APPENDIX B - Cost Guidelines for Smaller Museum/Interpretive Facilities

•  cost of building a reasonable museum with contents (programming space, storage, etc., with exhibits taking about half of the space) is about $2000/sq m ($185/sq ft) (David Mclnnis, personal communication, 2006),although that figure is rapidly becoming low with skyrocketing construction costs
•  a rule of thumb for operating costs is about 10%-15% of capital costs, the largest part being salaries
•  a number of comparable museums report annual budgets in the $70 OOOs, with local governments providing $18 000-$38 000 of those budgets
•  annual visitation rates for these museums/centres range from 1 000 to 20 000
•  unless there is a very major commitment for large funding, there is a need to be wary of architects' recommendations for larger centres which have in the past resulted in expensive plans for which the local communities have been unable to raise the funds
•  annual reports and detailed information could be sought from a variety of sources including Fort Dauphin Museum, Swan Valley Historical Museum, Steinbach Village, Stonewall Quarry Park Interpretive Centre, Conservation (Parks Branch) for Nutnnk Lake, Kenosewun at Lockport and Alf Hole Goose Sanctuary at Rennie, and Travel Manitoba for the visitor centres at Russel, Emerson and Kirkella
•  other possible sources for cost and visitation numbers include:

http://www. xaytem. ca/programs. htm
http://www. aktalakota. org/
http://www. redcloudschool. org/museum/museum_brochure.pdf
http://journeymuseum.org/english/aboutus/
http://ww\v.peoplescenter. org/museum/index. htm
http://www. ic.gc. ca/