Starting a museum or "How to start a museum in ten steps".   Since 1992, I accept been part of opening and expanding more than 30-5 museums.   Nigh of my piece of work has been with science centers, children'due south museums and natural history museums.   Below is my list of the ten steps to starting a new museum or "How to kickoff a museum":

UPDATE: I wrote this post in 2011 and information technology is all still true and helpful today. However, if yous are wanting a more in-depth treatment of how to start a museum, I just released a new book, Museums 101, which I designed to be an A-to-Z resource for those looking to start a museum. If you are truly looking to offset a museum, my book was written for you. You can buy information technology on Amazon.com.

  1. One Page Description.  Write a i page description of the museum.  You lot can use my museum questionnaire as a starting indicate for your new museum description. What blazon of museum are you creating? scientific discipline center?, Fine art museum? local history?  Then, purchase two books, "Please Understand Me" and "Built to Concluding" .  I am consistently surprised how the personality of the founder of a museum comes through in the opened museum.  It makes sense, the founder, builds a Board of Directors, the Board of Directors hires an Executive Manager and the Executive Director hires staff.  We all tend to gravitate to people like to us, then the personality of the founder is oft similar to the staff of the museum x years latter.  Roy Shafer led a workshop I attended, where we were each given a personality test, earlier handing out the results of the exam, he asked us to await to our left and to our right and detect the people sitting next to u.s..  We then opened the personality test and the entire room had organized ourselves according to our personality blazon.  Be very honest, "is your personality the personality y'all want reflected in the opened museum?"  If non, observe Board Members to your weakness.
  2. Community Meeting.  The 2d pace of starting a museum, organize a community meeting, invite politicians, "desire to be politicians", parents, teachers, schoolhouse superintendents and existent estate developers and enquire "what type of museum exercise you desire?".  DO Not bear witness drawings of the proposed museum, Exercise NOT describe the museum you are planning.  Listen.  Collect the names and email addresses of the participants and ask if they would be willing to attend futurity meetings.   Do non fall into the trap of "if I build it they will come up", discover out what the community wants.
  3. twenty Museums. Equally function of starting a museum, visit twenty museums of the type you are interested in opening.  Keep notes and take lots of pictures.  What is their yearly attendance?  What is their ticket cost?  Find out their operating costs, the National Eye for Charitable Statistics is a wonderful resources. Notice the smallest details, what does the flooring staff wearable? Inquire to do a "back of business firm tour", Do they accept a museum store?  What type of ticketing system exercise they use?  Write a thank you lot notation to any staff you meet during your visit.  Join a museum system and become involved.  Go dorsum to your community and show them the findings of your museum visits.
  4. Real Estate Developers are your friends.  Make an effort to come across the real manor developers in your community.  Every project of starting a museum, I have e'er worked on has in some fashion been motivated by real estate.  Make friends with real estate developers, tell them of your museum idea.  You volition be surprised how your plans volition resonate with real estate developers.  You lot are supplying a customs resource.  Do NOT make whatever agreements with existent etstate developers until afterwards yous have raised more than than half of your capital.
  5. Do the numbers.  Starting a museum is very expensive, every bit 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 pes of new structure is $i.8 million dollars, plus approximately, $150 to fit out the gallery spaces, $675,000, full $two,475,000 in start upwardly costs plus operating costs.  If you employ an average of $forty per foursquare ft for operating costs your yearly operating costs would be $360,000 (salaries, utilities, maintenance), non including an endowment.  Create a business concern plan, can you earn at least 50% of your yearly expenses?  Be bourgeois with your annual attendance figures.  Too many museums have gotten into trouble using optimistic attendance figures.  Attendance in the second and third yr of a new museum can fall off twenty%-30% (or more than).  Programme to the third yr of operation, too many museums only plan to the opening of the museum.  Programme to your third year, non to opening.
  6. Own the words.  Inquiry all of the words that describe your planned museum, the more than specific you lot tin be, the better.  Use Google Analytics and buy domains related to the words that describe the museum.  Create a proper noun for the organisation, be very specific; San Francisco Maritime Museum, Techniquest, San Mateo Canton History Museum.
  7. Not-Profit.  Up to this point there is no need to form an non-profit, it is an advantage to wait.  Get people involved, build a community around the museum need, and so grade the non profit.  The best museums are those that grow out of a community need.  Organize your Board of Directors.  Your Board should include, politicians, business people, investment experts, real estate developers, experts in the field of the museum, teachers, school superintendents and potential donors.  A larger Board of Directors (20-25 people) is fine while you are raising funds.  Form a 501(c)(3) .
  8. Pre-View Facility.Equally part of starting a museum, create a preview facility, a smaller version of your withal to exist opened museum.  The preview facility may be very small and only temporary.  The preview facility is great for talking with potential donors, now you lot tin walk donors through a small version of the terminal museum.  Speak to architects and exhibition designers.  Tell them of your plans, select an architect and an exhibition designer, tell them "we have limited resources at this point, just if y'all help us with the preview facility (pay them a reduced fee) you volition take the contract for the museum".
  9. Raise Money. Use the Board of Directors.  A favorite story of mine is an Executive Managing director needed $500,000 for a new exhibition, he called a coming together and said to the Board of Directors "I demand $500,000, each of you either needs to contribute $25,000 or find someone who will contribute $25,000."  at the end of the coming together a Lath member wrote a check for the full $500,000.  For more information read my commodity "Museum Fundraising"
  10. Share the Vision.  The best fund raising tools I know of starting a museum:; a preview facility, an icon (The Discovery Science Center Cube, The world'due south largest  Brachiosaurus at the Children'southward Museum of Indianapolis), and a museum preview booklet (including architectural illustrations and exhibition illustrations).  Every bit y'all first the pattern process walk potential donors through the preview facility (with museum preview booklet in paw) and discuss with them potential icons of the facility, your exhibition plans and involve the donors with the building architecture and exhibition design.  Try not to make any promises for naming opportunities until you are confident that you will reach your capital campaign goals.
  • Museum Exhibition Blueprint
  • 10 Steps to Starting a Museum
  • How Much Exercise Museum Exhibitions Cost?
  • Glossary of Museum Terms *
  • Frequently Asked Museum Questions
  • Starting a Museum
  • Museum Exhibition Design Definition
  • Museum Fundraising
  • Museum Business organization Planning
  • Museum Exhibition Design - Part I