, utilizing guest curators if necessary. Nasher has addressed criticism of his institution by expanding the board to include nonfamily members. The Rubins have turned operational control of their museum over to others, although they serve on the board.

Successful backers are also responsive to thoughtful criticism. Addressing those who suggested that their opening show relied too heavily on paintings, the Rubins have since run exhibitions around themes. At one point, they organized a special show focused on female forms of the Buddha in sculpture and paintings. A display of fierce-looking protector deities featured borrowed works from well beyond the Himalayas, including Liberian masks and Mexican Dia de los Muertos figures.

Michelle Leder is a writer based in Peekskill, N.Y.

Art by Jim Frasier.