How to open a private museum from scratch: a business plan with calculations. How to open a private museum How to organize a museum in a village

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Private museums are a promising and interesting direction for organizing your own business. This niche is in stable demand in Russia, especially in cities with developed tourism. How to open your own museum and make money on it? A ready-made museum business plan will help to understand these issues.

Advantages and disadvantages of opening a museum

Each business has positive and negative sides that an entrepreneur will certainly face - the simplicity and complexity of the organization, competition, payback, etc.

Advantages of the museum business:

1. Does not require licensing. To open such a business, you do not need to obtain a license to operate. For example, to create a magazine, you need a license from the Ministry of Press. For a museum enterprise, such documents are not required.
2. The relevance of the idea. Museums always attract tourists and lovers of antiquity. Among them are major collectors who prefer to book private tours.
3. Ease of organization. There is no need to maintain a large staff.
4. Fast payback.

Flaws:

1. Location dependent. If the museum is located far from the cultural center of the city, it will not be of interest to tourists.
2. Seasonality. Most of the visitors are tourists from other cities and countries. They usually travel in the summer. There will not be a large flow of visitors during the off-season.
3. Availability of specialized knowledge. It is important to correctly arrange the items in the expositions so that they complement each other and create a single composition. In addition, special storage conditions must be created for each exhibit - temperature and humidity conditions, and special lighting for written sources and paintings.
4. Reliable security is needed - even the largest museums are robbed if they contain items valuable to collectors.

Definition of subject matter

The choice of topics is determined by a number of factors:

1. The presence or absence of experience in the museum field. If there is no experience, consultations of specialists are necessary - professional museum workers and collectors.
2. Knowledge of the topic. It makes no sense to choose an unfamiliar topic - this is a sure sign of failure. For the project to be successful, an entrepreneur must work with topics familiar to him or gain this knowledge by reading literature, communicating with colleagues, attending conferences and webinars of professionals.
3. Having your own collections. Most private museums were formed from private collections and gradually expanded. Own collection is a big plus. Most famous museums were formed on the basis of such collections.
4. Competition. All existing museums are potential competitors. The primary task is to lure visitors from them. It will not be easy, but quite feasible with the right approach to project implementation and a good advertising campaign.
5. tourist attraction of the region. For example, creating your own museum enterprise in St. Petersburg or the Crimea is much more profitable than somewhere in the outback.

When choosing a topic, it is necessary to take into account all these factors, they are all interconnected and complement each other.

Additionally, it is necessary to analyze the target audience. It will show how visited the museum of a particular subject will be.

Since the primary task of an entrepreneur is to make money on visitors, this factor should be the main one.

After choosing a topic, you need to decide on the type of enterprise.

Museums are of two types:

• closed;
• open air.

Business organization

Registration

Any business must be registered.

There are two registration options:

• entity;
• individual entrepreneur.

Most private museums in Russia are registered as individual entrepreneurs. There is no need to formalize the status of a legal entity.

To obtain an IP, the following documents are required:

1. Copy of the passport.
2. Receipt for payment of state duty.
3. Application form P21001.
4. Application to the tax office.

To register an IP you need:

1. Apply. There are two ways - at the place of residence and through the Internet. The second option is the most common.
2. Select OKVED code. This code tells the authorities how the type of business activity is registered.
3. Write an application (form Р21001).
4. Pay the state fee in the amount of 800 rubles.
5. Register with the tax office.

There are examples of registration of private museums as non-profit associations. This status does not prohibit the entrepreneur from deriving commercial benefits from his activities and gives him the opportunity to receive financial support from the state.

Location and search for premises

The ideal place is the cultural or historical center of the city. The main flow of visitors is tourists. Most of them will not look for a museum on the other side of the city, especially if it has just opened and has not yet gained mass popularity.

Advantages of opening a museum in the city center:

• convenient transport interchange;
• higher visitor flow.

