Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp.

613±631, 1999
Pergamon # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
Printed in Great Britain
0160-7383/99/$20.00+0.00
www.elsevier.com/locate/atoures
PII: S0160-7383(99)00024-9

MUSEUMS
A Supply-Side Perspective

Steven Tufts
York University, Canada
Simon Milne
Victoria University, New Zealand

Abstract: The educational and cultural mandates of museums are being transformed as
institutions play an increasingly important part in urban economic development and tourism
promotion strategies. In contrast to more common demand-side studies, this paper
emphasizes the supply-side by focussing on everyday museum operations. It outlines the
competitive responses being adopted by museums in Montreal, Canada, including shifts in
sources of revenue, new technologies, labor practices and the development of networks.
Study ®ndings show that the restructuring of museum operations raises important questions
concerning not only the traditional public mandate of museums, but also on its ability to
enhance consumption experiences and to contribute to a diversi®ed tourism product. Key-
words: museums, funding, cultural attractions, organization. # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd.
All rights reserved.

ReÂsume Â: Les museÂes: une perspective de l'offre. Les mandats Âeducatifs et culturels des
museÂes se transforment, jouant un roÃle de plus en plus important dans des strateÂgies de
deÂveloppement Âeconomique urbain et de promotion de tourisme. Par contraste aux Âetudes
plus nombreuses de la demande, cet article souligne le coÃte de l'offre en examinant le
fonctionnement quotidien des museÂes. L'article preÂsente des reÂponses compeÂtitives adopteÂes
par des museÂes aÁ MontreÂal, au Canada: des changements de sources de revenu, de nouvelles
technologies, de nouvelles politiques de travail et le deÂveloppement de reÂseaux. Cette
restructuration du fonctionnement des museÂes souleÁve des questions importantes concernant
non seulement le mandat public traditionnel des museÂes mais aussi leur capacite pour
ameÂliorer les expeÂriences du consommateur et contribuer aÁ un produit diversi®e du tour-
isme. Mots-cle Âs: museÂes, ®nancement, attractions culturelles, organisation. # 1999 Elsevier
Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION
For much of the 20th century the generally accepted de®nition of
the museum has been an institution which serves to collect, con-
serve, research, interpret and exhibit society's material culture
(ICOM 1986; Weil 1990:57±58). Museums have traditionally been

Steven Tufts (Department of Geography at York University, 4700 Keele Street, North
York, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada. Email < stufts@yorku.ca >) is conducting research on the
impact of organized labor on urban tourism development. Simon Milne is Professor of
Tourism, School of Business and Public Management, Victoria University, New Zealand. His
research interests include sustainable tourism development and the economic restructuring of
tourism industries.

613
614 STEVEN TUFTS AND SIMON MILNE

spaces where a society can celebrate its past and form a sense of its
cultural identity (Urry 1996). Over the last decade, however, there
has been increasing attention to a ``cultural revival'' of heritage ex-
periences as popular leisure and urban tourism activities (Hewison
1987). Politicians and planners have taken the opportunity to inte-
grate museums into economic development initiatives in both large
and small urban centers (Vaughan and Booth 1989; Zukin 1995). In
simple terms, the role of the museum is evolving, with cultural in-
stitutions expected to perform a broader range of economic func-
tions, often as part of complex urban redevelopment strategies
(Bassett 1993; Bianchini 1990, 1993; Urry 1995; Watson 1991).
While the Canadian government asserts that the ``true value'' of
the museum is ``measured in terms of our culture and heritage'', it
still stresses that museums ``generate almost a billion dollars in rev-
enue each year'' (Communications Canada 1990:21).
The expanding role of cultural institutions in advanced capitalist
economies has forced researchers to focus more on the links
between the cultural and the economic. Sayer (1997) characterizes
the ``cultural turn'' in much economic geographic research not so
much as a result of a ``culturalized economy'' but rather as the
``economization of culture''. Although Sayer concedes that the re-
lationship between culture and economy is ``highly complex'', he
maintains ``economic forces continue to dominate contemporary
life'' (1997:16). The purpose of museums re¯ects various cultural
agendas (such as nation building and education); but the ability of
institutions to adhere to public mandates and play a central role in
the overall tourism product often is determined by the operating en-
vironment (including access to sources of funding). For the purposes
of this paper, the Montreal museum sector is treated as a set of cul-
tural institutions operating under increasingly complex and, at
times, contradictory economic constraints. The treatment is, in

Table 1. 1993/94 Montreal Museum SurveyÐsample by Theme (N=26)

