How's business?

It is amazing to me how many Icelanders, after coming into the museum, ask me how business is. Everyone wants to know how many customers we had this summer, everyone wants to know I guess how much money we have made. I'm always perplexed by this question. First of all, museums in the United States are almost always not-for-profit institutions. They try to make enough money to keep themselves operational and to fund the programs they want to do. They do not pass on dividends to their stock-holders, it is just not that kind of business. Second of all, as the curator, I really would rather have a content related question to field. Business just is not 100% my thing.

A group of my friends came to see the museum yesterday, 7 people who had spent a lot of time in the States, mostly California. None of them (except one) asked about our profit margin. Instead they commented on how beautiful the exhibition was, and how interesting.

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