Painters and fine artists
An artist sells work, takes commissions and runs a mailing list.
Small museums and galleries
Your Friends support the museum every month, and hear first about each exhibition. Each object in the collection has its record, even while it is on loan.
The staff and the trustees work in one Magpie team. Visitors and Friends use the event pages, the Friends page and the shop you publish.
Get started free
This combination of six Magpie areas fits a small museum or gallery.
- Supporters
- Supporters runs your Friends scheme, with monthly tiers and posts.
- Calendar
- Calendar lists openings and talks, with RSVPs up to the room's capacity.
- Newsletter
- Newsletter tells visitors about each exhibition.
- Asset Tracker
- Asset Tracker keeps a record of each object, and where it is.
- Staff Scheduling
- Staff Scheduling plans the front desk and the galleries.
- Store
- Store sells catalogues, prints and postcards online and at the desk.
Your Friends support the museum every month.
Supporters gives your Friends scheme a public page, with a free tier and monthly paid tiers. Payments go to your own Stripe account.
Posts can go to everyone, to paying Friends or to chosen tiers. A post can hold photos, a video or a poll.
Openings and talks take RSVPs, up to the number the room holds.
Calendar lists each private view, talk and family day on your public calendar. People choose Going, and RSVPs stop at the capacity you set.
The event's page can show how many are going. You can invite Friends by email, or by a link with a set number of uses.
Visitors hear about each exhibition before it opens.
Newsletter keeps your mailing list, with double opt-in on its sign-up page. You can bring the list over from Mailchimp or a CSV file.
You write each issue, send yourself a test and schedule it. A sent issue has a web copy, which can start a social media post.
Each object has its record, and you know where it is while it is on loan.
Asset Tracker keeps each object with its number, location, condition and photos. A painting lent to another gallery is checked out to it, with a due date.
Each record keeps its history, from each move to each loan. Checking an object back in records its condition.
The front desk and the galleries are covered every day you are open.
Staff Scheduling plans the week, with positions such as front desk, gallery and shop. Each person you invite sees their own shifts.
An open shift waits for someone to take it. People can swap shifts, or say when they cannot come.
The shop sells catalogues and prints, online and at the desk.
Store is the museum's online shop, for catalogues, prints and postcards. Magpie adds no fee to shop sales.
A sale at the desk is recorded as a new order, with how it was paid. Its items leave the same stock as the online shop's.
Six more areas cover the website, labels, visits, the day's checks, posts and the books.
- Websites
- Websites builds the museum's site, with what is on and how to visit.
- QR Codes
- QR Codes puts a link to more about an object on its label.
- Forms
- Forms takes school visit requests and volunteer sign-ups.
- Daily Operations
- Daily Operations gives the day its opening and closing checks, with gallery temperatures.
- Social Media
- Social Media posts each exhibition to Bluesky, Mastodon and LinkedIn.
- Accounting
- Accounting keeps the books, with Friends' payments and shop sales posted automatically.
An exhibition goes from choosing the paintings to its last day.
The loans
Each borrowed painting is recorded as it arrives.
The opening
The private view goes on your calendar, and Friends RSVP.
The newsletter
Your list hears the dates and the talks.
The run
The front desk and the galleries are covered on the rota.
The return
Each loan is checked in, with its condition.
Setting up takes four steps.
Connect Stripe
Friends can then pay monthly by card. Help: Connect Stripe to receive money.
Set up the Friends page
You set the tiers and what each one gives. Help: Set up Supporters.
Add the collection
You can import it from a CSV file. Help: Track individual assets.
Add the first opening
You set its capacity and turn on RSVPs. Help: Create public and private calendar events.
Plans
A museum fits the Team plan, with each person who sees their shifts a member. Visitors and Friends are not added to it.
Magpie's fee on supporters' payments is 3%, and it adds no fee to shop sales. Stripe's processing fee is taken from each card payment. Prices are on the Pricing page.
Other people who show and support the arts have pages of their own.
Theatre companies, choirs and community bands
A theatre company, choir or band runs rehearsals and sells tickets.
Small nonprofits and charities
A nonprofit takes monthly support and runs its programmes.
Questions small museums and galleries ask
Can people become Friends online?
Yes. Your Friends page has a free tier and monthly paid tiers, paid by card through Stripe. Friends change their card or cancel themselves.
Can Friends get posts nobody else sees?
Yes. A post can go to everyone, to paying Friends, or to chosen tiers only. It can hold photos, a video or a poll.
Can people RSVP to an opening?
Yes. The event's page takes Going or Not going, up to the capacity you set. Its page then says it is full.
Can we record where each object is?
Yes. Each object has a location, a condition and photos, with every change in its history. A list shows what is out on loan, and what is overdue.
Can we record a loan to another museum?
Yes. The object is checked out to that museum as a contact, with a due date. Checking it back in records its condition.
Can we import our object list?
Yes. Assets can be imported from a CSV file, and exported the same way.
Can volunteers see their shifts?
Yes. Each person you invite sees their own shifts once the rota is published. They can swap a shift or say when they cannot come.
Can we sell catalogues online and at the desk?
Yes. The online shop sells them. A sale at the desk is recorded as a new order. Both take from the same stock.
Can we put more about an object on its label?
Yes. QR Codes makes a code that opens a page on your website. You download it to print on the label.
Set up your museum in Magpie.
Create a Magpie account and make a team for the museum.