Type of Museum Populationa Sampleb Coverage %

Historic Sites and Interpretation/Info Centres 21 9 43

Exhibition Centers and Galleries 12 4 33
Science and Nature 8 5 63
Art 7 5 71
Ecomuseums 3 1 33
Maisons de la Culturec 8 8 100
Other 2 2 100
Total 61 26 43
a
Based on La SocieÂte des MuseÂes QueÂbeÂcois 1993 membership listings.
b
Discussions were held with museum directors and or other representatives.
c
Les Maisons de la Culture (MdlC) are centers administered by the municipality
of Montreal with the mandate of bringing cultural events to communities outside
of the downtown city core. Interviews were held with the head of the department
responsible for the MdlC and directors of two of the eight centers.
 MUSEUMS 615

part, a response to the recent call for tourism research to adopt

more rigorous approaches to studying restructuring in tourism-re-
lated sectors (Ioannides and Debbage, 1998). The focus on the
``economic forces'' currently affecting museums in the city is not
meant to reduce these institutions to a purely economic function.
The growing importance of museums as cultural attractions has
drawn the attention of tourism researchers for some time, but most
of the work to date emphasizes demand side issues (Harrison 1997;
Urry 1990). Following a brief review of how researchers have
attempted to understand the importance of museums in urban set-
tings, an outline is given of the ``supply-side'' operational context in
Montreal in the 90s. Focus is on the search for new funding oppor-
tunities, the use of new information technologies, labor manage-
ment, alliance formation, and museum agglomeration. The ®ndings
show that these institutions are being forced to adopt a range of
strategies in an increasingly challenging environment in order to
secure stable funding year to year and ful®l their public mandates.
The data are drawn from in-depth open interviews held with pro-
fessionals (directors and curators) from 26 Montreal museums
(Table 1). This sample was drawn from the 61 institutions in the
Greater Montreal Area that are listed as members of La SocieÂte des
MuseÂes QueÂbeÂcois. The museums contacted during the, 1993±94
study period were predominantly the larger ones located in
Montreal's major tourism areas (Figure 1). Smaller museums in
suburban communities are deliberately under represented.

Figure 1. Museum ``Districts'' of Montreal

616 STEVEN TUFTS AND SIMON MILNE

Discussions were also held with representatives from the Canadian

and Quebec museum associations and recent issues of their respect-
ive journals, Muse and MuseÂes were reviewed.

MUSEUMS IN THE URBAN ECONOMY

Museums have been used as the main attractions drawing tour-
ists into the city. For example, the recent Renoir exhibit in
Canada's National Gallery in Ottawa reportedly increased local
hotel revenues by $4.8 million dollars (Calgary Herald 1997).
However, the economic importance of museums in the local econ-
omy is much more complex than their ability to attract visitors with
popular traveling exhibitions. Museums re¯ect an essential sense of
a particular time and place unavailable elsewhere, and help to de-
®ne the overall tourism product. Their unique architectural styles
and permanent exhibits give tourists ``something distinctive to gaze
upon'' (Urry 1990:128). Recent research has demonstrated that
they expect ``to learn something'' when visiting museums (Jansen-
Verbeke and van Rekom 1996) and to see an honest representation
of a ``good local place'' (Harrison 1997). Regardless of the speci®c
nature of the ``pull factor'' attracting visitors, planners have
included museums in the overall promotion of urban destinations,
leading researchers to classify these cultural institutions as primary
elements of the tourism product (Jansen-Verbeke 1986).
Museums enable cities to ``market'' themselves, as cultural cen-
ters which both delight residents and tourists and appeal to pro-
fessionals and investors (Kotler, Haider and Rein 1993; Kearns and
Philo 1993). Harvey (1987), building on the work of Bourdieu
(1984), argues that cultural consumption is often a means for capi-
tal to pro®t from upper and middle class attempts to reject mass
culture. Elite classes differentiate themselves through the consump-
tion of ``cultural capital'', high art, and antiquities which are often
relatively inaccessible to lower classes (Fyfe and Ross 1996).
Cultural institutions also provide a place for elites, who administer
and frequent these non-pro®t institutions, to network and re-af®rm
their social position (Zukin 1995). In depressed urban economies,
such as Montreal's, cultural amenities provide high-skilled pro-
fessionals with an incentive to remain in a ``liveable'' city.
In the process of attracting tourists and nearby residents of
different backgrounds to the city, museums become potential instru-
ments for combining consumption activities with personal, lived ex-
periences. To some extent the different components of the city
(cultural attractions, shopping centers, and the like) converge, each
offering the services and experiences of the other (Featherstone
1991). A tourist may enter a museum for a negligible admission fee,
but during the visit include lunch, buy a souvenir, and take a taxi
back to a nearby hotel. Thus, Ashworth and Tunbridge (1990) view
the National Gallery and Canadian Museum of Civilization as the
Ottawa±Hull region's effort to develop the Ottawa River water-
front's boutiques and restaurants. Similarly, on West Sherbrooke
 MUSEUMS 617

