This has echoes of the whole freelance rates discussion we've just had, and simply confirms the view that I've formed over nearly twenty years of making hands-on exhibits for museums and science centres that most museum people simply have NOT GOT A CLUE about how much work goes into making the simplest interactives, nor about the cost of materials.

As a very rough guide I suggest that if you haven't got a minimum of Ł1500 per exhibit, and a lead time of three months for their construction that you're not a serious player in the game and should not waste people's time even asking for ideas. Why?

Well, the materials for more or less any interactive will cost at least a couple of hundred quid, and maybe a lot more, and by the time you've paid your overheads on a workshop you need to charge something like Ł40 an hour for your time to stand a chance of making any kind of a living. So if we take our notional Ł1500 budget and subtract Ł200 for materials we get Ł1300 for the time and labour and skill needed to make the exhibit. At Ł40 an hour that's 32.5 hours work - less than a week's work in which to come up with an idea, cost it, source the materials, make it and get it shipped off to the client.

Could you, dear reader, do this for even something very simple? And if its not very simple, so the thing is likley to need prototyping, or will be a remotely complex build, then I suggest you at least double my notional budget. Oh and then you've got to add VAT on top as well...

So if I'm only talking about 32 hours why allow twelve weeks? Firstly because clients need time to make decisions on your proposals. Then because materials and parts can be on as much as 4-6 weeks delivery, and also because if your builder is running a business that's going anywhere they won't be hanging around waiting for your order, they'll be working on other stuff and you'll need to wait your turn in the queue to have you stuff designed and made.

None of this is rocket science, but it seems not to be widely understood within the museum profession. The worst example of not getting this I've come across recently was a museum which wanted some stuff about clocks making for an exhibtion. They contacted me about a month before the show was due to open, and thought that I could make them some quite complex things for about Ł500 each...

Sorry if this sounds a bit strong, but I (and I suspect others in the same trade) feel this quite strongly. All we ask is that clients play fair by allowing us enough time to do a good job, and the resources to make things properly. Somehow when we do our best with inadequate budgets on impossible deadlines and then the interactives fail to live up to expectations its never the client's fault!

Hope this helps

Richard.

Richard Ellam

L M Interactive

Science Shows and Hands-On Stuff

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On 26 Jan 2011, at 09:38, Lisa Keys wrote:

Hi all,
I'm looking for ideas for interactives and an interactive-making company for our new family friendly exhibition in which we are looking at how Wigan's environment has changed over time.
Ideas we have had that fit with the themes are:
- A replica model fossil that families can make rubbings from (this will sit next to open display fossils from our collection)
- An interactive with a recycling theme
Time and budget are very restrained. Would welcome advice or companies that might be able to help.
Thanks in anticipation!
Lisa
Lisa Keys - Exhibition and Display Officer (part-time)
Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust
Wigan Heritage Service, Museum of Wigan Life, Library Street, Wigan, WN1 1NU
01942 828126 (3126 internal)
http://www.wlct.org
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