Museum Feasibility Study
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Windsor Museum Museum Feasibility Development Study: Final Report April 2012 Creating Cultural Capital Lord Cultural Resources is a global professional practice dedicated to creating cultural capital worldwide. We assist people, communities and organizations to realize and enhance cultural meaning and expression. We distinguish ourselves through a comprehensive and integrated full-service offering built on a foundation of key competencies: visioning, planning, design, preservation and implementation. We value and believe in cultural expression as essential for all people. We conduct ourselves with respect for collaboration, local adaptation and cultural diversity, embodying the highest standards of integrity, ethics and professional practice. We help clients clarify their goals; we provide them with the tools to achieve those goals; and we leave a legacy as a result of training and collaboration. This proposal has been prepared without charge and its contents are copyrighted to Lord Cultural Resources. It is intended for the immediate use of the person to whom it is addressed. Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................ i 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background to and Purpose of this Study .................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Scope of Work and Methodology ................................................................................................................ 2 2. Contextual, Comparables and Market Analysis ................................................................. 4 2.1 The Museums Marketplace.......................................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Benchmarks from Other Canadian Community and Regional Museums ..................................................... 9 2.3 Existing Markets for Windsor’s Community Museum ............................................................................... 11 2.4 Experience of Other Main Museum-Related Institutions in Windsor and Area ........................................ 11 2.5 Potential Markets ....................................................................................................................................... 16 2.6 Key Planning Principles Emerging From Contextual, Comparables and Market Analyses ......................... 23 3. Collections Analysis ....................................................................................................... 25 3.1 Quantitative Analysis ................................................................................................................................. 25 3.2 Qualitative Analysis .................................................................................................................................... 29 4. Concept and Site ............................................................................................................ 32 4.1 The Hub and Spoke Concept ...................................................................................................................... 32 4.2 The Issue of Windsor’s Community Museum or a Windsor-Essex County Museum ................................. 34 4.3 Implications of the Chimczuk Will .............................................................................................................. 34 4.4 Partnership Options and Recommendations ............................................................................................. 34 4.5 Site Evaluation and Recommendation ....................................................................................................... 36 5. Facility Strategy ............................................................................................................. 43 5.1 Existing Community Museum of Windsor .................................................................................................. 43 5.2 The Need for an Additional Site ................................................................................................................. 47 5.3 Opportunity for Enhancement of Museum Space ..................................................................................... 47 5.4 Collocation of Museum, Library and Art Gallery ........................................................................................ 49 5.5 Museum Use of the Existing AGW Building Ground Floor ......................................................................... 51 5.6 Continuing Use of the Francois Baby House .............................................................................................. 61 5.7 Windsor’s New Museum Service ............................................................................................................... 64 6. Visitor Experience .......................................................................................................... 66 6.1 Core Principles ........................................................................................................................................... 66 6.2 Exhibition Framework ................................................................................................................................ 69 6.3 Thematic Area Descriptions ....................................................................................................................... 72 6.4 Children’s Gallery ....................................................................................................................................... 90 6.5 Temporary Exhibitions ............................................................................................................................... 91 6.6 Public and Educational Programming ........................................................................................................ 92 This communication contains confidential or proprietary information that may be legally privileged. 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Operations ..................................................................................................................... 96 7.1 Governance and Staffing ............................................................................................................................ 96 7.2 Revenue Centres ........................................................................................................................................ 98 7.3 Marketing ................................................................................................................................................. 102 7.4 Operating Schedule and Other Recommendations/ Assumptions .......................................................... 103 8. Capital Costs, Funding Sources and Implementation Critical Path .................................. 104 8.1 Capital Cost Estimates .............................................................................................................................. 104 8.2 Funding Sources ....................................................................................................................................... 108 8.3 Implementation Critical Path ................................................................................................................... 115 9. Attendance, Operating Revenue and Expense Projections ............................................. 117 9.1 Attendance Projections ............................................................................................................................ 117 9.2 Projected Operating Revenues ................................................................................................................ 124 9.3 Projected Expenses .................................................................................................................................. 129 9.4 Summary of Attendance and Financial Projections ................................................................................. 134 Appendices Appendix A: Acknowledgements ......................................................................................... A1 This communication contains confidential or proprietary information that may be legally privileged. It is intended only for its named recipients. If this communication has been misdirected to you in error, you are not authorized to use, disclose, distribute or rely on it. In that event, please notify the author immediately. Opinions contained in this communication may not be those of the company. Museum Feasibility Development Study WINDSOR MUSEUM Final Report Executive Summary This is the executive summary of a feasibility study prepared by Lord Cultural Resources and Architecturra that sought to test and maximize the feasibility of a new Windsor Museum. The study confirms the need for substantially more space than is currently available in the Francois Baby House to tell the important heritage and related stories of the Windsor area. The main recommendation is that the new Windsor Museum be located on the ground floor of the Art Gallery