Note: Free posting on the Events Page is only available to the participating museums on Art Museum Touring. Others may purchase ad space in the adjacent column.

How your museum may have its own page on Art Museum TouringA

There is a $25/wk fee payable in 4 week blocks ($100 each 4 week period) for museums to be featured on Art Museum Touring. That includes a main page with images from each of its changing exhibitions. Images from the permanent collection are featured only when opening a new gallery, or re-opening one that has been closed for a period of time and then only for a limited time. An exhibition information page with PR about the exhibitions (pg. 2) is included in the $25/wk fee. These pages are updated as the museums' exhibitions change.

It is easier for the museum to find sponsorship for its page than it is for Art Museum Touring. Although all the museums on our website are non-profits, we are not. When we contact businesses asking them to advertise on a museums page, we are automatically shifted over to the part of their company that deals with sponsorship/donation requests. Since we are not a 501(c), we do not qualify. But you do! Museums are a big tourist draw for its city. Hopefully, museums will find a sponsor, such as local/state tourism organizations, businesses, or a philanthropic individual to cover the $25/wk fee.

If a local business, such as a restaurant, hotel, gallery, or theme park, places an ad in the museum's ad column that counts. If the museum has a special exhibition and places an ad in the ad column of one the Exhibitions pages, or the Events page, that counts toward the $25/wk fee even if there is no ad on its page. They are far more likely to place an ad for their business if they know it will help the museum continue to be featured on Art Museum Touring,

The Museum's page could be profitable for the museums and cover the $25/wk fee

We think it would be great if your page on Art Museum Touring becomes a money maker for the museum!

We have two suggestions (Note: Art Museum Touring takes no commission on sales and is not involved in the ordering process other than providing the ad space with link):

• 1. Use part of your Art Museum Touring page to sell exhibition catalogs
  An image of the show catalog would be imbedded in the text about the exhibition on the museum's exhibitions information page 2 complete with ordering info and a link to the museum shop.. Cost: $30 per catalog set up fee. $15/week for run of the show ad. Image of catalog would be 100 pixels tall with info and ordering information next to it. An ad with a picture of the cover of a exhibition catalog should sell more catalogs than just text.that a catalog is available.
  
  
• 2. Museums shop sales
  On the museum's main page, use a block of ad space (200 pixels tall x 200 pixels wide) for the museum's shop to use to sell merchandise. They often have items people can not usually find in the stores plus catalogs and books from previous exhibitions. The shop can post images of whatever they want to promote with a link for ordering, or for people wanting more info. The shop may change the ad image weekly if they choose at no additional cost.
  
  
• How to test these ideas to see if they would work for the museum.
  See in you can find a business, or an individual to pay for a test period when there is a major exhibition with a catalog opening soon. That way there is no financial risk to find out if the museums' sell more catalogs and/or merchandise than the ad space would cost. We would suggest the shop test period should run through the post holiday sales in January 2018.

What we need to build your museum's page
In most cases, the material and images needed to build a museum's free page on Art Museum Touring is readily available on their website. We only need permission to copy them only for that purpose and to publicize your museum and its exhibitions.

We suggest you first look over other museums' pages on Art Museum Touring. Check out the Exhibitions page, the Events page, the current "Openings, Closings and Events" newsletter (link available on at the top of each of the Index pages and on the Home Page). That is how your museum would be featured. We do accept paid advertising that will appear in the ad columns. All pages are built by Art Museum Touring.

Art Museum Touring is NOT an art news type of website. We only post the exhibitions and events of our participating museums.

Each participating museum has its own page on Art Museum Touring. Most museums have a second page that has the PR about its exhibitions including any catalogs for the shows. With permission, we usually use the info available on the museum's website for the general information about the museum. Links to the sections of the museum's website are used for our visitors that want more in depth information such as the museum's collections.

Our focus is on the museum's changing exhibitions. When a museum has 4, or less exhibitions running at one time (or opening soon), it may have up to 4 images on its page on Art Museum. All 4 images may be from one exhibition, or any other combination you want (2 and 2, or 3 and 1). When there are 5 or more exhibitions running at one time, the museum may have 1 image per exhibition (no limit). Some museums have 15, or 16 exhibitions running and therefore, will have 15-16 images.

Images are for the web only, i.e. 72 dpi. Hi res images are OK to send, but will be converted to 72 dpi for posting. Art Museum Touring will size images to fit. Images may be sent directly as attachments, or in the usual press platforms such as Dropbox, Highttail, Instagram, etc. Images should have accompanying credits unless not available. If needed exhibition images are available in the press section of the museum's website, send the necessary login/password info. If the images are available on the museum's website in the sizes necessary for us to use, with permission, we will copy them with their credits from there.

Images must be of actual pieces from the exhibition. We do not post images that have overprinting on them such as posters for an exhibition. However, an exhibition of posters is OK.

Image sizes (we size images to fit):

• Museum page:
  • standard size is 350 pixels wide (height proportional, in some case it can be over 1000 pixels tall)
    
    
  • panoramic images (approximately twice as wide, or more, than they are tall) are 600 pixel wide
    
    
  • A 200 pixel wide "this is the place" museum exterior image is featured at the top of the museum's pages next to its name and location. If photo credits are required, they are posted at the top right of the bottom section with the museum's general info.
    
    
• A 100 pixels wide image for each exhibition is used on the Exhibition page listings and in the weekly "Openings, Closings and Events" newsletter.
  
  
• A 175 pixel wide image is used on the Events Page. It is usually one of the exhibition images unless a specific image is sent for the event. In some cases the exterior museum image is used at 175 pixels wide

When sending PR and credits, or events to add to the Events Page, send in an easy copy/paste format such as a doc file, or paste into an email; NOT PDF's.

It may take up to 2 weeks to add your page to Art Museum Touring depending on our work load at the time. It usually only take a few days. You will have an opportunity to make additions, changes, or corrections once your museum page is posted. Changes can be made at anytime. New museums are shown on the Home Page and receive an E-blast in the next "Openings, Closings and Events"newsletter and its mailer. The newsletter is to large to send by email.

Add Art Museum Touring to your press list so we are not blocked from contacting you if needed, and to notify you when the museum's page has been updated for you to check..

Museum's that are unresponsive in helping keep their pages up to date by sending requested images and info to update their page on Art Museum Touring will be deleted.

Send material, or questions, to: tom@artmuseumtouring.com

Tom Carris
Art Museum Touring
tom@artmuseumtouring.com
(865) 483-7167