This proposal was made in 2018 to the University of Oregon administration, by Greg Bryant and a coalition of stakeholders within the university community. The motivation and the story are recounted in the RAIN Magazine article: "A Pattern for Reversing Privatization".

Building a Museum.exchange

The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art as a global technology leader



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Perpetual self-funding



An example at the UO

One web service, at the UO College of Education, helps to support a unit of 40 researchers, earning over $4 million a year in subscription income. It is a useful, public-interest service. 12,000 schools subscribe to it around the world. At an average annual subscription of $350, this is a high-value, low-cost purchase for these institutions. It has no competitors in the private sector. Businesses are not tempted to enter this market, because potential returns would be far too low for investors. But, for the College of Education, this is a major source of financial stability, a success in terms of science and practice, and a unique source of data for countless well-funded studies. Again, the service leverages the reputation of a public institution, which is trusted to maintain privacy and deliver features whose utility is verified by active research. The unit is the world leader in this small niche.



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The path to sustainability

Leveraging existing relationships, we project 1,000 institutional subscribers within a year. This will make the service self-sustaining.

There are over 50,000 museums worldwide that could pay a $300/year base subscription. The project could earn millions each year for the museum and the U of O.

Other income: industry, institutional and private grants; partnerships; consulting; customization; and a marketplace platform. Artists, galleries, and collectors will also find it useful to subscribe.



A new center of gravity in the art world



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With this practical technological leadership, the university and the JSMA will become a center of global discussions and research regarding technological support for the arts, public museum and institutional administration, arts education, and quality curation. And this service will provide opportunities for the students and faculty of the new museum practice program.



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Computing research for the arts

Museum.exchange is Greg Bryant’s initiative, and he brings the first version of the software with him to the U of O, ready for deployment, research, outreach, and subscribers.

Greg was a technology trailblazer for decades in Silicon Valley. He’s also an experienced community organizer.

He starts at the JSMA on July 1, 2018.