The next big exhibition at the State Museum is about the Titanic, but the museum has no plans to go the way of the doomed ocean liner.

Two weeks ago, Gov. Mark Sanford proposed eliminating state funding for the museum — about $4.5 million per year — over the next three years.

While Sanford prepared to give his annual State of the State address Wednesday night, the museum commission met for the first time since he unveiled his budget proposal.

The governor-appointed commission members were upbeat in the face of the bad news, largely because the budget process is only beginning.

“This is the governor’s budget, and we will see a budget proposal from the (state) House and Senate,” said Gray Culbreath, commission chairman. “The governor is only one step in the process.”

Museum director Willie Calloway agreed.

“We’re not in a crisis mode,” he said. “There’s no reason we can’t get through this fine.”

But those supporting the museum will need to show how important it is to the state and how its budget works, Culbreath and Calloway emphasized.

About $3 million per year goes back to the state to pay off bonds for building the museum, which opened in 1988, and for rent.

That leaves about $1.5 million in state funding for operations. (The museum raises $1.5 million per year through private sources, admission fees, store sales and rentals.)

Calloway said some legislators don’t understand the way the funding works — especially how much of it goes back to the state. If they did, he said, they might be a little kinder in considering the museum’s budget.

The museum has slimmed down in recent years. Its staff is half what it was in 2001. Admission fees were adjusted so college students and some children now pay more. The museum began closing on Mondays in 2001.

And Calloway doesn’t want to consider some ways the museum might save or make money.

For example, about 75,000 schoolchildren come to the museum each year for free.

“We could make another $100,000 if we charged,” he said. “But do I want to do that? No.”

Right now, all the museum can do is make the case that it is worth funding, he said.

“We need to roll up our sleeves and talk to the right people,” Calloway said. “Let’s be logical and professional about this. We have a good story to tell.”

Martha Scott Smith, president of the museum foundation, which raises $200,000 a year through appeals to private donors, said the commitment to the museum is strong.

“We’re not going to let this museum close. This is the repository of our history and culture.”

Reach Day at jday@thestate.com or at (803) 771-8518.