ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions. ***************************************************************************** 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 [log in to unmask] -----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 *********************************************************************** More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org. To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the message SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to [log in to unmask] *********************************************************************** More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org. To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the message SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to [log in to unmask]