Yesterday, Bucks Burnett was this close to signing a lease for a space in Deep Ellum to house his eight-track museum.
But, despite an NX35 tweet Friday announcing that he was in the final stages of securing a venue, Burnett had a last-minute change of heart about the location and decided to look for a place that can more easily transformed into a gallery. Ideally, the space would be at least the size of the temporary exhibit he set up in Denton during NX35--though bigger would be better, as he had to leave out about a third of his collection.
Oh, and the ideal space would also be free.
"Tell any interested landlords to call me," he says. "My interest, blatantly, is to get it for free, or for less than the going rate."
He makes a convincing argument that such an arrangement would be
mutually beneficial, especially to a landlord sitting on a property
that has sat vacant for a year or three. The museum would attract
attention to the property, Burnett says, attention that could help
bring tenants to a property owner.
Also, the "permanent" museum space he envisions doesn't necessarily have to be permanent.
"I've done two four-day shows, and spent two weeks on either end assembling and relocating it," he says. "I'm tired of doing that. I'd like to let it sit for three to six months. If we did a pop-up thing with a sympathetic landlord, we could do it for three months or six months, and then have an agreement where the rate goes up as the museum starts to become profitable."
