Education departments generating income is a moral issue? Since when
does education NOT have to pay for itself? Suggest that to any private
university...any school system, in fact.

Making an education department a cost-center and showing income versus
expense; tracking numbers of children in school groups and counting them
as visitors; putting the role of the education department squarely at
the center of the financial health of the museum--all these reinforce
and strengthen education's role.

Seeing the education department as some sort of social program that
drains financial resources is an old idea that created backwater,
under-funded, and under-appreciated education departments in museums.

When an education department flexes its financial muscles and is seen as
a critical part of a museum's effort to fulfill its overall mission,
good things can happen. For instance, in revitalizing our education
programs here in Cleveland over the past five years, I and my successor
Director of Education have not only expanded programs, but have
positioned education as one of the key elements in increasing income
into the institution. In so doing, I and she have been able to get a key
commitment from our Executive Director: no school group, no child, no
family will ever be refused an education program at or admittance to the
Western Reserve Historical Society on the sole basis of financial need.
If they can't pay, we welcome them anyway. The positive and strong
income generated by our school programs has given us the financial
strength to make this commitment.

Moral issue? To me it is immoral to allow education programs to flounder
financially. Financially weak education programs cannot successfully
serve their audience.

--
Edward Jay Pershey
Task Force Director
Crawford Museum of Transportation & Industry
Western Reserve Historical Society
Cleveland, OH  441106
216 721-5722 x228

"Building a New Future for the Past" on Cleveland's Lakefront