GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) – The C.M. Russell Museum has split with the Great Falls Ad Club and its annual art auction, which has brought the museum millions of dollars since 1969, officials at both groups said Thursday.

Darrell Beauchamp, C.M. Russell Museum’s new executive director, maintained the decision was not the result of declining sales, but the museum’s desire to directly manage its own events.

“It is not just the new guy deciding to do this,” he said. He said museum officials had been discussing the move for some time.

But Ad Club President Jack May adamantly disagrees, saying it “has everything to do with money.”

“We’re still perplexed by this whole deal. It was very shocking,” May said.

The Ad Club has run the C.M. Russell Art Auction with the museum’s assistance since 1969. Some of the auction’s proceeds go to the museum, located in Great Falls.

Since the first auction, the Ad Club’s donations to the museum have totaled more than $5.6 million.

But sales have declined. This year the museum received $120,829 in proceeds from the March event – the lowest amount since 1970. In 2008, the donation to the museum was $400,240.

David Solberg, museum board chairman, said this year’s donation “was insufficient to cover our costs in money, facilities and staff time,” according to a letter made public by the Ad Club.

Beauchamp said the letter was supposed to be private and that it was quoted out of context.

The Ad Club said it would continue to hold its annual auction. Beauchamp said the museum would also hold its own sales event in 2010, but that details for it have not been determined.

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Information from: Great Falls Tribune,
http://www.greatfallstribune.com

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AP-WS-08-20-09 2354EDT