Hi Ben,
Although now several years old,
"Starting a museum is very expensive; as a rule of thumb, the exhibition space is half of the overall space, a 4500 exhibition space becomes a 9000 square ft building at $200 per square foot of new construction is $1.8 million, plus approximately, $150 to fit out the gallery spaces, $675,000, total $2,475,000 in start-up costs plus operating costs. If you use an average of $40 per square ft for operating costs, your yearly operating costs would be $360,000 (salaries, utilities, maintenance), not including an endowment. Create a business plan. Can you earn at least 50% of your yearly expenses? Be conservative with your annual attendance figures. Too many museums have gotten into trouble using optimistic attendance figures. Attendance in a new museum's second and third years can fall off 20%-30% (or more). Plan for the third year of operation; too many museums only plan for the museum's opening. Plan to your third year, not to opening."
I never published the 2017 Exhibition Costs survey. The issues of costs per square foot were causing too many issues, and I backed away from doing the surveys.
All the best,
- Mark
Original Message:
Sent: 07-27-2022 10:11 AM
From: Benjamin Barbera
Subject: Budget Estimating Resources
I'm posting on behalf of a museum in our state. They are relocating to a much larger facility and asked about resources to help determine how much they should expect to increase their existing budget. Any help would be much appreciated.
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[Ben] [Barbera]
[Board President - Wisconsin Federation of Museums]
[Director of Collections and Exhibitions]
[Milwaukee County Historical Society]
[Milwaukee] [WI]
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