• high rent - you will have to compete with large offices and enterprises for which the high cost of rent is not a problem;
• the dense development of the city center creates difficulties for organizing a tourist destination - this is an additional cost for rent.

Museums that cannot afford to rent in the city center also find a way out - they open in abandoned industrial and historical sites - factories, workshops, military hospitals, barracks, libraries, galleries, houses where prominent personalities lived.

If there is no money to rent or buy premises, expositions can be shown in other museums. They will take a part of the profit for themselves, but they will independently solve all organizational issues.

Exhibits

Expositions of private museums are formed by:

• private collections;
• rental of individual exhibits or entire collections in other museums.

REFERENCE: The first museums in Russia were formed on the basis of private collections. Thus, the Hermitage, which arose in 1764, was replenished for the first time only with private collections. For example, the famous Siberian collection of gold jewelry first belonged to Peter the Great and only in the second half of the 18th century was transferred from the Kunstkamera to the Hermitage, where it is still kept.

Recruitment

Recruitment is an important and responsible moment. The staff is the face of the museum. The success or failure of this business depends on how well he performs his work.

To organize a museum you will need:

1. Guide. He must know the expositions perfectly, find the connection between the exhibits and understand the historical context of the finds. Ideally, this is a professional historian or museum worker. In addition, he must speak foreign languages ​​​​in order to arrange excursions for foreign tourists.
2. Restorer. Most archaeological finds need to be restored. For example, ceramic dishes usually arrive at museums broken - they need to be restored. This can only be done by a professional restorer.
3. Security guard. It makes no sense to open a museum without proper security - it can be quickly robbed.
4. Cashier-accountant. In small museums, the position of accountant is usually assigned to the cashier. This allows you to save on the maintenance of employees.
5. Appraiser. Collections need to be replenished regularly. It is impossible to buy exhibits without a professional appraiser - there is a risk of overpaying or stumbling upon a fake.

Financial plan

Start-up investments and running costs

Initial investment:

• purchase or rental of premises - from 50 thousand rubles;
• purchase of furniture for expositions - 200 thousand rubles;
• purchase of equipment to support the temperature and humidity regime - 100 thousand rubles;
• payment of state duty - 800 rubles;
• advertising - 60 thousand rubles;
• salary of employees - 150 thousand rubles;
• purchase of exhibits - from 100 thousand rubles.

Income

The profitability of such an enterprise depends on:

• tourist attraction of the city;
• the location of the museum;
• seasonality;
• exhibits and public interest in them.

The average cost of an entrance ticket is 200 rubles. Additional income - the services of a guide and paid permission to photograph the exhibits.

Guide services - 1000 rubles. The fee for using the camera is 100 rubles.

Monthly earnings - 400 thousand rubles.

Profit calculation

Every month, the income from the work of the museum is 400 thousand rubles. Taxes, utility bills, and employee salaries are deducted from this amount.

Net profit - 200 thousand rubles.

Payback - from 1 year.

The museum business is not new, but still relevant type of entrepreneurial activity. Most domestic museums were formed from private collections. You can still make money on this today. Exhibits can be bought absolutely legally - without the fate of black archaeologists and other antiquities hunters.

To open a museum, you need to solve almost the same tasks as when opening a Firm.

Come up with an idea, preferably competitive, find permanent sources

Financing, placement in a passable place, recruit professional staff, etc.

STEP 1. IDEAS AND MOTIVATION

Absolutely any private museum begins with an interest in collecting. After There are enough exhibits in the collection to put it on public display, it is clearly Determine the motivation, it will largely determine the future museum policy. Want to Do you Open Museum to display its collection, or to find

Like-minded people and create a club of interests, or you want to earn money (rare case, An example is the Vodka Museum).

STEP 2. ROOM

The next step is the room. “It is advisable to acquire the premises, as Calm down, - says Dmitry Shneerson, director of the private Museum of the History of Photography. - The main disadvantage of the rented premises is the ever-growing rental rates.” There are also Another way is to look for a sponsor, such as a large enterprise or institution that could Place a museum in your building, or try to get premises for a cultural institution from Municipal authorities on the terms of preferential rent. So, the departmental museum became Created on a private initiative, the museum “Anna Akhmatova. Silver Age" in Avtovo, and Municipal premises were leased to several museums, including the Gramophone Museum And phonographs by Vladimir Deryabkin.