Street in Montreal (Figure 1), gallery owners, antique dealers, high-

end clothing retailers and museum professionals have formed an
informal association to develop and promote the area as a place for
the consumption of up-market consumer goods and a re®ned cul-
tural aesthetic.
The synergy between cultural and consumption experiences cre-
ates spaces for both the tourist and resident groups to consume
(Cohen 1995; Schurmer-Smith and Hannam 1994). Places of consu-
mer activity are appropriated to exhibit culture while the aesthetic
of culture is used simultaneously to promote consumption and
inscribe products with various meanings. Zukin sees the processes
of economic production and cultural consumption as increasingly
inseparable:
In fact, culture supplies the basic informationÐincluding symbols,
patterns and meaningÐfor nearly all service industries. In our
debased contemporary vocabulary, the word culture has become an
abstraction for any economic activity that does not create material
products like steel, cars or computers (Zukin 1995:11±12; empha-
sis in original).
The bulk of research into museums and urban development con-
tinues to focus on the attraction of tourists, the characteristics and
behavior of museum visitors, and the consumption of cultural ex-
periences. This focus on demand side issues has tended to neglect
the evolving structure of the museum itself and the impacts of
these changes on the surrounding urban setting. It is argued that
by looking at the operating environment challenging museums, and
the way they are responding to these issues, one can begin to under-
stand better the evolving role that museums in particular, and the
cultural sector in general, will play in the future urban economy.

Challenges in the 90s

For 30 years, Montreal has felt the impact of de-industrialization
as economic activity has shifted westward to other Canadian cities,
and core industries have slipped into decline (LeveilleÂe and Whelan
1990; Whelan 1991). Montreal had experienced periods of infra-
structural investment leading up to Expo '67 and again in prep-
aration for the, 1976 Olympics, but fell behind other Canadian
cities such as Toronto and Vancouver which developed rapidly in
the 80s. The city has been actively exploiting its unique cultural
heritage as a means of (re)developing its tourism market and fos-
tering economic growth.
Through agencies such as the Greater Montreal Tourism and
Convention Bureau, the city has been attempting to reinforce an
image of the city as a major cultural destination. Museums have
been a vital part of the agency's efforts to create a unique tourism
product in its promotional campaigns. Montreal's Place des Arts, a
complex of adjoining theatres, auditoriums and the MuseÂe d'Art
Contemporain is an example of a project aimed at tourists and
elites, as well as developing the cities downtown central business
618 STEVEN TUFTS AND SIMON MILNE

district (Figure 1). Museums have also been placed at the center of
attempts to use heritage tourism as a way to merge this and
business development with the celebration of local architectural his-
tory and diverse cultural composition (see Chang, Milne, Fallon and
Pohlman 1996). Part of the redevelopment of the urban heritage
district in Old Montreal included the construction of a new archae-
ology museum and renovations to other museums in the area.
The federal government played an important role in the develop-
ment of several of Montreal's new museums in the early 90s. In,
1986, Communications Canada funded research on the state of
Canadian museums. In the wake of the studies a report and work-
ing paper were released which contained several recommendations
for a revamped federal museum policy (Communications Canada
1986, 1988, 1990). After the 1988 federal election, some of the work-
ing paper's recommendations were adopted and the government
began to invest money heavily into the ®nancially troubled museum
sectorÐ assisting established institutions and ®nancing the con-
struction of new projects (Godfrey 1991). The result was an ex-
plosion in the number of museums throughout the country. The
number of museums in Canada grew by nearly 25% between 1983
and 1994 (1,005 to 1,236), while visitation grew from just over 21
million to almost 25 million (Statistics Canada 1995). Montreal
alone received $300 million in funding for nine new cultural attrac-
tions. Many of the new museum openings were planned to coincide
with the celebration of the city's 350th birthday in the spring and
summer of 1992 (Montreal Gazette 1992:February 29, E1). The vis-
ible investment in cultural institutions was perhaps also a means of
the federal government to win favor with the majority of Quebec
residents during the constitutional crisis of the early 90s. Although
the federal government may have been encouraged to make such a
visibly patrimonial investment in Montreal, it can be argued that
the city's economy was genuinely in need of development assistance
and was due for signi®cant investment in new cultural attractions
(Chang et al 1996).
Unfortunately, the museum building boom of the early 90s was
not matched by a concomitant increase in government funding of
annual operating budgets (Lacroix 1992). Federal expenditures on
museums decreased by 4.1% between 1990±91 and 1994±95 to less
than $225 million. Although provincial government expenditures on
museums reached $293 million in 1992±93, levels of funding have
also not been sustained as support declined to $277 million in 1994±
95. Municipal governments only contribute approximately 5% to
overall public expenditures on museums, but their contribution also
decreased by 3.7% during this period as local funding focused on
heritage sites. Across Canada, museums have had to sustain annual
budgets with greater earned revenues (including corporate sponsor-
ships, donations, foundations, as well as admission revenues).
Nationally, earned revenues increased by 17.9% between 1990±91
and 1993±94 (Statistics Canada 1997).
 MUSEUMS 619

