William,

The museum I worked for many years ago started a contract conservation
program that was promoted as a way of enhancing the budget to upper
management. In some instances it led to conflicts with museum exhibitions
as well as legal issues, because when you sign a contract with a completion
date you are obliged to meet that date. When you stack up contract projects
and then new exhibitions or collections issues come up on the calendar that
can put a squeeze on staff and resources and the mission of the institution
or the obligations to the contracts may suffer. In the end most
institutions who do this do not make much income when you look at the time
expended on it. While museum contract conservation is appealing at first it
has proven difficult for several institutions who later ended the practice.

I think that are far better ideas for enhancing a museum's income.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Senior Conservator & Museum Consultant
Los Angeles CA  USA
www.cityofangelsconservation.weebly.com

On Tue, Dec 1, 2015 at 10:01 AM, William Shepherd <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hello,
>
>
>
>             I’m wondering if anyone while working at a heritage
> institution has or has had their institution launch/maintain a service
> preforming preventative conservation/conservation work for the public as a
> means of revenue generation? I’m not necessarily talking about major
> projects, but things like rehousing, humidification/flattening, light
> cleaning, or other typically low intensity/quick turnaround services. How
> did this work for you or your institution? What was the response? What
> population area/type did you serve? Any potential competition/pitfalls you
> didn’t expect?
>
>
>
>             It’s an idea that I’ve been tossing around and thought I’d
> check things out. Thank you.
>
>
>
> William Shepherd
>
> Collections Officer
>
> Swift Current Museum
>
> 44 Robert Street West
>
> Swift Current, Saskatchewan
>
> S9H 4M9
>
> Phone: 306-778-4815
>
> Fax: 306-778-4818
>
>
>
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