The Bead Museum in Washington DC is closing. A museum colleague sent me the obituary today and I had mixed feelings. As a museum director I have deep empathy with the staff, volunteers, and supporters who are losing something important in their lives. As someone who worked in the cut-throat retail word for many years I just nodded my head. Of course the Bead Museum is closing. And many other cultural organizations are likely to shut down in the next several months, too.

The museum world is "over-stored" to use the retail parlance. Just as many people get the idea that opening up a store would be fun and easy (after all, shopping is so much fun, how hard could it be to pick out fun gift items for other people), it seems that anyone with a passion and a collection thinks it would be fun and easy to start a museum. All you need is a space and some stuff and a 501C3 designation and you are on your way!

Maine is not grossly overpopulated with museums as some other states are, but there are still more museums, historical societies, and non-profit arts groups than a small, poor state can support. We're all out there trying to raise money from the same foundations and donors and frankly, there may not be enough to go around this time.

In the retail world, when faced with the same scenario (too many outlets and not enough customers), stores sell off their inventory and close down. Sometimes two weak chains will merge, shed the excess and come out stronger in the end. Museums are different, though. The "inventory" is our shared cultural heritage # often priceless objects # donated with the intention of permanently preserving them in the public trust. A clearance sale isn't the answer. Mergers of cultural organizations seem like a good idea but often the outcome is two moderately weak partners ending up as one critically weak organization because the "assets" the weak partner brings are generally collections objects # those priceless things that are so expensive to keep.

Since I got into the museum field a decade ago I've found it interesting to compare and contrast the business models. For years I've wondered what would happen when all the museums and non-profits that have been sprouting like mushrooms over the years faced an economic collapse. I'm afraid I'm going to find out this year.