The annual operating budgets of the 26 institutions in the survey

totaled over $100 million in 1993±94. Although most museums
received funding from a variety of sources, 9 museums were funded
primarily by private sources (such as foundations) with the remain-
der depending largely on support from different levels of govern-
ment (Table 2). Of the 26 institutions, 19 reported that the level of
public funding had decreased from 1992±93. The museums sup-
ported primarily by private foundations reported that their endow-
ments were stable, but their overall annual budgets were vulnerable
to decreases in public funding as well. The budgetary constraints
place museums in a dif®cult situation. Responses such as reducing
personnel, limiting hours of operation, and sacri®cing the quality of
exhibits simply lead to reduced service, lower revenues from admis-
sion fees, and the ultimate failure to ful®l the museum's public
mandate (interviews). There was consensus among those inter-
viewed that funding annual operating budgets remains the most sig-
ni®cant challenge to maintaining the quality of the museum
experience.
While the Canadian museum sector has been able to attract the
largest portion of corporate donations to the arts within the country
(CBAC 1992), several of the professionals interviewed noted that
corporate dollars are increasingly dif®cult to secure. For example,
the city's premier art gallery, MuseÂe des Beaux Arts, received over
$1 million in corporate sponsorships for exhibits in 1987 but had no
sponsorships in 1993. The director explained that the competitive
environment facing several private sector corporations has limited
their budgets for philanthropic projects. At the same time, the num-
ber of new museums established in Montreal in the 90s means more
institutions are competing for these limited funds. While most of
the directors and curators surveyed felt that these establishments
were diverse enough to limit competition for visitors, it was noted
that there is signi®cant competition for corporate sponsors.
Similarly, the managers surveyed reported that individual do-
nations were also increasingly dif®cult to secure. The largest
museums actively solicited contributions from individuals in the
form of membership programs. Those with annual budgets less
than $500,000 did not have the resources to institute elaborate
membership programs and as a result were not as able to pursue in-

Table 2. Funding Sources and Budgets of Surveyed Museumsa (N=26)

Largest Funding Source No. Annual Operating Budget in Can$ (1993) No.

Public (Federal) 1 $0±$250K 9

Public (Provincial) 6 $250K±$1m 5
Public (Municipal) 8 $1m±$10m 7
University 2 $10±$20m 2
Private 9 over $20m 3
a
Source: 1993/1994 survey data.
620 STEVEN TUFTS AND SIMON MILNE

dividual donations aggressively through telemarketing membership

drives or other approaches. However, few of the smaller museums
did have less formal ``friends or supporters'' associations which
assisted with volunteers and fundraising efforts.
As government, corporate and individual support becomes
increasingly dif®cult to ®nd, museums are forced to look to visitors
for revenue. The most obvious method of securing operating reven-
ues is from admission fees. But this strategy is far from a panacea
for museum administrators. Most view the establishment or
increase of admission fees as being counterproductive (Table 3).
Admission fees accounted for less than 5% of the overall operating
budgets for 18 (most with annual budgets less than $10 million) of
the 26 museums in the survey. The general feeling was that increas-
ing fees would decrease visitorship (making current exhibits inac-
cessible or undesirable to a large part of the public). Only two of
the museum administrators stated that they had plans to raise fees
in the short term.
The resistance of administrators in Montreal to increase fees,
however, does not mean that earned revenues have not become
more important. Although Canadian museums in general may be
less dependent on the ``market'' than their American counterparts,
they are likely more dependent on earned revenues than those in
most of Europe (Weil 1990). While private funding of various types
can keep institutions alive in a period of public sector cuts, such a
reliance is argued by many commentators to carry a considerable
cost (Schurmer-Smith and Hannam 1994; Weil 1990). Corporate
sponsors may be relatively conservative about the types of exhibits
they will back and may also look to support mainstream material
which will attract large audiences and maximize marketing spin-
offs (Alexander 1996; Turgeon and Colbert 1992). A greater re-
liance on the market place may also tempt organizations to seek
out the type of af¯uent audience that can afford higher admission
charges. It can also be argued that corporate sponsorship will
reduce the ability of museums to ful®l their educational role as
mandated by the public. As Trigger, an anthropologist with strong
connections to Montreal's McCord Museum of Canadian History,
notes:

