I'm not a pro but rather a museum go-er. Funding is the key. And it needs to be upfront. Right now my town, Baltimore, is facing the closure of several good museums. We have a fair # of museums that do o.k., so the thought was that alot of museums will do even better. The big killers here have been location, money, location, and money. We have seeing great increases in tourism amidst the rumored closings. If it "ain't" where the people are the people "ain't" going to it. And if the money isn't there when you open, it won,t be there in 6 mos. either. Again, all of the above was an uneducated opinion, but hopefully of some help. Good Luck, a Steel Industry mus. does sound good, I can just see the Victory Ships rolling off the line now! Reid <Big Snip> > "If you build it they will come" does not work with museums. You are correct > in that museums do not survive without subsidies of some sort (any > exceptions out there?), usually a wide variety of sources. (This is out in > the press, so i feel I can mention it) We are working through bond debt used > in building our facility -- we are close to out of the hole, but not without > major troubles. The problem as I see it (usual disclaimers on all of this) > is that if you depend on donations or some other subsidy, if you go into > debt, the only way out is to increase these donations, and, you fund raisers > can add to this, but I think we all know that money doesn't just flow in the > door. > > Anthony E. Kerwin > Curator of Exhibits (disclaimer: you notice that this title doesn't say > anything about fund raising) > Pacific Northwest Museum of Natural History > 1500 E. Main St. > Ashland, OR 97520 > > Phone: 541-488-1084 FAX: 541-482-1115 >