Two Centuries ago the Velocipede changed the world.
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Welcome
Update The museum is in transition and is no longer at 1313 Binz. The artifacts are in storage and awaiting another exhibition apace. The last days of leaving our first exhibition space was hectic, and sad to pack the stories, the bikes knowing they were headed to storage and not to another space. The exhibition spaces in the area and even those further afield, are beyond the budget. Currently a space walking distance to the museums is being considered for January occupancy, with 80% less space! With a larger budget this space could be half the size of the previous. Anyone know of space available? The fall months have major changes to the existence of the Houston Bicycle Museum. October 1, the museum must vacate our home of the last 4 years as it is being demolished for the Holocaust Museum expansion as of now, the vacate day has been extended to October 31. Our current traffic has allowed us to make the previous rent ($1250/month), but our budget never anticipated the rents we are now finding. To remain viable, we must be interesting enough to draw visitors, and therefore must maintain a minimum amount of floor space to cover enough historical variety of bicycles, their styles, and technology. Two spaces look promising, one a mile away and the other downtown. (The downtown space is no longer in consideration and the smaller space has given a rental of $3450 with $700 more in 6 months which is totally beyond budget) Any suggestions? Any donated space, exhibit and/or storage? A smaller venue means we must put some of our exhibits in storage - yet another cost. The needed funds for the additional storage and move don't exist. These additional costs - increased, extra, or unseen - will be worsened by the fact that after our move, we will be absent from the normal visitor to the Museum District that brought many of our patrons. Both spaces under consideration will be destination locations. We will need to explore new methods to remain connected to you, our current patrons, and continue to bring the Bicycle Museum experience to new patrons. But for the time being, income will be down and expenses increased. We are pursuing some innovative strategies like possibly a second, smaller 'teaser' venue in the Museum District to maintain a presence there and to entice visitors to our new location – wherever that may be. Funding issues we are confronted with: • increased rent for museum space • additional rent for possible 'teaser' venue • reduced museum attendance for an indeterminate length of time • moving costs • creation of new brochures, signage, etc. to support a destination/location(s) • build-out of racks and suspension systems for bikes in storage • new/additional security systems • new/additional display systems A go fund me page is posted, (the museum website has always had a funding button - www.houstonbicyclemuseum.org). But as much as we need your financial support, we need your body and time. Houston Bicycle Museum is a 501(c)(3) non-profit recognized by the U.S. IRS. Houston Bicyce Museum
