Well, another busy week at the Gallery, last week we, (well actually my fabulous Gallery team and the highly technically skilled artists- Ana Terry & Don Hunter), installed the "Fair Game" exhibition. I was fortunate enough to be away at the annual Museums conference (MA10) in New Plymouth hosted by Puke Ariki and the Govett-Brewster. The conference was titled "Museums - Who needs them?", an apt but somewhat contentious question. The speakers were, as usual, inspirational - particularly, for me, Barbara McKerrow - the CEO of the New Plymouth District Council, Lawrence Yule - the Mayor of Hastings and Tony Ellwood - Director of the Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art. I am sure you're all wondering whether the question was satisfied with an answer. Needless to say for a bunch of museum professionals there is little debate in terms of whether we need museums but more importantly the need to effectively communicate value seemed to be the thrust of the dialogue throughout the conference. There has been considerable discussion over the years on the development of performance indicators for museums/galleries which are based on the quality of the visitors experience rather than merely numbers through the door which many agree is often inadequate and statistically inaccurate. Galleries and museums also contribute, in a much wider context, to their communities. The need to communicate the economic benefit of our institutions is widely agreed upon - we all recognise that visitors may make a special trip to an area to visit a particular exhibition or attend an event - while in the area these visitors often eat in local restaurants and or stay in local hotels/motels. So how do we go about measuring outcomes of this nature?