May I suggest that everyone interested in this "business" issue, read the
Washington Post National Weekly Edition of June 29, page 29 "Exhibiting a
New Enthusiasm: Demographic changes are bringing boom times to America's
museums."  It gets to the subject of running museums as businesses.


------
Robert Handy
Brazoria County Historical Museum
museum_bob
[log in to unmask]
http://www.bchm.org

----------
From:   Alex Avdichuk[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Wednesday, July 29, 1998 2:18 PM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: The Value of an M.A. - $7.25/hr?

Granted, but the fact of the matter is that a museum is not a "business" in
the traditional sense of the word, so traditional business practices don't
always apply.

The successes will come when museums apply good business practices which
are appropriate to the museum context (whatever these may be), and which
will not conflict with the mandate of the institution.  Many museums have
found that when one puts fiscal responsibility above responsibility to the
audience and the collections, the result can be lost staff and closed
galleries.  We should not try to swat flies with sledgehammers, but try to
find a balance (as another museum-Ler has suggested) between good museums
and good businesses.




If running museums as businesses "usually backfires" then I think we all
need to switch careers because a quick look at the budget of most
museums will illustrate that the business end is what allows us to have
any salary at all.
Business experience is nothing to be feared. A museum cannot run on good
intentions and a great collection.
-Rob Lopata