STEP 3. STAFF

Even a small museum should have at least 5 Employees. Second The man after the director - Conditionally - the main keeper. He must understand the Funds, keep records, know where The object is located, when and which exhibits should be restored, etc. Often he also performs Function Exhibition curator and decides which exhibits can be offered for display. You will also have to provide for the position of an accountant and a cleaner, you may need and conservation of exhibits, computer technician for equipment maintenance And maintaining the website, as well as a guide, preferably with knowledge of a foreign language.

STEP 4. BUDGET

If the museum operates in its own premises, then among the main monthly expenses - Salary, utility bills, restoration, website content, printing - leaflets,

Posters, brochures. The cost of buying exhibits from a private museum is not standardized. Even It is impossible to predict in advance how much a new item will be able to purchase.

Some exhibits can be received for free: donors like that their item will be Be in a museum.

Spread about the value of the collection among private museum workers is considered unsafe. “Once we start talking about what is worth, people will decide that we are getting Gifts and sell for big money, - says Dmitriy Schneerson. - Therefore, in our museum Generally there are no fees Services . We do not sell tickets, books, photos, cameras in We do not rent, otherwise suspicions will immediately begin that this is a shop, a cover for a serious commercial structure". The income of museums is made up of entrance fees and Excursions . Charitable donations, less often - grants for projects. To earn and achieve Payback, you can rent out premises, for example, for presentations, special events.

STEP 5. ACTIVITIES

In addition to designing a permanent exhibition, it makes sense to hold temporary exhibitions from our own funds and in collaboration with other collectors or artists. This is a good information occasion: exhibition announcements get into the media posters, which increases the flow of visitors. Thus, the Museum of the History of Photography holds exhibitions of Russian and foreign photographers, the private Puppet Museum - exhibitions from private collections. The non-state Nabokov Museum also hosts concerts, lectures, and performances.

Dmitry Shneerson, Director of the Museum of the History of Photography and Chairman of the Board of the Era Fund for the effective disposal of assets, opened his museum out of a great love for photography.

$ 2 - 5 thousand - monthly costs for the maintenance of a private museum in its own premises, not counting the purchase of exhibits.

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As one of the ways of income from the category "for the soul" can be called organizing your own museum and on a variety of topics.

Let us immediately state that a private museum can become a commercial project only under certain conditions:

1. Unique unhackneyed theme;

2. Location in tourist areas; The most profitable are private museums in places of recreation for tourists; For example, in small villages on the Black Sea coast. This is explained by the fact that tourists are attracted to these places by the opportunity to relax on the sea, but since the villages are small, the entertainment package for tourists is usually very modest. In fact, only on vacation are people ready to fully enjoy every minute and, accordingly, spend a lot of money on leisure; One disadvantage of this orientation of a private museum is seasonality.

3. The museum must be part of another commercial project; For example, you are engaged in some kind of craft, making unusual souvenirs. In this case, you can organize a museum of your work, combined with a craft store. Or you are the owner of a guest house on the sea coast. In order to attract guests to yourself and provide them with quality leisure, you can completely organize an original museum on the territory of your hotel. There can be many variations. The accompanying income part of the museum, in addition to paying for visits, may be charging for photos with exhibits.

4. You can make the museum a part of a commercial excursion program and collect payment from the organizers of the excursion route.

5. On certain days (eg Friday, Saturday and Sunday) it is possible to arrange spectacular thematic performances (on your own or with guest actors). For example, a museum of medieval weapons and armor can organize impromptu jousting tournaments, etc. In a museum of ancient musical instruments, you can play the hurdy-gurdy with a parrot on your shoulder before leaving, collecting "donations". You can actively involve visitors in performances.

