Developing successful commercial activities has become a crucial area of museum operation and can generate significant income but competition is getting tougher and consumer spending is down. People working in museums need to keep up-to-date with trends, know their customer and make decisions. These events are designed to develop business confidence and entrepreneurial skills which maximise the USP of museum-based commercial activity.
To date ASPIRE has run one event in the Commercial Enterprise strand:
What's in Store - Museum Retail
This one day workshop looked at retail in the museum environment. Topics covered included knowing and developing your business; top tips for developing your shop on a shoe string; best practice for forward planning; and sharing details of suppliers and which products have worked for individual museums, and which haven’t.
Speakers: Jeremy Ensor, Commercial Director, Ashmolean Museum; Yvonne Cawkwell, Shop Manager, Museum of Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museum; Sue Shave, Director, Chiltern Open Air Museum.
Access top tips from our Museum Retail event.
For Weddings and a Film Set - Venue Hire
The morning session of this one day workshop looked at how to make the most of your museum as a venue for hire, looking both at identifying your spaces and their potential, and managing the venue hire process in a manner both consistent with the values of the museum and with the igh standards demanded in the commercial sector. In the afternoon we explored venue hire: how to promote your venue, how to manage a budy film crew on your site, and how to handle your IP.
Speakers: Bene Montain, Head of Events, Ashmolean Museum; Dec McCarthy, Commercial Services Manager, Ashmolean Museum; Sue Shave, Director, Chiltern Open Air Museum.
Access top tips from our Venue Hire event.
Good Enough to Eat
This day long workshop shared case studies and had discussions around how museums and other arts and cultural venues can make money out of food or drink, in a way that enhances the visitor experience and contributes the organisation's overall mission, as well as their bottom line.
Speakers: Wendy Shepherd, Administrator, Museum of Natural History; Lizze Arber, Cafe Manager, Garden Museum; Mike Earp, General Manager, Ashmolean Dining Room; Steven Parissien, Director, Compton Verney; Sophie Serraris, Museum and Heritage Consultant, and iMuseum Consultancy.
Access top tips from our Cafes and Catering event.