| Railway Preservation News https://www.rypn.org/forums/ |
|
| Museum Attendance and Closings https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=21143 |
Page 1 of 1 |
| Author: | museumops [ Mon Aug 14, 2006 1:18 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Museum Attendance and Closings |
This article was sent to me by one of our Board members. The list doesn’t contain any rail-oriented museums but my guess is that were all feeling the pinch. Many museums across the USA are experiencing declining attendance and budget crises they blame on rising gas prices, a drop in school field trips and shrinking interest in history and art. "The overall trend is moving down," says Timothy Walch, director of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum in West Branch, Iowa. It had 16% fewer visitors last year than in 2004. A museum honoring James Dean near Fairmount, Ind., closed in March after 16 years. "It was quite stressful," manager David Loehr says. He'll auction off much of his collection in October. The Children's Discovery Museum in San Diego; the African American Museum in Tacoma, Wash.; and the Palm Beach, Fla., Institute of Contemporary Art all closed last year. Others, including big attractions such as Virginia's Colonial Williamsburg and venerable ones such as the Maryland Historical Society, have had problems. Williamsburg's annual attendance is down from 1.2 million in the '80s to just more than 700,000 last year. The Maryland Historical Society has a $1.2 million deficit. Two relatively new presidential libraries and museums are prospering, though: Abraham Lincoln's in Springfield, Ill., and Bill Clinton's in Little Rock. Local history and pride are at stake, says Nancy Perry, museum director for the city of Plymouth, Va. Attendance at the Children's Museum there fell 14% in the last fiscal year after many schools canceled field trips. "Museums are really a cornerstone for a community," she says, and they "build family interaction." Overall, the American Association of Museums says, attendance has been "relatively flat" since 2000. Problems are worst in small towns, where museums and historical societies depend on county or city funds and donations instead of grants or endowments. Curator Wes Anderson is the only paid employee at the Barnes County Historical Society in Valley City, N.D. The society recently sold a building where its museum was once located and, without that rental income, he worries about staying solvent. "The society is at a crucial time," he says. Its annual budget is $50,000. At the Bootheel Youth Museum in Malden, Mo., attendance dropped after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and slowly rebounded, director Patsy Reublin says. "Now with gas prices, I am assuming we will begin yet another decline," she says. Museums try new exhibits and programs to draw visitors. The Hoover museum's circus exhibit last year was a bust, but one on the 1960s has attendance up 10% so far this year, Walch says. Virginia's Perry says special programs, including those highlighting African-American artists and inventors, attract crowds. Colonial Williamsburg has added actors who engage in live street theater. Bruce Teeple, a historian and former curator in Aaronsburg, Pa., says museums must be more provocative. "History is more than a quilt (or) a stick of furniture," he says. "It's time to use history to understand and appreciate the role of change in our lives." |
|
| Author: | junior [ Mon Aug 14, 2006 1:52 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Museum Attendance and Closings |
This reminds me of the late 1980's energy "crisis." I recall a local tourist road doing rather well during this crisis. They are located in a good area with City and Suburban folk close by that didn't mind a short (under 1/2 hour)drive for a nice afternoon out on a trian (NO STEAM) and maybe a picnic. No, their attendence didn't break records, but it didn't tank either, in fact they held strong with the years prior when they HAD steam. It really does depend on your location and your draw. If you are looking for day trippers and Sunday "after church" type people you best be in close range for them to come. Anything more than an hour away, nowadays can be too much when your budget for family trips is being eaten up by high gas prices. |
|
| Author: | mxdata [ Mon Aug 14, 2006 11:27 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Museum Attendance and Closings |
With the virtual certainty of continued expensive travel, those who offer a quality product and do a good job of promoting it will dominate the market, and those groups and organizations who were gradually falling behind in the good times will now be rapidly left in the dust. Sort of like the situation faced by a certain railroad historical society we have been discussing frequently that has failed to recognize and respond to changes in the railroad enthusiast population. It is supply and demand at work. Supply something bland or outdated that few people are interested in, and (surprise!) few people will want it. |
|
| Author: | Jim Lundquist [ Wed Aug 16, 2006 12:17 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Museum Attendance and Closings |
I agree with mxdata. I have found that our visitors want something new. They love our Tecate trains (real destination), they love our Santa trains, they love our pumpkin trains, but, ridership is flat or down on the one hour into the mountain trains. We need to find new venues to bring history alive for them, AND entertain them when they come. We are about 60 miles from the center of population. 60 miles / 20 mpg car is 3 gallons x 2 for a roundtrip x $3.25/gallon = about $20 gas. If gas goes to $4 gallon, that’s about $24. Add in train tickets. Lunch, snacks, and something from the giftshop, the overall price didn’t really change much. Of greater concern is he need to recruit young volunteers. |
|
| Page 1 of 1 | All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ] |
| Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/ |
|