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In this issue:
Welcome
Why dinosaurs?
From Africa to your conservatory - prehistoric giants
How do you move a 30-foot dinosaur? Piece by piece
This adventure book hero can add a lift to your dino exhibit programming

January is the time most of us put New Year's resolutions into practice, and I hope that yours include bringing an exhibit to your garden in 2006.

This month's issue of News to Use may include just the one you've been looking for. The focus is on DINOs, DINOs, DINOs, and the story is as much about three amazing men who share their passion for paleontology as it is about the exhibits themselves.

A park administrator in Chicago observed that the public may expect to find dinosaur skeletons in museums rather than in botanical conservatories, and the comment took me back to the "Aha!" moment I experienced as a volunteer at the San Antonio Botanical Garden when a patient staffer explained that botanical gardens are really plant museums.

They are, in fact, the museum category with the third largest annual attendance numbers, according to a 2003 Museum Financial Information Survey conducted by the American Association of Museums. Arboreta/Botanical Gardens reported median annual attendance of 119,575, coming in #3 after Science/Technology Museums with 183,417, and Zoos, with 520,935.

The survey noted that a median cost of serving visitors is $21 per head. About one-third of it comes from earned income, with private charitable donations bringing in almost 35% of museum operating income. Some 25% comes from governmental services, and investment income accounts for 10%.

Only in recent years have gardens and arboreta discovered what museums in other disciplines have known for years - permanent collections need some immediacy, some "see it now before it's gone" attractions to draw visitors, and traveling exhibits have served that purpose. For museums that charge admission, they've boosted gate revenues. For museums that rely on donor support, they've provided fresh, new programming to engage individual, foundation and corporate sponsorships.

This year's AABGA annual conference focuses on sustainability, and exhibits have proven effective tools for sustaining a museum's relevance. Whether the permanent collection is historical artifacts or horticultural specimens, an exhibit can renew donor and visitor interest. A garden or arboretum only comes fully to life when it shares its delights with a larger community.

So if your resolutions for 2006 only got as far as weight loss or smoking cessation, I hope that News to Use will inspire you to add introducing your venue to larger audiences with one or several of the exhibits we bring to you monthly.

In addition to providing opportunities for sightseeing….and a library of teaching props, a museum can, in an overall way, make very deep, lasting impressions on its visitors. It can reestablish visitors' confidence in their own ability to understand and to learn.
	Frank Oppenheimer. Working Prototypes, 1986

It's a logical question. What do pre-historic fossils and botanical gardens or arboreta have in common? More than you think, actually. First, dinosaurs have their own following. They are a source of unending fascination for kids of all ages, and if today's six-year-olds have seen an exhibit, the material will be fresh, new and just as exciting for next year's "crop." Kids bring families, one of the primary target audiences of garden venues. And dinos can be the draw themselves, or they can be integrated into educational programs that weave their stories into those of the plants that lived with them. From relating tooth and jaw to the type of plants the animal ate to positioning a living Ginkgo side-by-side with a 30-foot model of an extinct Edmontosaurus, dinos in the garden provide an irresistible interpretive medium. Read on to see three approaches for adding dino-sized excitement to your programming.

It all started with a behind-the-scenes museum tour for Paul Sereno, Ph.D., paleontologist at the University of Chicago and president and co-founder of Project Exploration.

"I never recovered from that visit," Sereno said. "In paleontology, I saw an irresistible combination of travel, adventure, art, biology and geology."

The Chicago native pursued his passion as he earned a doctorate in geology at Columbia University. In 1987, he joined the faculty of the University of Chicago, where he teaches paleontology and evolution to graduate and undergraduate students and human anatomy to medical students. Field work from South America to Africa and resulting discoveries - he has actually unearthed dinosaurs on five continents -- added dimension to Sereno's course work and provided the basis for Project Exploration, the non-profit science education organization founded in 1999 by Sereno and his wife, Gabrielle Lyon. And along the way, he has garnered a fascinating collection of honors - from Chicago Magazine's Chicagoan of the Year to People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People to Esquire's 100 Best People in the World to Boston Museum of Science's Walker Prize for extraordinary contributions in paleontology. Quite a guy …..but we digress.

