JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Maritime Heritage Center may not make it to the end of 2016.
The museum’s director, Paul Ghiotto, tells Action News the longtime museum is running out of funding, and unless the money starts pouring in, the doors will close.
“If finances don’t change and money isn’t raised from whatever source, we will be forced to close the doors,” said Ghiotto.
For 30 years, the Jacksonville Maritime Heritage Center has preserved some of the River City’s most significant maritime artifacts. The museum is inside The Jacksonville Landing, alongside shops and boutiques. The museum stream of income includes membership fees, gift shop profits and donations. The money supports its overhead -- which includes one employee.
People like Sunny Redman make it a point to support the museum. He wants see it succeed.
“I think this is a valuable assist to the community. So I think there should be a fix for it,” said Redman.
Ghiotto says the museum has enough money to stay open throughout 2015, but in 2016, the doors will likely close.
“We are very proud of what we’ve done in the last 30 years of making this history available to Jacksonville. And so if we do have to close, we’ll go out with our heads high,” said Ghiotto.
For more information on how you can help the museum keep its doors open, click here.
WJAX