6. To attract visitors, it is imperative to create his online business card, otherwise no one will simply know about him, and residents at his location are unlikely to visit him regularly. The fact is that a museum is a specific entertainment facility, which is quite enough to visit only once, in some cases once a year. Thus, in order to receive income from museum activities, museum owners must take care of a constant influx of new visitors.

7. Ideally, to start such a project, you already own a suitable premises, since the business is not stable, and the rent will need to be paid constantly.

Ideas for organizing private museums:

1. Fairy tale characters;

2. Museum of Folk Crafts;

3. Thematic museum of some era or people;

4. Product Museum: Museum of chocolate, handmade soap, etc.

5. Museum with exhibits made of unusual materials (ice sculptures, wax museum, etc.)

6. Museum of inventions and technical innovations;

7. Museum of private collections (paintings, records, bells, shells, etc.)

If you seriously intend to engage in this business, your activities should be registered in the appropriate organizational and legal form.

Suitable for registration of museum activities OKVED code 92.52"Museum Activities and the Protection of Historic Sites and Buildings".

The most optimal system of taxation for conducting museum activities would be simplified taxation system at a rate of 6% on income.

In order to start applying it, you must submit an application for the application of a simplified taxation system when registering with the tax authorities.

In addition to ensuring a minimum tax burden, the simplified taxation system is also attractive due to the absence of the obligation to maintain accounting records and submit accounting reports on time (no need to draw up a balance sheet, income statement, etc.).

Moreover, museum activities are classified as privileged activities for application reduced rates of insurance premiums in PFR, MHIF and FSS (not 34% as for other organizations, but 26%).

Reduced rates of insurance premiums for the period 2011-2012 as part of:

• PFR - 18%,
• FFOMS - 3.1%,
• TFOMS-2.0%,
• FSS - 2.9%.

We remind you that insurance premiums are calculated from the salaries of the museum staff.

The main conditions: the use of the simplified tax system, income from museum activities must be more than 70%.

* Calculations use average data for Russia

Opening your own private museum seems to a small number of people a promising undertaking, yet a trip to such an institution is perceived by few as an interesting form of leisure. However, there is still demand, and if you choose the right theme for your museum and properly organize it, you can count on a good profit. Moreover, there are a huge number of development options here, an entrepreneur can work in different formats, offer his visitors something unique, and the variety of topics allows you to occupy a niche that no one else is engaged in. A good museum can be popular and generate income absolutely everywhere - both in small towns and in big cities, it is especially convenient to do such a business in historically significant places. Given some of the features of running this kind of business, you can start a business that will bring a stable and fairly high income. At the same time, for many entrepreneurs, such a business becomes an interesting undertaking, because it allows you to do exactly what he devoted his life to.

To begin with, in general, you need to study the market in order to determine what exactly is interesting to the population. When working in resort or simply popular cities with tourists, it is worth focusing not even on the local population, but on visitors, there are a lot of opportunities here. Determining the theme of the museum is the most difficult stage, here the entrepreneur has to do a full-fledged research, because in case of an unsuccessful choice, it will be impossible to even talk about covering expenses, not to mention making a profit. As for competitors, they are unlikely to significantly affect the conduct of their business, because no one will create two museums of the same subject, and when choosing a museum, people always go exactly where they themselves are interested, here a marketing campaign is unlikely to will affect their choice. However, there are museums that are just trying to attract their visitors with something new and unusual, these are, of course, most often museums in tourist cities, because it is difficult to attract the local population to the exhibition of some too unusual collection all the time. But tourists will be happy to visit not only historical sights, but also a very unusual museum. In general, after finding out what people are interested in and making sure that there will be enough people as visitors, you can start opening your museum.

