As I finish my first full week as a fledgling museum director, I am faced with this very question. After 30-plus years, the museum is doing OK. Much of the programming, exhibits, collections management and overall vision, however, has been in statis. This past Monday, I was given the charge to develop a plan, over the next couple of months, that will get the museum moving forward again. So, all week, I've been asking myself, "How much can I get away with?"
We do need to charge more for admission. We do need to trim overhead expenses a bit. We cannot, however, reduce services. And we have to do more. Can we aim for AAM accreditation? Is that too audacious for a small, academic museum? Can we replace static exhibits with hands-on, interactive educational experiences? Can we pursue a completely different business model that brings in vendors, increases professional staff, and attracts new sources of revenue? Can we raise $2 or $3 million dollars for an endowment that will take the worry out of paying the bills?
These "big" questions are scary. I have to convince not only my boss that, yes, in fact, we can do these things, but I also have to convince a handful of very influential university administrators, the community and, most of all, my staff. Hopefully, I can be practical enough to deal with the short-term fixes and naive enough to believe the long-term "audaciousness" can be realized.
In the end, I have to be encouraged and inspired by the handful of men who looked at a desolate salt dome outside Beaumont and believed they would strike oil. They didn't ask if they could get away with it. They just did it.
Oh, yes, I am looking to get away with a lot. Stay tuned....
