This year’s Association of Science-Technology Centers Annual Conference included a forum moderated by Arizona Science Center Director Sheila Grinell on the broad topic of marketing traveling exhibitions. The issue of the relative cost of currently-traveling shows was raised. Informal Learning Experiences, which maintains an extensive database of traveling shows, offered to provide the field with some summary data on the cost vs. the size of traveling exhibitions.

Therefore, we have posted a graphic on our web site, www.informallearning.com, which shows a comparison of size and cost of 252 of the exhibitions that we currently list. This is less than half of those in the actual database; many of those not included  are panel shows listed in “running” rather than “square” feet, while still others are either so flexible or so early in development that the necessary data is not available.

Nonetheless, the graphic does indicate two large clusters of exhibitions – smaller, less expensive ones and larger, more expensive ones. The graphic also aggregates data from our seven basic categories into a single chart: Anthropology, Art and Science, Children, Ecology and the Environment, History, Natural History, and Science. Please note that this display does not include any exhibitions which are primarily of the fine or decorative arts.

Christen Runge of Informal Learning Experiences, Inc. amalgamated and massaged the raw data and produced this and other charts.