Dear listers,
I'm a relatively new professional that fairly recently started
a new job in a brand new position at my museum. Part of my job is to impose a
more organized, procedural structure to our exhibitions. A more precise,
detailed budget is an important component of that goal. But a question came up
that neither myself nor my staff have been able to answer, and I thought I'd
turn to the list for advice.
When considering admissions as a source of institutional
income (and offsetting the cost of the exhibition), how much of an all-site
price do you include as income for a special exhibition? Our site has two sides
– a history museum and an historic house. The history museum has special
exhibitions that we often charge an extra cost. In doing budgets for those
special exhibitions, should I consider add moneys from an all-site ticket as
income for the special exhibition? Just the history museum side? Only the
special exhibition money? Maybe a combination of the above?
Our finance manager believes only the special exhibition costs
should be included. Our marketing manager believes we should include moneys from
an all-site pass. I believe we need to gauge what new audiences we can cultivate
from the exhibition and what tickets those visitors are likely to purchase, then
use those estimates to project admissions income.
I appreciate any and all advice you can offer, particularly
from those museums that have different ticket prices for different parts of
their property.
Thanks in advance,
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Celebrate Ethnic Heritage Month in November at
the Center for History with a visit to the Polish Worker's Home and the
exhibition, International Trees.