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Subject:
From:
Jonah Cohen <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informal Science Education Network <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 29 May 2007 16:07:22 -0400
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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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I've said it before, try this thought experiment:

Your boss has just told you that you need to bring in more money/cut
spending/you can't have that new staff member-program-whatever... your
museum is having a tough time getting enough green. How many times have
you seen this situation? Judging by my talks with various museum
professionals, I estimate you see it approximately 9 bazillion times a
week.

Running a museum and keeping it in the black is hard. Especially if one
is by definition ineligible for government grants or doing
revenue-generating programs with public schools. And if your options are
limited with traveling exhibits that can gain PR/bring in extra visitors
(when you've declared the bible to be the first last + only word that
matters, not much new and exciting is available.)

In short, it may not be long before the Answers in Genesis folks start
to see their museum as a white elephant.

I'd point out that said elephant's albinism is a harmful mutation, which
naturally selects one to be less likely to survive long enough to pass
on one's genes... but hey, that's probably just a theory.

Jonah Cohen
Outreach & Public Programs Manager
The Children's Museum

"The internet is not a thing you can just put stuff into, like a truck.
It's a series of tubes."
         -Sen. Ted Stevens

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