Table 3. The Role of Admission Fees and Other Revenuesa (N=26)

Admission Rate Fees as % of Future Admission

Budget Rate

No Fees 8 0% 8 No fee 7
$1±$5 11 1%±5% 10 Future fee 1
$6±$10 5 6%±20% 0 Stable fee 14
$11> 2 21%±50% 8 Reduce fee 3
>50% 0 Raise fee 1
a
Source: 1993/1994 survey data.
 MUSEUMS 621

Nor do I believe that museums can accept money from corporate

sponsors and pretend to maintain their academic freedom. How
many exhibitions do we see that portray corporate sponsors in a
critical light (Trigger 1988:8)?

Responding to the Changing Environment

The tightening of public and private sector ®nancial support has
forced museums to re-evaluate several traditional practices.
Perhaps most signi®cantly, exhibits are being popularized in order
to attract larger numbers of visitors as the museum is transformed
from ``temple to big top'' (Lind 1992:32; Urry 1990). New infor-
mation technologies are being used to make exhibits more accessi-
ble to the public. Budget cuts have forced the re-evaluation of
staf®ng levels. The importance of increasing visitorship has also
encouraged museums to enter into formal and informal cooperative
relationships.

New Sources of Revenues. Montreal museums are attempting to

appeal to the mass audiences needed to attract corporate sponsors,
please foundations and government funding bodies, and guarantee
larger admission revenues. Nearly one quarter of the administrators
identi®ed tour groups as their primary target audience (a re¯ection
of the importance of the tourism market). Surveyed museums
reported that tourists account for 40% to 60% of visitorship. But in
order to attract larger numbers of visitors, institutions are increas-
ingly focusing on popular entertainment and neglect educational
aspects of the museum experience. In 1995, the MuseÂe des Beaux
Arts sponsored Moving Beauty, an exhibit of rare automobiles which
was dismissed by critics because of its inappropriateness in a ®ne
arts museum. Nevertheless, the museum's board deemed the exhi-
bit a necessary step in the attempt to lift it out of debt (Duncan
1995). The McCord Museum produced That's Hockey in 1996±97
aimed at the large number of Montrealers interested in the histori-
cal role the sport has played in shaping the city.
The cultural attractions in the survey had various themes (includ-
ing science, heritage and art) but all used the word museum to
denote even what some may consider pure spectacle. The best
example in Montreal of this is the MuseÂe Juste Pour Rire which
opened in 1993. Its initial admission fee was an unsustainable $18
per visit, and near death experiences, re-openings, and scaled down
admission fees have followed as the museum failed to attract the
interest of residents and tourists. Clearly some have more commer-
cial appeal than others. For example, the BioÃdome, a ``nature''
museum with four indoor simulated natural environments (includ-
ing the St Lawrence estuary), has been able to sustain admission
fees which are signi®cantly higher than all of the heritage ones in
the survey. Indeed, the wide variety of Montreal attractions identify-
ing themselves as ``museums'' in the 90s appears to mesh with
Urry's conclusion that ``museums cannot be created about anything
622 STEVEN TUFTS AND SIMON MILNE

anywhere. But a museum on almost any topic can be created some-

where'' (1990:134). This popularization process even calls into ques-
tion the very de®nition of the more traditional museum (Weil
1990). Although several of the administrators were well aware of
the popularization issue, they did not see it as a future problem in
their ``digni®ed'' museum. But they were willing to point the ®nger
at other institutions with ``less integrity''.
The commercialization of culture does not, however, always result
in the debasement of cultural experiences or less educational value
(Sayer 1997). Montreal museums are attempting to increase visitor-
ship by attracting seniors and school children, with the latter often
putting pressure on parents for return visits. Professionals and aca-
demics have also been trying to come to terms with questions of
representation in museum exhibitions and have explored ways of
including voices from marginalized communities (Karp and Lavine
1991, Karp, Kreamer and Lavine 1992). Thus, museums elsewhere
have been established to represent and attract ethnic groups, and
gender issues have also been more closely scrutinized (Glaser and
Zenetou 1994). One curator stated that her historical museum had
recently attempted to appeal to and include native groups which
have been marginalized through neglect and misrepresentation in
past exhibits.
Several of the museums were actively seeking to increase sales of
cultural products related to their exhibits. All of the 18 institutions
in the survey which had boutiques cited the growing importance of
gift sales, especially ``high mark-up'' items and several had aggres-
sive plans to expand this part of their operation. Some of the larger
ones (annual budgets greater than $10 million) report sales of up to
$3 million per year. One science and nature participant in the sur-
vey reported gift store revenues of $1 million, compared to admis-
sion revenues of $5.5 million. Museums have also cooperated with
institutions from across Canada to sell mail order products. These
alternative revenue sources are not equally accessible to large and
small operations. The former are likely to be at an advantage as
they have the necessary visitor numbers to run successful retail
business. Smaller museums have, however, also been innovative.
One historical institution raised signi®cant revenues by charging a
small fee to couples wishing to use the indoor displays as backdrops
for wedding photos.

