International Touring Exhibitions: Toward a Profitable Business Model for Exhibitions?

Abstract

Internationalization of exhibitions creates cost structure distortion. What costs are being reduced thanks to international collaboration in the museum field? To determine the profitability of the model, international strategies are analyzed with two exhibitions—“Matisse, Cézanne, Picasso…the Stein Adventure,” coproduced by the Réunion des Musées Nationaux–Grand Palais organization, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and “Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris,” exhibited in major museums such as Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, or the Seattle Museum of Art.

Keywords:

• economic model
• economics of art
• international touring exhibition
• internationalization strategies
• museum

Notes

1. Laurence Petit, conversation in person with the author, July 5, 2012.

2. Delphine Capdepuy, conversation in person with the author, June 2012.

3. Petit, see note 1.

4. Ibid.

5. Capdepuy, see note 2.

6. Isabelle Reusa, conversation over the phone with the author, April 6, 2012.

7. Ibid.

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

10. Petit, see note 1.

11. Reusa, see note 6.

12. Ibid.

13. Museum of Picasso. 2011. “Vers un nouveau Grand musée Picasso.” Press release.

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. Petit, see note 1.

17. Reusa, see note 6.