The Museum of the Rockies, like many of its peers, rents traveling exhibitions that enable us to keep a fresh, dynamic exhibit schedule and better attract repeat visitors. This global need has created strong interest in high-quality, engaging, affordable, easy-to-install exhibits—a need that is not being effectively met.
Museum of the Rockies Exhibitions (MORE) is perfectly positioned to fill this market niche, and is the cornerstone of the Museum’s new business plan. Our goal is to use MORE to help diversify our revenue and transform our financial future through an entrepreneurial approach.
In the mid-1980s, the Museum launched the first of three highly successful paleontology exhibits based on original research by Curator of Paleontology Jack Horner and the Museum’s extensive dinosaur collection—Lives of Dinosaurs (1985–1988); Dinosaur Families: The Story of Egg Mountain (1989–2004), which opened in Japan and traveled for two years before a 13-year run in the United States; and T.rex on Trial (2000–2005), which posed the question “Was T.rex a scavenger or a predator?”
The Museum’s traveling exhibits program generated an average of $200,000 a year and established our reputation as one of the country’s leading providers of dinosaur exhibitions. The program was temporarily suspended during development of the Siebel
Dinosaur Complex, and it’s now time to bring it back and significantly expand beyond dinosaurs to include Montana history, historic photography, and Yellowstone projects.
When fully launched, MORE would earn income from several exhibits simultaneously and would develop new exhibitions every 12–18 months. MORE will book primarily in the United States but would pursue additional opportunities in Japan and Europe through the Museum’s network of prior clients and contacts.
The Museum of the Rockies is seeking $450,000 in venture capital to launch this expanded program, and will re-invest initial exhibit income in MORE to ensure sustainability.
A detailed business plan is available that highlights the Museum’s experience in this market, past clients, marketing and risk analysis, and financial projections for the next decade in five-year increments. Additionally, we have provided descriptions of the traveling exhibits now in the conceptual stage, all of which have customers waiting.
For more information, contact Shelley McKamey, Dean and Director, at smckamey@montana.edu or 406.994.6342.