An important point is the registration process. At its core, an entrepreneur has only one way out - to register a legal entity in order to make a profit on the provision of services, and his museum will simply be an entertainment, cultural and leisure institution. The process of registering a legal entity is standard, there are no special conditions here. But if he does not aim to make a profit, then he can register a non-profit organization, which will become an autonomous institution. It is quite difficult to obtain the status of a museum, which allows you to apply to the Ministry of Culture for any subsidies and support, usually private commercial organizations do not become them. But in any case, the application is submitted just to the Ministry of Culture, and there the value of the collection and its significance as a cultural asset are already assessed, as well as the state of the museum itself. In general, there is a difference here, commercial museums most often amass a collection that is unlikely to matter to the Ministry of Culture, and more "traditional" museums are almost always NPOs.

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A separate conversation if the entrepreneur has items of important cultural and historical significance, if they really are in a private collection, then the Ministry of Culture will be interested in having these exhibits on display, but it will be very difficult to rent items of this kind. This is in case the entrepreneur assumes the possibility of renting some valuable things in other museums or other institutions. In general, from a legal point of view, there are no restrictions on the conduct of its activities, the main thing (in the case of a commercial organization) is to pay taxes, but to one degree or another, the historical museum, in any case, has to contact the Ministry of Culture in its area on many issues. Therefore, before starting work, it makes sense to contact there in order to find out about the requirements and some provisions in the region, because, for example, there may be a restriction on the use of any items obtained during even a private archaeological expedition, this may be for example, if the excavations took place on the territory of hostilities in the past.

The next step is to find a place to work. There are many options here, but they depend, just on the chosen format of work. Some private museums are even located in the houses or apartments of their founders, but these are rather small museums that are of interest only to a small group of like-minded people. A normal museum needs at least one exhibition hall approximately 100 m 2 in size. True, there are smaller halls, and much larger ones, museums in general are very, very different. An important point may be exactly the location in the city, optimally, of course, located in the center, but there the cost of rent will be very high. 100 m 2 will cost 70 thousand rubles a month on average, but this is a very rough indicator, in large cities this money will not be enough, in a small town, on the contrary, it will be possible to save money. When working in a smaller room, of course, the savings will be more significant. In general, the museum in this regard is a rather complicated undertaking, because in some cases there is seasonality (for example, in tourist cities), and not every month the flow of visitors is equal, but the rent is constant, and it must be paid without delay.

In general, it is better to have a reserve fund of funds in order to be able to pay rent at least six months in advance without the risk of being left without a room. With 70 thousand rubles for rent, such a fund will amount to 420 thousand rubles. For six months, at least work will be done to attract visitors, after which the risks will decrease. And the museum, which is subject to seasonality, should plan its budget for the year ahead. Some entrepreneurs, by the way, find temporary places to place their expositions, thanks to which they can not engage in this activity at all for several months, but also not pay rent. For example, you can negotiate with an already operating museum to open its exhibition only for the summer months. Here you already need to explore the possibilities in order to find the best way out of your situation.

In general, if a decision was made to open a museum, then the organizers probably already have some exhibits, that is, the exhibition is ready to one degree or another. In extreme cases, a decision has already been made about what and where to buy. It must be said here that the cost of the exhibits can be very different. These may be the finds of archeological students who sold them for a symbolic sum, it may also be things made by the entrepreneur on their own (some people who are fond of some kind of creativity subsequently think about opening a museum of their crafts, and some it succeeds), and it can also be real works of art, antiques, things of great historical value - such expositions can be estimated at millions of dollars. That is, even the approximate cost of purchasing exhibits cannot be named, the range is very, very wide, in fact, from “free” to “astronomical amounts”. It all depends on what exactly you are doing. And, of course, you need to consider what size the exposition will be, and in general, how many of them there will be in one museum.

