Where: Greenwich, London
What: The museum is housed in a pair of adjacent 18th-century buildings that have been restored. Founder Hélène Alexander's personal collection makes up the core of the collection, which has been added to by acquisitions and bequests. Temporary exhibitions are mounted four times a year and there is a workshop specialising in fan production and conservation
Opened: 1991
Collection: More than 4,000 fans and fan-related objects make up the collection. The oldest is a pre-Columbian fan from Peru from about the 10th century, which has a woven texture and is tipped with the feathers of a quezal bird. The collection also includes a fan painted by artist Walter Sickert, which was purchased with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and a fan painted by Paul Gauguin that was a bequest
Help at hand: Three full-time and two part-time staff plus volunteers and Alexander, the director/curator
Budget: £245,000 a year
Annual visits: Varies between 8,000-10,000 a year
Awards: This year Alexander won the International Visual Communications Association Clarion Award in the Champion category, for a lifetime's dedication to research, conservation, education and 'making accessible to a broad public the understanding of an important art form'. Visit London Gold Winner in the Small Visitor Attraction of the Year Award in 2006
Survival tip: A good forward plan and get the funding model right. Alexander says the museum is building up its capital to ensure economic sustainability
Highlight: The 1997 temporary exhibition of fans loaned by Russia's Hermitage Museum
Sticky moment: Realising that the buildings that were to become the home of the museum had wet rot, dry rot and longhorn beetle, which led to a six-month delay in the refurbishment. Also a burglary in 2001 where seven fans where stolen; the thief returned and was apprehended by staff and police
Current project: The new exhibition, Celebrations (4 December-24 February 2008), will be followed by a show of fans loaned by the Royal Collection in Holland. The next show will be curated by students from London's Central St Martins College.
What: The museum is housed in a pair of adjacent 18th-century buildings that have been restored. Founder Hélène Alexander's personal collection makes up the core of the collection, which has been added to by acquisitions and bequests. Temporary exhibitions are mounted four times a year and there is a workshop specialising in fan production and conservation
Opened: 1991
Collection: More than 4,000 fans and fan-related objects make up the collection. The oldest is a pre-Columbian fan from Peru from about the 10th century, which has a woven texture and is tipped with the feathers of a quezal bird. The collection also includes a fan painted by artist Walter Sickert, which was purchased with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and a fan painted by Paul Gauguin that was a bequest
Help at hand: Three full-time and two part-time staff plus volunteers and Alexander, the director/curator
Budget: £245,000 a year
Annual visits: Varies between 8,000-10,000 a year
Awards: This year Alexander won the International Visual Communications Association Clarion Award in the Champion category, for a lifetime's dedication to research, conservation, education and 'making accessible to a broad public the understanding of an important art form'. Visit London Gold Winner in the Small Visitor Attraction of the Year Award in 2006
Survival tip: A good forward plan and get the funding model right. Alexander says the museum is building up its capital to ensure economic sustainability
Highlight: The 1997 temporary exhibition of fans loaned by Russia's Hermitage Museum
Sticky moment: Realising that the buildings that were to become the home of the museum had wet rot, dry rot and longhorn beetle, which led to a six-month delay in the refurbishment. Also a burglary in 2001 where seven fans where stolen; the thief returned and was apprehended by staff and police
Current project: The new exhibition, Celebrations (4 December-24 February 2008), will be followed by a show of fans loaned by the Royal Collection in Holland. The next show will be curated by students from London's Central St Martins College.
