Calvin Ju (朱原利), son of the artist and director of the museum, concedes that less-than-overwhelming attendance is a primary factor in the museum's strained financial state. About 200,000 people visit the museum a year, bringing in about NT$40 million. "With higher attendance in the summer and annual fees for members of the Juming Arts Education Foundation (朱銘文教基金會) we manage to just break even," Calvin Ju said. The museum has also sunk much of its money into expansion projects, as it aims to grow by about 40 percent over the next few years.
Ju established the museum in Chinshan for several reasons. The first, in what may have been a miscalculation, was its proximity to Taipei so that international visitors can reach the site for a day trip. Ju also favored the plot of land for its size and, in a quintessentially Chinese manner, liked the fact that it had "mountains and water."
But the museum was also conceived with more than commercial considerations in mind. It was also a desire to keep his works in Taiwan and exhibit them for art lovers on the island. Another envisioned function was to provide a space to boost arts education through the association which takes his name by means of hands-on art days for children and other activities.
Always a precarious venture as a private institution, Ju's museum nonetheless reflects the grand scale on which the artist sees his life and his works, and exemplifies his overpowering confidence.
"Yang always told me to be myself and not worry about studying," Ju said. "In Taiwan, the best artists are probably all unscholarly like myself."
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