With a projected minimum cost per head of £5.77 just for staff costs the Turner Centre is looking like an unlikely project. As a businessman let's consider what I would want to see happen to feel that my investment was safe.

1. The works of Turner or something very close. This is a vital aim. For me to put my money behind such a project (assuming I had any to put behind it) I would want to see a full time Turner expert heading up the team whose job it is to arrange for articles of Turners work to return "home". For this there would need to be a number of arts patrons to cover the costs. The only other option would be to have a centre that teaches artists to paint exceedingly good imitations.

2. Purple Cow. Assuming that all Art Galleries are regular cows this would need to be a Purple Cow. This could be the way in which the Europe's top art talents are drawn to Thanet (and with them the fans) or some other remarkable ellement that is core to the gallery. After all the ideal visitor count is a minimum of 500,000 and that means that the gallery itself from inception needs to worth travelling a long way to see. People should be considering taking a long weekend form all as far away as Tokyo, New York and Sidney just to look at it. Currently you'd be hard pressed to get people to cross the (now smaller) road for it.

3. New artists works for sale. I would also be looking to see a team made up of those skilled at selling works of art. These would head up a regular specialist auction house which should run from the centre. This turnover in works of art and sales (with commissions) would earn an income that could hope to pay some of the running costs of the business. Ideally it should draw more artists to the area cementing the centres reputation as something special.

4. 500,000 plus visitors a year. Thats a little under 2,000 people on every weekday of the year with special events topping 5,000. The projcted visitor count of 130,000 is hardly more than the population of Thanet and only 8% tp 15% are likely to ever bother to visit. This means that the population of Thanet again needs to visit to get the current count but to be profitable we need to get to 3 to 4 times the areas population each year. (I'd also like to know the capacity of the venue.)

5. High class or high cost membership only events and sections. Let's face it art is a high money issue. Therefore to make money I might want to have an exclusive £5,000 a year subscription service to make the sponsors and patrons feel good about handing over their cash. At present you might get fifty quid off of a few people but this is because there is no attraction value built into the project. As an investor I'd expect to see profits that are worth talking about.

6. High earnings. Based on current visitor estimates the centre needs to take an average of £24 per person to be a valid business with potential to grow. Without this it must get the sponsorship of a minimum of three additional arts patrons (aside from those helping us get the Turner works). I'd be looking to see the figure be nearer £5 per head plus other earnings. Whatever the centre is doing if it is not raking in cash it is doing it wrong. Lots of cash in means lots of spending out and this means a good economy locally which will support a higher class of visitor staying more than a few hours and so more cash... As an investor this also is what I'd want.

7. Less staff, more stuff. Let's be honest the staffing levels are all wrong. Too much "dream team" and box ticking and less focus on the bottom line. If you can tell me how a formal learning officer and an informal learning officer help the centre earn money they're off the team. Unless a memebr of staff can be justified as part of the money making process (PR, Guides, teachers or whatever helps with this core mission) then they are costing me profits. I see too many role