O.K., are you working in a museum now?  If you are, you would recognize
the folly of accepting a job developing a brand new museum for a paltry
$20,000 per year!  For all of the aggravation and the plain hard work
that it takes to build a new museum from scratch, you should demand a
minimum of about $40,000 per year.  I also wonder about the wisdom of
"developing" policies and procedures without direct input from the board
of trustees--or at least an executive committee.  When the museum is just
 being developed, it is the trustees who must decide what it will be and
 how it will become that.  Did they give you a well-thought-out mission
statement?  Do you have anything to work on?  It seems to me that you
have two primary tasks to tackle first.  Get the building renovated
(you should not have your office in there while this is going on, does
one of the trustees have some office space they could donate for your
use?)  And the second thing you need to do is decide, based upon the
mission statement, what you are going to collect.  Don't put any ads in
the paper soliciting donations until you have decided what the collection
of the museum is going to be.  Now, what is the funding mechanism for
this hypothetical museum?  If you will need an endowment, I would look
for some fundraising assistance.  This person could help you develop a
plan to sell the vision of the new museum to potential donors and you
could also raise funds for the renovation of the museum.

Alas, many people decide to open a museum without thoroughly thinking
through the ramifications.  Read Marie Malaro's "Legal Primer on Managing
Museum Collections" and then tell me you still want to do this task!

If you are real, good luck.

Claudia Nicholson
Curator of Collections
South Dakota State Historical Society
Pierre, SD

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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In article <[log in to unmask]>, Heidi
Anderson <[log in to unmask]> says:
>
>Here is a hypothetical situation:
>You are hired to open a new museum in an old vacant bank builing.  You
>need to develop a three year plan for the museum to present to the  board
>of directors.  In the first year, your budget is $80,000 from which you
>take $20,000 for your salary.  My question:
>Who else would be wise to hire to help get the museum up and running?  I
>think maybe a collections manager.
>Where might a new museum obtain collections especially considering the
>low budget?  I think it would be wise to advertise the opening of the
>museum in the newspaper and hope people would bring thier old things to
>it to donate or obtain a loan as the first exhibit.
>What percentage of the budget might be used for such functions as
>maintenance and operation?  I have no idea how much it might cost to
>renevate a building or what electric might cost.
>If anyone can offer any suggestions and maybe a little direction, please
>help.
>Thanks
>Heidi
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