Grant, at all of the museums that I have worked for, we have always had alcohol available at internal museum events, exhibit openings, etc. I don't specifically what we had for liability issues. I do know that if your institution sells alcohol at an event, it does need a liquor license. At one of my former museums we also sold liquor at our fundraising events and provided bar services for rentals.

At my last museum, we rented out one of our facilities for weddings and the County required that the renter provide proof of liability insurance and needed to get a one-day liquor licence if alcohol was served. My current museum requires that the caterer for the party covers these issues.

In a message dated 3/16/2004 4:59:57 PM Eastern Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes:

> Greetings!
>  
> Any thoughts out there on the pros and cons of providing wine/beer with hors d' oeuvres while hosting a gathering for a local visitors bureau?  We have a board member who is very much against this for liability reasons.  We also have space available for wedding receptions and are co-sponsoring an art exhibition with an opening reception. This has become more of an issue than we would like it to be.  The board is split on the issue and the staff needs a decision made, one way or the other as this is dragging on. Does anyone have know of any legaleeze dealing with museums and serving alcohol? Should we get waivers and/or disclaimers signed by parties renting our facilities in regards to alcohol consumption?  Are those anti-boozers on our board over re-acting, or are the others being  careless? Is common sense not enough?  Meanwhile.............. the event will be here before this can be resolved, so anything you good folks can do to point me in the right direction; policies, guidelines or whatever you all might suggest to 
> put the board at ease.
>  
> Thanks for listening,
>  
> Grant Gerlich 
> West Overton Museums
> [log in to unmask]