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I agree with David...
Although it is *highly* variable. Speaking of ourselves, we operate 12,000
sq. foot of interactive exhibitry with a primarily elementary school age
audience. However, we are not a major metropolitan area - so don't get as
much throughput (read in the neighborhood of 1000-2000 per week (2000 would
be very high for us)). We technically have 1.5 people for all exhibit
maintenance, installation of travelling exhibits and development of new
exhibitry. We have an additional .5 people to take care of the animals
(feed them, change out bedding, etc.) and aquariums.
Our dollar maintenance budget is $15k - but that includes operating a
separate shop (utilities). We normally have enough left over in that
budget to do some equipment upgrades - though nothing too major (it also
depends what breaks down). Also, unless you are truly a super-center,
realize that the "5 year" life-span of your exhibits will probably get
stretched to far beyond its five years for most pieces. Certainly, we
change out one exhibition area or more every 3 years, but with 7 exhibition
areas, that means many exhibit areas will have to last longer. Our
smallest area, the natural history "hands-off" area, gets the least use,
the least abuse, and we haven't changed in forever....okay, a slight
exagerration there.
I hope that helps!
-William
William Katzman "The important thing is to never stop
questioning." -A. Einstein
Director of Exhibits "Are you sure about that Al?" -His wife.
Catawba Science Center
ph: (828) 322-8169 x307
fax:(828) 322-1585
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-----Original Message-----
From: David Taylor [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 9:52 PM
Subject: Re: Exhibit maintenance and upgrading costs
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
************************************************************************
*****
Peter,
Boy I wish that could be true in most places... but
in my years at Pacific Science Center, we had only 3
guys to cover the 7 day a week 10 hour a day operation
for more than 100,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space. Now admittedly
we had some other staff in the metal and wood shops they
could call on when things went really wrong, but there never
seemed to be enough money to get the numbers any higher
than that.
The import thing I found was to find folks who were
generalists rather than specialists... and good at finding
solutions rather than problems.
Unless you are the Smithsonian, I doubt that anyone
has enough staff to support their operations, and they would
probably argue that they don't either...
David
David Taylor
AHHA Museum Services
"Now I Understand"
(206) 363-8126
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
http://www.AHHA-MuseumServices.com
> From: "Peter A. Anderson" <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 20:05:23 -0500
> Subject: Exhibit maintenance and upgrading costs
>
> Philipe, hi!
>
> I have a rule of thumb that 10,000 sq. ft. of substantially interactive
> exhibition takes 3 people to maintain. 2 - 2.5 of these people have a
tool
> pack on their belts; the rest is overhead - management, accounting,
design
> and fabrication (for those exhibits that are unmaintainable and just must
> be changed), graphics (for those graphics which just must be changed)
etc.
>
> Many people think that this is a high estimate - but I think that they
> haven't added up all the bits. Most science centers are open 1.6 times a
> person-year of 236 days, so quite a few of these maintenance people must
be
> part-timers.
>
> Good luck!
>
> Peter Anderson
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