Museums under threat of closure…

Thank you for the input…

I agree Deny that I will need to gather much of the information you speak of, I just don’t want to do it in a public forum. Once I have enough leads I will approach the Museums off-line and get additional information.

I also generally agree with your reasons for problems, they are hard to deal with…but solutions can be found.

Your questioning system is excellent and is the type of thing I am looking at, but again prefer to do it off-line.

Pondskater…you are right to approach a museum directly and publicly they should be leary of saying they are having trouble. Which is why I am looking for input here and will follow up once I have enough leads.

It’s not bad being a museum in the Centre of a City…mind you we are on an airport (lol), at least for the time being, our City Centre Airport has been under threat for many years so while we continue business as usual we also try to keep an eye out for a less favorable future.

Thanks for the comments

I would also be interested in hearing about museums that have had to close, no matter how long ago.

Tom H

Some very good ideas there.

Tom, I’d also be wary of asking museums if they are threatened with closure. Many would not announce such a problem – it can cause donations to go to somewhere apparently more secure. It might be better to seek a survey of museums that have closed over recent decades. But that’s a big bit of research.

Denys’ idea of a simple visitors numbers/membership/costs survey would also be good – if you can compare it to national visitor number trends and uncontrollable external factors, it would be even more powerful.

I have to agree that airfields are a convenient, but not always the best place to put a museum. But then aircraft in a city centre museum feel oddly stranded.

Good luck

Allan

Tom,

I’d suggest you do need to know the reasons why they’re under threat as you can’t solve the problem otherwise and so as you say “work together”. You can collect the data as to the number all you like but you have to apply appropriate analysis to it to really do something.

I see two repeating issues of late.

1. They have to move as their land is wanted for other purposes

Many museums set up at their local airport as that seems right to them. That’s where aircraft flew from after all. However airfields are generally always redeveloping and hence re-assigning use to their landspace, or they are themselves closing due to noise etc as housing development near them. Others are on old airfields that once were miles from town but town has now grown out to engulf them.

So I’d have to say reason one is poor choice of location looking into the long term and I can’t see how you can fight that one unless you’ve pots of dosh to buy up your own turf and fight off the developers.

2. They’re not economically viable which I see has 2 sub parts

a: Theme

Much as we aviation enthusiasts might not want to admit it the percentage of the public who are passionate about aircraft is small when compared to those who have a passing interest and to those who don’t give a zot.

So perhaps there are just too many museums with the same old same old that you just won’t get the folks through the gate to make it pay and so you either have to diversify the range of exhibits or rationalise the number of museums.

Not slanging the aircraft or the endeavours of the groups but you find in every country there’s this happening. In the UK everyone has/wants a spitfire, meteor, hunter, buccaneer, in the US its P51s, F4Us B17s, in Aussie winjeels, sabres, meteors, and here in NZ vampires, harvards, tiger moths.

Joe average won’t track every example of an xyz but if he’s never seen an abc and you’ve got one then you may get him in the gate.

The other thing is aircraft enthusiast are mostly male and unless I’ve missed something we’re only 50% of the population so somehow you need to extend the theme so their is something to pull the girls in as well.

b:. Location location location as they say in the real estate game. You’ve got to be somewhere that the visitor can get to easily.

This if often related to this being based at airfields old and new business. Old airfields tend not to have public transport going to them and new airfields will have it but it will go to the terminal and the air museum is generally round the other side of the field.

I think you’re right in starting the thread and aiming to produce the results you’re seeking, and I hope it stimulates some good input, I just think you need to broaden the approach. You might even ask a few simple questions like

Over the last 5 years what is the trend in your gate numbers.

Over the last 5 years what is the trend in your membership numbers

Over the last 5 years what is the trend in your operating costs.

cheers