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You also need to take care to properly equip your rooms. To do this, you will need to purchase the appropriate equipment. In general, placing exhibits in museums may require the purchase of somewhat unusual equipment (for example, racks for armor), but we will consider ordinary shelving and display cases. They are usually made from simple materials, but sometimes you need an increased degree of protection if you have to deal with valuable items, that is, when there is a possibility of theft. Of course, a simple local history museum hardly needs a complex and expensive security system, but in some cases it is critically necessary. The cost of a rack 4-5 meters long is 30-40 thousand rubles, small showcases are 1.5-2 times cheaper, that is, one average museum hall can be equipped with furniture for 200-300 thousand rubles. Of course, there are many options here too, a lot depends on the exhibits themselves, sometimes you don’t even have to buy something more expensive than a simple table. Additionally, a security complex is installed, for this you can contact a specialized private security organization, which will be able to connect a security system for an amount of about 50 thousand rubles, but in the future you will have to pay for security. Here, too, much depends on the complexity of the system, on the level of security, you need to count on the amount of 5 thousand rubles. For the protection of large museums, the amount will be several times larger. A separate item of expenditure will be the creation of a design project, if this, of course, is appropriate when creating a museum. Some of these institutions are really equipped in accordance with any theme, so it makes sense to contact a specialized office that performs such work. The cost of a design project (its development) is approximately one thousand rubles per square meter of a room (taking into account that the size is 100 m 2, that is, if it is a large room, otherwise it is 1.5-2 times larger). Thus, about 100 thousand more rubles are needed for a design project.

It is also worth considering who exactly will work in the museum. It should be noted that the entrepreneur himself is quite able to serve a small institution, but if the museum has a huge number of exhibits, and many of them are valuable, then it is worth attracting special employees. Well, if they already have experience in similar positions, many museum workers who have worked in public institutions will almost certainly be interested in the higher level of salaries that a private museum can offer them. To service an average museum, a staff of 4-5 people will be enough, the salary of one person here lies within 20 thousand rubles for an average city. Of course, in large settlements, people will have to pay a little more. In fact, the entrepreneur himself can also continue to take part in the work of the museum, especially if he forms a collection that is of interest to him. Here you will need a person responsible for the exhibits, their accounting and maintenance, an administrator, and in some cases a guide. Sometimes cheap labor is additionally involved in organizing exhibitions; this is necessary, for example, when working with large paintings or heavy sculptures. Thus, the salary fund is about 100 thousand rubles a month, but this figure only applies to really large museums, which are visited by a lot of people. At the same time, it is better to outsource all business processes that are not related to making a profit, this includes the already mentioned security activities, as well as bookkeeping. Either an additional knowledgeable person or the entrepreneur himself should deal with the issues of regulating relations with the Ministry of Culture, but even a specialist from the outside does not have to be hired, but only contacted if necessary.

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Now let's take a closer look at the possible formats of work. The simplest example is an ordinary historical or similar museum, which is mostly interesting for a certain group of people, but “general cultural” institutions often host entire school classes or even student groups if their exhibits consist of objects of research in a certain field of science. Here already people go to the museum for the sake of enlightenment (and in the case of schoolchildren - often simply on a voluntary-compulsory basis). Therefore, when organizing a museum of this kind, it is worth starting cooperation with educational institutions, offering a discount on mass trips. The entrepreneur only benefits from this, because the discount on tickets does not affect the level of income, because many people come at the same time. However, the most interesting for schoolchildren, students and their teachers are registered museums, which, as already noted, are most often non-profit enterprises.

A different format of work is museums with unusual subjects, there are a huge number of such small institutions in the world that collect things that are incomprehensible to a simple layman. The most banal example is the Museum of Celebrity Items. Everything is determined by the founder's imagination, but the biggest risk in this direction is not finding an audience. On the other hand, there are examples of museums of this format that people from all over the world go to. The cost of a ticket to such institutions is usually an order of magnitude more expensive than a ticket to a simple museum, although only a well-known institution can set such a price. The next category is museums designed for tourists, these are exactly the institutions that are most dependent on the season, but in special cases they can earn many times more in a couple of months than a regular museum. Usually these museums are devoted to the history of the city, its architecture, art, some events that took place in the life of the city. It is clear that such a museum will be successful only in a city that is initially interesting to tourists. And a separate category is museums that are dedicated to some unusual direction, which the organizer himself is fond of. What distinguishes such museums is that most of the exhibits are the product of the creative thought of the museum owner himself, such institutions just start with exhibitions in their own apartment or house. It can also be anything, but here you need to be sure that there will be enough like-minded people to make money on it. An additional (and sometimes the main or even the only) item of income is the sale of made things; in general, any museum can deal with the sale of exhibits.

