MUSEUM EXHIBITION BUSINESS PLAN GUIDE
Starting up a museum business is bureaucratic. It is a venture with serious stewardship, trust, legal, and public obligation.
Opening a museum business requires many things. It requires time for learning everything concerned with the museum.
One who wants to start up a museum should familiarize himself with the museum environment.
Most famous museums are the ones controlled and managed by governing staff and authorities who are engaged in professional organizations and connecting with peers to be current with trends and standards.
Here is a sample business plan for starting a museum exhibition business.
One who wants to start up a museum business should;
- GIVE A DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSEUM
There are various types of museums, there are the science museums, the art museums, local history museums, the international history museums, the children museums, etc. One who wants to start up a museum should give a brief or total description of the kind of museum that is to be set up.
Another step to be taken after this is to create a board of directors who will hire an executive director who will also hire the staff. The essence of doing this is to bring in people [board of directors] who will contribute their professional ideas and contribute their experiences in the kind of museum to be established and ways of running such museum.
- COMPUTE THE EXPENSES INVOLVED
I tell you, starting up a museum is very expensive. It is necessary to compute the numbers to estimate the total budget for starting up a proper museum. Many museums have gotten into trouble by the use of optimistic attendance figures.
It is also advisable that when estimating the expenses for starting up the museum, one should also consider having an estimate for the subsequent years, to prevent unpleasant unforeseen circumstances.
- MAKE IT NON PROFIT
Sounds absurd right? It does. It is a very nice idea that should be acted upon to make its generosity known and increase its popularity. Most of the best museums are those that emanate from community needs. Organizing a board of directors which includes businessmen, politicians, investment experts, real estate experts, school superintendents, teachers, and experts in the field.
The purpose of organizing a board of directors that includes those people is to create an avenue for making income through donations and contributions for running and administration of the museum since the museum will be a non- profit-making organization.
An extra income can also be made from grants and donations from other individuals, bodies, associations, and organizations since the popularity of the business might have been known from its generosity.
- MEET REAL ESTATE EXPERTS
If you want to start up a museum business, you should make efforts to meet real estate experts around you. Real estate experts in one way or the other, motivate the formation of a museum.
Meet them, liaise with them, let them know about your idea and you will be surprised how well the idea will resonate with theirs. It is also advisable not to make agreements of any sort with real estate developers before making the capital available.
- SHARE YOUR VISION
Starting up a museum involves having a large capital in hand. By sharing your ideas with elites in the society, you may meet sponsors and donors who will want to assist.
As you plan to establish a museum, make fliers, handbills, booklets containing your potential ideas and innovations, who knows, you might end up getting a site for erecting the museum for free.
- HAVE A PREVIEW FACILITY
It is wise to create a preview facility of the museum you are about to establish. Talk with exhibition designers and architects. This preview facility may be small and temporary. It is good for talking with potential donors after which you can carry donors through a small chapter of the completed museum.
Tell them of your ideas, tell them something like “currently, our resources are limited, but if you assist us with our preview facility, you will definitely be awarded the contract for the museum”.
- VISIT MUSEUMS
As part of setting up a museum, it is advisable to visit a good number of the type of museum you are about to open.
Take notes, keep the experience and take lots of pictures. Take notes like how much does their ticket costs, what their yearly attendance is, the type of ticketing detail they use, what the staff wears. Notice the smallest details. Register in any museum organization and start doing.
Museums are limited in the country. A person who wants to make it big should stop contemplating how to go about it and cash in on this advantage. I bet you, there is a lot of cash waiting to be taken in the museum business.
