Economic Sustainability in Heritage Management

Economic Sustainability in Heritage Management

Skills sharing workshop

6th March 2015, M Shed, Bristol, UK

Notes by William Gaskell, Volunteer at Museum of East Asian Art (MEAA), Bath

Info about MEAA:

6-7000 visitors per year

4 full time staff, 4 part time staff

In order to approach funding background work needed:

·         Report on museum data to use as evidence when approaching funding opportunities

o   Photographs

o   Diary of how time/man hours are spent

·         Compare experiences with other museums

o   Use benchmarks/standard indices

Example of target groups of visitors:

·         Metro culturals – arty types

·         Experience seekers – looking for things to do

·         Commuterland [teenage] culture buffs – precocious people who want to pay for a superior experience

Data collection:

·         Use a tablet to time- and cost-effectively collect & manage data

·         Make time to deal with data without stress

·         Keep records of people you know for your own background checks

o   Use excel spreadsheet

o   Historical database of museum

o   Curator’s personal professional network

·         Bring people [within the organisation] on board by making it relevant to them

·         Keep record of time/date for data on database