Profitable museum

 How to make a museum profitable.

Is it possible to make a museum profitable? In my experience the answer is yes. A museum cannot be profitable just by showing objects, that is why we have to innovate to achieve the pre-established objective, to do so we must show unique experiences, awaken curiosity and stimulate the visitor's childhood memories to bring them closer to the museum. To make a museum profitable it will be necessary to make a series of changes. Among them, considerably increasing the influx of public (customers) and significantly reducing operating and building maintenance costs. From a cultural point of view, we must resort to different simple and easy-to-implement resources.

Some advices:

• Make the most of the idle space available in the museum building.
• Increase income from ticket or season ticket sales. Promotions.
• If it is a museum that exhibits a single theme, it should add different ones, the objective will be to satisfy other personal tastes.
• Create different and independent museological units within the main one (co-production).
• Diversify cultural offerings and create prestigious exhibitions.
• If the samples to be exhibited are not unique or of quality, allow the collaboration of private collectors.
• Frequently update exhibits.
• Have good lighting and description of what is exposed.
• Create stories of what was exposed.
• Interact with the public. Stake.
• Significantly reduce building operating and maintenance costs through agreements with adjacent units and automation.
• Total digitization of heritage.
• Generate one-of-a-kind, engaging, visually appealing experiences to keep visitors coming back or recommending.
• A greater cultural offer unified under the same space will imply an increase in public interest.
• Achieve greater cultural diversity, which entails culture for all tastes.
• Facilitate and increase the influx of public by having everything concentrated in one place.
• Create leisure spaces.
• Create a gift shop and souvenir sales.
• Agreements with tourism companies or hotels to bring visitors.
• Marketing. Promotion of activities and heritage through social networks.
• Continuously evaluate exhibitions and adapt to the public's interest.

The task of making it profitable will not be easy, but it is possible; the goal is to maintain a delicate balance between sources of income, expenses and cultural dissemination and not depend on aid, donations or subsidies from individuals or the state.

Mineralis Museum. Argentina.