New Technologies. Alternative advances are being used to make

the museum experience more accessible to the general public.
Several of them use videos or computers to enhance exhibits. But
there are factors limiting the immediate integration of new technol-
ogy. Some administrators noted that the costs of adding new tech-
nologies can be prohibitive. For example, the $50,000 rental fee for
an infra-red audio guide to complement tours can only be justi®ed if
attendance is substantial. In one case, a museum that evaluated the
potential of an infra-red audio guide decided against its use and
hired seven summer student guides for the same cost. Some com-
 MUSEUMS 623

mentators also argue that such technologies can reduce visitor in-
teraction with the artifacts and other attendees (Goodes 1991,
Alexander 1996).
The fastest growing area of applied technology in museums, how-
ever, lies in the display and dissemination of images. The World
Wide Web is now an important way for museums to advertise exhi-
bitions and provide visitors with information (Dumais 1996). The
large Montreal institutions are using the Internet to attract resi-
dents and visitors from Canada and abroad. The Greater Montral
Tourism and Convention Bureau lists most of the surveyed insti-
tutions on its website and 12 of them have also developed their own
sites. Smaller establishments, with fewer resources, are less likely to
develop their own sites. Some professionals feel that technological
developments such as CD ROM and the Internet increase accessi-
bility to museum holdings and will encourage visitation (Lambert
1995; Wertheim 1995). At the same time, such technology may also
threaten visitorship levels if they are forced to compete with their
own ``virtual'' exhibits. The impacts information technologies will
have on the frequency of museum visits and visitor expectations of
the ``real'' exhibit created by digital images have yet to be explored
fully.

Labor Issues. The largest component of a museum's budget is

often labor costs and this no doubt explains the rash of recent lay-
offs of staff by cash-strapped institutions throughout Canada (Bula
1994; Crew 1995). Attempts to manage government expenditures
will continue to put pressure on a largely feminized workforce
which is underpaid relative to other cultural industry workers
(Frank 1996). In the Montreal survey, a total of 1,486 staff were
employed by the 26 institutions, 62% on a full time basis (Table 4).

Table 4. Labor and Montreal Museumsa (N=26)

Employees per Museum No. Type of Employment No.

Employed

1±4 3 Full-time 921

5±15 11 Part-time 565
16±50 5 Part-time (all year) 58
51±100 2 Part-time (seasonal) 501
>100 2

Subcontracting Labour No. Subcontracting Trend No.

No Subcontracting 11 Increasing 12
Security only 5 No Change 14
Other Subcontracting 10 Decrease 0
a
Source: 1993/1994 survey data.
624 STEVEN TUFTS AND SIMON MILNE

The majority of institutions have experienced declining or frozen

employment levels as dictated by recent budget cuts.
Compared to the Canadian laborforce as a whole, the museum
workers employed in the institutions surveyed had above average
rates of unionization. The 11 establishments with unionized employ-
ees (accounting for 60% of the total sample) were mostly the larger
publicly administered and funded museums. None of the primarily
privately funded ones were unionized. A few administrators stated
that unionization can create increased wage costs, barriers to sub-
contracting, and delays in implementing layoffs. For example, strike
activity at Montreal's BioÃdome throughout the 90s has closed the in-
stitution during peek visitor periods (Derfel 1995). One director sta-
ted that Montreal's city government has attempted to create para-
governmental administrative agencies for its municipal museums in
order to avoid organization by strong city workers' unions.
The museums surveyed are moving towards more ¯exible labor
relationships in order to cut wage bills. One large exhibition center
has all but 20 of its 180 employees working on contract. While the
use of sub-contracted labor for security, cleaning and other tasks is
an established practice, there is also a trend toward outsourcing to
specialized ®rms (operations such as marketing, research, and exhi-
bit design). Over one-third of those interviewed plan to increase the
use of sub-contracted labor further over the next ®ve years, with the
rest expecting little change. Managers are no longer merely over-
seers of collections but salespeople, accountants, market research-
ers, and educators (Mayer 1991). The director of a small art
museum stated that ®nding permanent, full-time quali®ed pro-
fessionals is dif®cult for ®nancially troubled institutions which still
need highly skilled people. There is also the practice of larger
museums ``poaching'', professionals from smaller ones after they
have gained the necessary experience.
The paid laborforce is supplemented by volunteer workers in 11
of the institutions surveyed. They are especially important to
museums adjusting to ®nancial pressures, but they are viewed as a
complement to, not a substitute for, paid labor. For example, volun-
teers may assist with fundraising efforts or serve as informational
instructors, but they are not often used to create exhibits or per-
form cleaning duties. One director emphasized that managing vol-
unteers was a specialized skill given they are not easily recruited
and must be used in tasks that make them feel productive and ap-
preciated. Although the number of museums in Montreal grew sub-
stantially in the 90s, there is no evidence to suggest that there will
be an equally impressive increase in employment opportunities.
Reduced budgets, new communication technologies, and the exist-
ence of an extensive volunteer system limits the possibilities for
dynamic full-time job growth.