Project Exploration's purpose is to make science accessible to the public - especially city kids and girls. Its exhibit programming and sale of fossil replicas support the mission by providing an earned revenue stream, according to Chris Angus, Director of Sales and Marketing. And this brings us to GIANTS: African Dinosaurs that made its debut in the Garfield Park Conservatory in 2003.

The conservatory itself was something of a dinosaur…. but one saved from extinction. Considered revolutionary when it opened in 1908, it had seen hard times over the years as visitorship waned and the facility fell into disrepair. In 1994, the Chicago Park District undertook a multi-million dollar restoration program, and the renewed facility has become the setting for dynamic exhibit programming including Chihuly glass sculptures in 2001.

In 2003, GIANTS: African Dinosaurs premiered there, mirroring the presentation of one of the first dinosaur skeleton exhibits more than a century ago in London's Crystal Palace. Placed among living plants, the bones became objects of art as well as animal skeletons, and the overall Garfield Park experience was much like walking into a Jurassic Park scene.

Recapping the exhibit at the conservatory, Project Exploration staff members produced a seven-minute DVD presentation that could be used to convince even the most skeptical board members of the value of hosting the exhibit and capture the imagination of donors as well.

Highlight of the display include six life-sized dinosaur skeletons, the first skeletal and flesh reconstructions of an African Pterosaur, nearly 50 associated fossils, casts and models, a "touch" gallery of skulls and fossils, a 33-foot high, 60-foot long rearing Jobaria skeleton, a Suchomimus (T-Rex-sized fish eater) skeleton, a suspended Carcharodontosarus skull mobile, a video tent theater and self-guide tour materials.

The exhibit is available in 1,000, 2,500, 5,000 and 10,000-square-foot versions. Maximum height of the display pieces is 35 feet, and requirements of the hosting venue include a forklift, scaffolds and ladders during installation, stanchions around the exhibitry, circulating security guards and platforms for the exhibitry in ponds or water.

There's a three month rental minimum, and pricing, depending on exhibit size, can range from $35,000 to $195,000. Because Project Exploration is a non-profit organization with a goal of traveling the exhibit as widely as possible, Angus explained, he welcomes all inquiries and is willing to work with gardens to explore options within budget limitations.

Photos of the exhibit are available on the Project Exploration website - projectexploration.org - and you can contact Chris Angus at cangus@projectexploration.org or 773-834-0044.

Museums provide a common experience that families share across generations and create memories. They are national treasures that allow grandparents, parents and children together to see history come alive, make a scientific discovery or wonder at a work of art.

From The American Association of Museums

Lost World Studios is another man's approach to pre-history.

Guy Darrough is a self-taught fossil collector, fossil preparation expert and illustrator who has worked in the paleontology field for more than 40 years. Specimens from his personal collection of Missouri fossils are routinely loaned to museums for exhibition and scientific study.

It was with Lost World Studios that he evolved from scientist to artist. With the creation of this company, he moved from collecting fossils to creating life-like models. His sculptures, when combined with living plants and other live creatures, provide a startlingly realistic portrayal of the pre-historic world.

"I had spent a lot of time looking for fossils, cleaning and preparing fossils….I was getting tired of working for other people and selling the pieces I unearthed," Darrough explained. "I liked skeletons and was curious about what the animals actually looked like," he said.

His first attempt at fleshing out a fossil skeleton was a Velociraptor displayed at the Reptile House of the St Louis Zoo, and from there a whole world of dinosaurs and prehistoric reptiles came to life. Today, his collection tops 80 specimens, ranging from 1 to 33 feet in size, that have been displayed in gardens and arboreta across the United States.

