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Date: | Wed, 26 Apr 2006 14:19:23 EDT |
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ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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If museums were such great money makers, then why aren't there more
for-profit museums? I think that this reality illustrates the fact that most museum
programs require a subsidy, even if a fee is charged. Often museums do not
properly account for the true costs of a program -- they do not factor in the
costs of developing a program and perhaps don't even count personnel costs when
delivering the program, let alone calculating the overhead (office space,
support staff, etc) needed to support the program.
The bottom line is that there are very few programs that can be truly
self-supporting. There are some ways that museums can increase their margin (surplus
of revenues over expenses) by simply doing more of the same business --
having more paid admissions, selling more theater tickets, because the fixed costs
are to an extent the same whether or not anyone is in the building.
There are probably only a few programs that can be truly profit-centers --
those might include camp-ins, some workshops done for scouts, and some programs
that upper middle class families can pay for, such as summer camps (assuming
the pricing is structured to result in a significant surplus over expenses).
Bob
Robert L. Russell, Ph.D.
Learning Experience Design
(202) 997-5539
[log in to unmask]
Interim Executive Director & Science Advisor, Self-Reliance Foundation
Project Director, Celebra la Ciencia
http://www.celebralaciencia.org/
(202) 360-4117
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