<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div>I have always had a hard time with the idea that Museum Membership should be something that gives discounts and cost saving benefits. “Membership” in a working Society or public institution whose purpose is a social benefit suggests belonging as a way to actively support and express support for the work of the institution. Membership is a way to say “I want to help and to contribute."</div><div><br></div><div>The concept of cost saving benefits for members seems to have blossomed since the economic panic of the 1990s when public cutbacks to museum funds caused many discussions in the museum realm about money and how to acquire it. At museum meetings, the phrases “We must look to the Business Model.” and “We must be more business-like.” led to strategies of mimicking certain common business practices, discounts being a common one, trying to make the customer feel they were getting a bargain. This meant treating museum visitors as customers instead of participants or even those being served by our efforts. </div><div><br></div><div>At the same time, seeking to expand their audience (and hence their revenue) museums began saying that they must engage the public more actively and become a meaningful part of life for people in the community. Today, the word Membership is applied to stores and credit cards and coffee shops as a promotional and distractive marketing technique. Museums, as institutions of research and education and public celebration should seek to maintain their credibility as places seeking to express Truth and Reality. The words we use in museum work should reflect those objectives.</div><div><br></div><div>Participants work to support an institution such as a museum because of their faith in it as a good cause, something worth while as a positive contribution to life. Anyone who truly wishes to support a museum financially should be honoured for doing so, and not have their contribution cheapened by images of discounts and bargains. For this reason, in the 1990s I separated “Membership” from “Admission” at the Grist Mill at Keremeos. “Grist Mill Membership" was a fee for supportive belonging and actively participating in group projects and decisions. The membership group actively worked to produce fund raisers and other activities of direct benefit to the museum. It offered a tangible way to show one’s support for the work of the place and its contribution to community life. </div><div><br></div><div>Realizing the power of Word-of-Mouth advertising, we honoured the informal role of those who liked to visit and who might tell their friends about the place by using the term “Grist Mill Ambassadors” for a program that allowed special reduced admission rates, season passes, purchasing bonuses, and notices of special events. We wanted the Ambassadors to share their positive experiences and feel proud to be representatives.</div><div><br></div><div>The idea actually came as a suggestion from frequent visitors who travelled through the Okanagan region but lived elsewhere. They said they did not want the responsibilities (or guilt) implied by “Membership” since they could not actively participate in meetings or projects. They just wanted discounts as frequent visitors who also wished in some simple way to show their support for the museum.</div><div><br></div><div>Hence, this strategy suited the particular location and visitorship of the Grist Mill at Keremeos. However, it also helped us to clarify the various roles and types of support we could seek and encourage. The “Ambassador” program proved extremely popular and financially successful. The “Membership” program led to a very active group of local and regional people who effectively raised money for special projects and who were always ready to help with special events. They were proud to be “Members” and eventually formed a Non-Profit Society to actively carry out their work in support of the museum.</div><div><br></div><div>Back in the early 1990s when the BC museum community had many discussions about how to deal with the reductions in government funds for operating expenses, “The Business Model” became a constant phrase in discussions. At the time, I wondered if there might be other “models” from which to learn, and thought of monasteries as institutions that also successfully maintained artefacts, art, and historic documents for long periods of time, through the vagaries of governments and historic events. I wondered what might be learned from “The Monastery Model” for application to museums. In both museums and monasteries there is much appreciation of the dedication and passionate commitment to the work of the places by members, staff, and participants. The work of both places is focused on maintenance and preservation of historic items and values combined with education and learning.</div><div><br></div><div>So, I went to the monastery at Abbotsford and asked about their approach to economics. The answer was that whenever possible they sought and found ways to carry out the work, both ordinary and for special projects, by having members learn the needed skills so they would not have to pay for outer services. In their location, if often proved that those same skills were needed in the surrounding community, and the monastery members could carry out that work for a fee to help earn money for the monastery. They gave the example of growing much of their own food in their gardens, but that there was always a surplus of fresh vegetables that the neighbours were eager to purchase.</div><div><br></div><div>My own example from the Grist Mill days came from shopping malls and some main street stores in the Okanagan. I often asked for donated space for Grist Mill displays and was given appropriate spaces as a community institution. When the mall and store managers saw the quality of the displays made with inexpensive means, they offered me contracts to do special exhibits for mall and store window purposes. That contract revenue was used to help with Grist Mill operational costs, but the work did not intrude on the normal museum work.</div><div><br></div><div>Since the question of Memberships and Admissions is really about revenue generation, it may be worth stepping back to look at the local situation to see what marketable skills exist under the museum roof and what needs may exist in the community that can be linked beneficially for all parties.</div><div><br></div><div>Cuyler Page</div><div>Heritage Interpretation Services</div><div>The Grist Mill at Keremeos</div><div><a href="mailto:cuyler@telus.net">cuyler@telus.net</a></div><div>(250) 309-9248</div><div><br></div><br><div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Aug 16, 2018 at 2:31 PM, Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bcma@lists.vifa.ca" target="_blank">bcma@lists.vifa.ca</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">At the Cumberland Museum & Archives we are wanting to update our benefits offered to our members. We are a small museum and are not able to introduce a complex membership program but want a more diverse membership package that goes beyond free admission and gift shop discounts. We would love to hear what others offer to their guests and works for their small museum! <div><br></div><div>-Emily<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="m_1860135127474583940gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><p style="font-size:small"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Cumberland Museum & Archives<br></span><a href="http://www.cumberlandmuseum.ca/" style="color:rgb(17,85,204);font-size:12.8px" target="_blank">www.cumberlandmuseum.ca</a><br><span style="font-size:12.8px">Ph: 250-336-2445</span></p><div style="font-size: small;"><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"></span><img src="http://www.cumberlandmuseum.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/CMA_Logo_CW-e1438281593807.jpg" style="font-size:small"><br></div></div>
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