Project: La Perouse Museum Business and Operations Plan
Organisation: Randwick City Council
Place: Sydney
Year: 2019–2020
Project Type: Culture-led Placemaking, Strategy, Policy & Research, Business and operational planning
Header image: First Hand Solutions performing at Bare Island, Guriwal La Perouse (image Destination NSW)
With 3.6 hectares of land, a museum, three monuments, a colonial watchtower and a spectacular natural and historic setting, the La Perouse Headland in Sydney’s south east is a popular destination with peak visitation during weekends especially in summer.
Randwick City Council is preparing a masterplan for the headland including the redevelopment of La Perouse Museum, a multi-disciplinary museum housed in the iconic 1882 Cable Station in Guriwal La Perouse. It tells stories of the coast, past and present indigenous culture and connection to the land, the French explorer Laperouse and the social history of communities that have lived in and visited La Perouse.
Objectives
Randwick City Council required a Business Plan and Operations Plan so the museum could become a significant cultural asset where the themes and stories associated with its history, and the stories of the local environment, culture, characters and communities, could be told.
Outcomes
City People prepared a comprehensive ten-year Business and Operations Plan for the La Perouse Museum, in response to different scenarios for the upgrade of the museum.
This included:
- a strategic assessment
- market analysis
- options for upgrades
- considerations for creating a unique identity, appropriate governance and wholistic approach to cultural programming.
The plan covered a ten-year forecast and included annual operational, capital, and programming costs and revenue. Potential fundraising and future revenue opportunities were considered including potential sources of federal and state and other forms of public grants funding, sponsorship, fundraising and endowment opportunities.
We formed a consultant team with specific and extensive experience in financial modelling and market development for the arts and cultural sector. Our specialist advisor, Peter Watts, has degrees in architecture and landscape architecture and spent 40 years as a professional in building, landscape and garden conservation including 28 years as a Museum Director of a major state museum – the Historic Houses Trust of NSW (now Sydney Living Museums).
As well as our broad expertise in cultural strategy, planning and programming, we also brought to this project our experience consulting to small to medium organisations in the arts sector on financial sustainability and strategic planning, with clients including Arab Theatre Studio, Dance Makers Collective and Red Room Poetry.
For more information, please visit Randwick City Council – La Perouse Museum Upgrade.