Networks and Alliances. Economic geographers have become

increasingly aware of how strategic ®rm alliances and network for-
mation have become an essential feature of corporate power in
 MUSEUMS 625

advanced economies (Allen 1997; Axelsson and Easton 1992; Yeung

1994). Cooperation among museums has always been a part of
everyday operations (such as exchange of artifacts and traveling
exhibits). There is a signi®cant amount of cooperation and network-
ing among museums which at ®rst appears to mimic inter-®rm net-
work relations such as joint marketing and externalized operations.
Montreal institutions are part of national (Canadian Museums
Association), provincial (La SocieÂte des MuseÂes QueÂbeÂcois), and
local (La SocieÂte des Directeurs des MuseÂes MontreÂalais) organiz-
ations which jointly promote the richness and diversity of the
museum sector through information networks and publicity cam-
paigns.
National and provincial organizations are the more established
and formal networks servicing the sector's collective lobbying, lit-
erary, and research and development needs. The local museum so-
ciety is less formal than the larger groups but is viewed by the
administrators interviewed as the most effective marketing and
publicity tool through promotions such as Montreal's annual
Museum Day (free admission in all of them). Some of those inter-
viewed did, however, suggest that associations tend to exclude or
marginalize small museums, and pay greater attention to the needs
of the larger institutions which contribute the most in terms of
®nancing.
Cooperation between museums and various governmental tour-
ism agencies is at times just as important as networking among the
former. For many, marketing initiatives beyond print media are
only ®nancially feasible with the assistance of joint publicity pro-
grams or subsidized tourism packages. Some of them were almost
solely dependent upon the tourism maps, promotional packages,
and web access provided by Montreal's tourism promotion bureau.
Most work closely with the agency, but a signi®cant minority com-
plained that some museums were neglected in favor of more popu-
lar cultural attractions or other elements of the tourism product
(such as accommodation and festivals).

Agglomeration and Museum Parks. Some commentators argue that

a successful cultural tourism product depends on the complementar-
ity of spatially clustered institutions even though these large attrac-
tions tend to be ``bad neighbors'' for residents, such as large crowds
and traf®c congestion (Ashworth 1995). Clusters of cultural insti-
tutions also tend to centralize in the inner city and often limit cul-
tural resources in suburban areas. The municipal government in
Montreal has attempted to develop several small museums/cultural
institutions, Les Maisons de la Culture outside of the downtown
core, in efforts to make culture and heritage accessible to suburban
residents. Clustering of cultural institutions, however, allows visitors
easy access from one museum to another, but more importantly
allows several of them form a ``synergy'' which adds to a neighbor-
hood architectural and artistic aesthetic (Jansen-Verbeke 1997).
626 STEVEN TUFTS AND SIMON MILNE

There are three identi®able museum ``districts'' in Montreal:

Vieux MontreÂal, Parc Maisonneuve, and Centre-Ville (Sherbrooke
Street West) (Figure 1). Administrators of museums located within
these areas are generally happy with their location. Over half of
those operating outside the three districts stated that they would
prefer to be in one of the agglomerations. The desire to enter these
areas stems from the need to tap into areas of high tourist density
(Law 1993). The initial formation of these agglomerations re¯ects
different periods of infrastructural development. For example, the
Parc Maisoneuve museum complex was developed in the wake of
the, 1976 Olympics, while the Old Port re-emerged as an urban
heritage site in the 90s (Chang et al 1996).
Spatial proximity fosters informal alliances among museums look-
ing to economize their everyday operations. For example, a small
Montreal art museum and a neighboring historical center share sig-
nage and visitors. Similarly, one museum in the survey was collabor-
ating with two other nearby institutions to organize a large joint
exhibit. Some dif®culties arise concerning the division of responsi-
bilities and costs, and as a result alliances are often based on long
term relationships of trust and reciprocity established within the
cultural sector community.

