You are right to worry in advance because these issues will come up
inevitably, and it's better to consider them now than to have to deal with
them in the midst of event-planning.  I agree with Roger W. that it is
important to hack out some sort of policy including (if possible) a fee
schedule that will not only protect the institution in a legal sense but
also will protect the staff from having to deal with issues in a crisis
mode.  Of course, there will always be exceptions to be dealt with on a
case by case basis (in my experience all of the individuals you mentioned
were involved in that type of decision-making process), but it is helpful
to have a document outlining established rules and boundaries to refer to
in those types of situations.

Karen Stahr Kim
Teachers College/Columbia University

----------
> From: Indianapolis Art Center <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Special events and rentals in museums
> Date: Friday, January 23, 1998 12:43 PM
>
> We are in the midst of an interesting and exciting opportunity.  The
> Indianapolis Art Center expanded our facilities within the last year and
> a half and suddenly have become "the" venue for corporate meetings,
> wedding rentals, holiday events and more.  We are different than museums
> in that we have 13 classrooms devoted to teaching art, and so have
> working artists on hand to show their work, teach during creativity
> retreats, etc.  After a year of continuing (and what appears to be
> non-ceasing) growth, we are wondering how other museums and spaces handle
> rentals and special events.  I am including some of our questions, but I
> would love any insight from other institutions holding any kind of
> special events-
>
> 1.      Do you have one person in charge of special events and rentals?
> Who handles the clean-up (Do you hire an outside crew or does your
> internal crew handle that work?)
>
> 2.      What kind of events do you allow in your spaces?  Are there any
> areas or events that are off-limits?  Do you allow events in these spaces
> under special circumstances (ie, a major corporate donor wanting to rent
> the space) Do the events have to be mission-related?
>
> 3.      When there is a special circumstance, who helps in deciding
> whether the event can be placed in those spaces? (curator, marketing, PR
> person, Development Director, etc.)
>
> 4.      Do you ever move displays or rearrange your schedule to
> accomodate special events?
>
> 5.      How do you incorporate your mission into events?  Do you have
> docents on hand to give tours, flyers posted everywhere, etc.
>
> These are not all problems for us, but... I am such a worrier that I am
> trying to think about all of the inevitables.
>
> Please reply to the list and I will try to compile all the information
> that I recieve.
>
> Thanks-
>
>
> Stephanie Robertson
> Exhibitions Assistant