The Missouri Botanical Garden used sculptures from Darrough's collection to increase the appeal and attendance of its Spring 1999 Orchid Show, headlining it "Beauty and the Beasts". While the tie-in may not have been immediately apparent, flowering plants evolved during the ages of dinosaurs, and visitors got to experience both.

Darrough's dinos have made two appearances the San Antonio Botanical Garden, where they were billed as Dinosaurus Tex. Interpretation focused on Texas dinosaurs and the plants they ate, and the exhibit drew 80,000 visitors between September and December 2002.

During their visit to Powell Gardens, they drew crowds equal to those attracted to Big Bugs, according to President and Executive Director Eric Tschanz.

Set-up and take down of the exhibit take about three days and require one to five garden staff members for moving, lifting and placing exhibit pieces. Space requirements and pricing are flexible, depending on the specimens selected. Three months is the standard rental period.

Lost World Studios requires rental venues to be responsible for insuring all pieces for their fair market value on an all-risk basis, including vandalism and theft, with a fine arts policy. For the safety of visitors and replicas, exhibit design and specimen placement must include barriers to prevent the public from touching the pieces.

To book an exhibit custom designed for your venue, contact Guy Darrough at info@lostworldstudios.com or call 636-282-0970.

The third member of the dynamic dino trio devoted to bringing drama to your venue is George Blasing, known to his fans as Dino George. Before assuming this persona, he was a mild-mannered retail executive, but his love for fossils led him first to leave main stream retailing to set up Dinosaur World, a store dedicated to education science and nature, and then to the lecture circuit. From there, he expanded into a superhero star of dino DVDs and action books - one of which is set in the San Antonio Botanical Garden.

He draws on more than 30 years of scientific study, a larger-than-life presence and a sense of humor than engages six-to-60-year-olds to bring the prehistoric world to life and capture the imaginations of would-be paleontologists of all ages.

And in the course of his transformation, he amassed a collection of fossils and fossil replicas that he has packaged as exhibits that can stand alone or support a larger dino display. Currently, he has three affordable offerings: Ancient Life, Dinosaur Adventure and Prehistoric Journey. In addition to the basic collections which are accompanied by Dinosaur World docents, all three can be expanded to include a "touch" specimen - a real piece of a dinosaur skeleton that gives visitors and guests the feel of an actual dinosaur bone, a working paleo lab and a Dino George lecture tailored to your venue. All are primarily suited for indoor display, though Ancient Life and Dinosaur Adventure have been presented in outdoor settings.

At 800-square-feet, Ancient Life is composed of 20 fossil replicas including a 7-foot Solnhofen crocodile skeleton, a 7-foot Apatosaurus femur and a 4-foot Mosasaur skull. Because of its size, this exhibit works well for private receptions and parties that may support a larger dino show. It is priced at $1,500 plus travel expenses for the first day and $300-$600 for each additional day.

The Dinosaur Adventure is somewhat larger - 1,100-square-feet - and includes such attention-getters as a 13-foot juvenile T-Rex skeleton and a 3-foot Triceratops horn. It rents for $2,500 plus travel expenses for the first day and $300-$500 for each additional day.

The largest Dinosaur World offering is Prehistoric Journey. More than 50 fossils create a fairly extensive exhibit including complete skeletons - for example a 23-foot Pteranodon, a 9-foot Ichthyosaur and a 6-foot Dromaeosaurus raptor skeleton - skulls and bone replicas. The rental rate for this 5,000-square-foot option is $5,000 for the first day plus expenses, with additional days priced at $500-$1,000.

Gardens and arboreta that permit Dinosaur World to sell merchandise in conjunction with the exhibit receive a 10% discount on the rental fee and 10% of gross product sales.

No garden staff or equipment are needed for set-up or take-down. Dinosaur World requires host venues to provide $150,000 insurance coverage for the fossils while they are on-site.

To find out more about booking Dino George and his exhibits, you can reach Dinosaur World at support@dinosaurworld.com or call toll free 866-410-8567.

Editor: Cathy Garison
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