CONCLUSION
The evolving nature of Montreal's museum sector has several im-
plications for the urban economy and the development of cultural
institutions. The decline of both public and private support for
museum operations during the 90s has made it increasingly dif®cult
for Montreal museums to meet their traditional mandate of preser-
ving culture and educating society. They are being pressured to pro-
duce a product which maximizes admission revenues and appeals to
the marketing objectives of corporate sponsorship. Pressures to
increase sales of culturally inscribed goods in museum boutiques
tend to necessitate exhibits which appeal to broad-based tastes.
Questions arise concerning the ability of a ``popularized'' museum
experience to cater to the demands of cultural tourists. A popular-
ized museum experience will not necessarily appeal to the tourist
searching for an intense sense of local time and space (Harrison
1997) or ``food for thought'' (Jansen-Verbeke and van Rekom 1996).
An oversupply of mediocre attractions or spectacles masquerading
as museums will only increase the competition for corporate, indi-
vidual, and state sources of revenue while debasing the overall cul-
tural product. The key issue remainsÐhow museums in this
environment can deliver a cultural experience which sustains appeal
to tourists and residents alike.
This research shows that small museums face a dif®cult future.
While new communication technologies have provided some large
museums with access to new media such as the Internet, these tech-
nologies are often beyond the reach of smaller museums. Museums
with limited access to emerging technologies such as Internet and
 MUSEUMS 627

reduced ®nancial resources will ®nd it dif®cult to broaden their

appeal to a wider audience. There are also problems for smaller
museums in attracting multi-skilled professionals. While networking
and alliances are evident in the sector and provide small establish-
ments with a range of competitive options, larger counterparts dom-
inate the agendas of the well-established formal bodies that
represent museums. Of the nine participants in the survey with
annual budgets below $250,000, ®ve were primarily privately funded
by endowments. The greater stability of their primary funding
source may allow them to survive but expansion of exhibits and
marketing programs will prove dif®cult.
The problems that face smaller museums are important on a
number of fronts. They play an important role in supplying the
tourism product with diversity and local ¯avor. Many small insti-
tutions in Montreal diversify their (and broader tourism) products
with specialized themes that also embrace space and time speci®c
experiences. Beyond the tourism focus, however, Weil (1990:40) also
notes that the particular strengths of small museumsЯexibility
and freedom from the weight of large collectionsÐmake them very
important in any attempts to move this community towards a more
socially relevant role.
Larger museums, however, will also continue to face challenges in
the present environment. Pressures to increase earned revenues
and limit costs will potentially change the very nature of the
museum experience itself. The development of Montreal's MarcheÂ
BonseÂcours into a place where traveling exhibitions are presented
in a ``warehouse'' space staffed by contracted workers is perhaps the
best example of a ``¯exible'' museum. But this alternative setting
does not re¯ect any well-developed sense of time and place. As large
establishments, the core of the museum product, increasingly adjust
to decreasing budgets by appealing to broader markets or adopting
more ``¯exible'' operations, the overall experience will be affected.
By examining Montreal museums from a supply-side perspective,
this paper sheds light on the changing role of cultural institutions
in urban economic development. The questions the paper begins to
answer relate to the evolving nature of cultural institutions as
places for leisure, education, and the celebration of local heritage
versus a transition to an alternative consumption experience. It is
necessary to examine how cities may restructure cultural insti-
tutions in order to boost consumption experiences and tourism ac-
tivities, while still appealing to a sense of culture and place. While
the predominantly demand-side approaches discussed here go some-
way toward explaining why cultural infrastructure has played an
increasingly important role in urban tourism development, they are
limited in their ability to explain how institutions such as museums
are adjusting to the new role. To gain a better insight into cultural
sectors as tourism products and broader urban socioeconomic struc-
tures, more empirical research is necessary on the supply-side.
Furthermore, only a rigorous linking of supply- and demand-side
628 STEVEN TUFTS AND SIMON MILNE

perspectives can bring about a better sense of the changing nature

of cultural sectors, and their importance for urban development.&
Acknowledgments ÐSpecial thanks for the help of all museum professionals who took
part in this survey. The research project was funded by Quebec's research funding
agency (FCAR).

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Submitted 28 August 1997. Resubmitted 21 June 1998. Resubmitted 2 October 1998. Accepted
21 October 1998. Final version 18 November 1998. Refereed anonymously. Coordinating
Editor: Myriam Jansen-Verbeke.