Thus, the cost of opening a museum can be both very small and very significant, an average simple museum can be opened (without taking into account the collection, the cost of which, as was noted, cannot be estimated at all and is always calculated individually) for the amount of about one million rubles with taking into account reserve funds for maintaining work in the first months. The amount of monthly expenses is 200 thousand rubles, and it should be noted that this is a very large figure. To cover the costs, you need to maintain at least a page on the Internet about your museum, and for this you need to invest at least an additional 50 thousand. The cost of a ticket to the museum starts from 50 rubles (but not even the one described here, but much simpler), the average cost is 300 rubles. Thus, to cover the costs, almost 670 people will have to be involved every month, or about 30 people per day (a working month with 22 days is taken into account).

For a museum that is located in a relatively large settlement and has established cooperation with schools and other educational institutions, this is quite realistic; for museums of a different format and a different way of attracting customers, this figure can be very large, unrealistic. In this regard, many commercial museums are located in small areas and are served by one person. But a popular place always has its visitors, you just need to understand that it will take several months of hard work before there will be many customers in an open museum. This business is very complex, and definitely suitable for those who themselves are passionate about a particular area and are ready to develop an interest in it.

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Matthias Laudanum
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Profitability calculator for this business

The museum is one of the types of entertainment business and the same approach is needed to open it. Consider the main advantages and disadvantages of starting a business, key success factors, as well as the financial performance of the business (cost structure and profitability). Let us analyze the choice of the form of organization of a legal entity for opening a museum. In the article, we will consider how to open a museum from scratch.

Advantages and disadvantages of opening a museum

The main target audience of the museum: children, students and young people under 30 years old. There are many subspecies of the museum, focused on their visitors. Consider the key advantages and disadvantages of starting a business.

Many well-known museums began their existence with private collections, for example: the Tretyakov Art Gallery, the Museum of Soviet Slot Machines in Moscow, the Museum of Retro Cars, etc. The museum can be created as a commercial organization for profit and its own financial support. If the museum assumes its functioning at the expense of external funding, donations and contributions of participants, then the museum is registered as an NPO (non-profit association).

How to open a private museum from scratch: business registration, taxation

To register with the tax office of a private company, an individual entrepreneur or LLC is created. The table below analyzes the main benefits, as well as the required list of documents for each of the forms of business. When registering for OKVED, choose the main activity:

92.52- “Activities of museums and protection of historical sites and buildings”

The best choice of taxation system for a museum would be the simplified taxation system (STS) with the accrual of tax on income with an interest rate of 6% (provided that more than 70% of income is generated by museum activities!).

In addition, the activities of museums are classified as privileged types and reduced interest rates on insurance premiums to the Pension Fund, the Social Insurance Fund and the Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund are 26% for them, while for other types of activities 34%.

How to open a museum from scratch?

This video describes in detail how to open a private museum using the experience of Natalia Potapova, co-founder of the Experimentanium museum of entertaining sciences, as an example: what are the main difficulties that arise in the opening process, how to do it without state support, etc.

Location and premises for the museum

The museum often requires large spaces and rooms from 300 to 1000 m². Larger premises increase the rent and fixed costs of the business. Especially rental costs are reflected in large cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, where in the city center the cost of 1 m² starts from 10,000 rubles. The complexity of opening a museum in the center makes it compete with business facilities, offices with high rents. Therefore, museums often open in former industrial facilities: power plants (Tate Modern gallery in London), winery (Winzavod Museum in Moscow). If the room is small up to 300m², then it will be more economical to buy a room, for large areas it is more profitable to rent.

Since museums are entertainment venues, the location should be in a place of recreation for residents or tourist visits. An important feature when choosing the location of the museum is its walking distance, the closer it is to places of recreation and a lively crowd of people, the more visitors will be able to attract. Park areas are great, for example, Gorky Park in Moscow, where the men of modern art “Garage” and the Central House of Artists (CHA) are located nearby, the Cosmonautics Museum is located next to VDNKh, and next to the Moscow Planetarium zoo. Most cultural sites are located in the city center (more than 80% of museums in Moscow are located within the boulevard ring) and in close proximity to each other, which creates a cultural and entertainment cluster.

If you do not have the original premises, then you can make exhibitions of exhibits in the premises of other museums. To do this, you need to agree on the presentation of your collection and its advertising.

Museum staff

The main staff of the museum: an expert who keeps track of newly arriving exhibits, a guide, an accountant, a content manager who maintains and fills the site. If the collection is aimed at foreign tourists, then the role of a guide who speaks English, German or Chinese is important. It should be noted that museum exhibits in the accounting department are accounted for as fixed assets and are not subject to depreciation.

There are many interesting museums and collections, we have listed 5 interesting museums.

1. "International UFO Museum and Research Center" (Roswell, New Mexico, USA) - was founded in 1991 and is a collection of photographs and observations of UFOs. Oriented to fans, science fiction and esoteric lovers.
2. “Star Wars Museum” is a museum of fans and admirers of the cult film “Star Wars”.
3. “Museum of Soviet Slot Machines” – for all those who were born in the USSR and feel nostalgic for that time.
4. “Museum of Bad Art” (USA, Massachusetts) - collected from exhibits that are not prohibited from displaying in other museums.
5. "Boxing Museum" - focused on boxing amateurs and professionals, opened in the sports palace of Jean-Claude Butier in Sannoy.

It can be seen that the success of the museum was due to a narrow focus on a specific target group: science fiction writers, fans of the Star Wars movie, athletes, residents of the USSR, etc. It is important to take a sufficiently large target group when creating your museum, this will ensure a constant influx of visitors.

Private Museum Costs

Initial investment costs for opening a private museum ~1,200,000 rubles. (furniture ~ 200,000 rubles, ~ racks 100,000 rubles, showcases ~ 100,000 rubles, decoration and repair of the premises ~ 400,000 rubles, supply and exhaust ventilation ~ 500,000 rubles).

The museum's biggest cost of compiling/purchasing collection items!

Key fixed costs after the opening of the museum: rent of premises, including utility bills, wages, costs of maintaining the collection, promotion and advertising on the Internet, operating costs for printing and other insurance costs from the PFR, FSS and MHIF. The main costs are for renting premises, therefore, to reduce costs, it is recommended to use: industrial facilities, basement floors, semi-basements in the city center. It is also recommended to create a reserve fund to pay key costs (rent and wages to employees) for one year in advance, this will allow you to function even with adverse market changes and losses.

Business Financial Performance

The main time for visiting the museum is the evening hours (19:00-22:00) on weekdays and weekends. This creates uneven cash flow. The average check to museums is 300-700 rubles, you can attract students and youth in the daytime with various discounts, promotions and bonuses. The payback period for a private museum is 1.5-3 years. The museum's monthly revenue is ~500,000 rubles, net profit minus fixed costs is ~100,000 rubles.

Evaluation of the attractiveness of a business by a magazine site

Business Profitability	(3.0 out of 5)	Business Attractiveness 3.3
Project payback	(3.0 out of 5)
Ease of starting a business	(3.8 out of 5)
Opening a private museum as a business will be successful only if it is targeted at a specific target audience (Star Wars fans, boxing athletes born in the USSR, etc.) and a clear understanding of what they might be interested in and what to excite in the collection being created. The second important aspect is the location of the museum, it is recommended to be located in the city center in places where tourists and tourists gather. The payback period of the initial costs is ~1.5-3 years, depending on the size of the target audience.