Hi Mike. I am a member of a growing young professional group in Youngstown 
Ohio. We currently have over 150 young professionals who hope to defy our 
community's brain drain. The cultural institutions in town have thought 
about doing something to lure the group into their facilities, but have not 
yet made the move. I hate to say it, especially as a trustee of MVP 20/30 
(Mahoning Valley Professionals), but if you don't offer some appetizers and 
beverages (alcohol), you might not get them, and even then its tough. Our 
professionals group has begun to offer a program where we meet once a month 
at a cultural institution. It has been shamefully unsuccessful. Maybe 4-6 
people per event. We are still going to push it, but I am going to talk to 
the cultural institutions again to see if we can try something in 
collaboration to attract people in this age group. I think we have to keep 
encouraging young people to have a stake in museums and arts organizations. 
Its tough though, especially in our community, where the emphasis in regards 
to museums has always been that they are a great field trip destination 
during your elementary years. This is not intended to discourage you; try to 
be creative. I saw that one children's museum has a group called the Young 
Professionals Playgroup (they are donors.) Before I forget (which I should 
have mentioned earlier), while working for my previous employer, the 
Mahoning Valley Historical Society in Youngstown, I developed a group called 
YLAB (Young Leaders Advisory Board.) Our goal was to present a 130 year old 
society as young and hip. We were pretty successful with our first event, 
called History on Tap. We had over 200 people, most of whom had never 
visited the Society, or the museum. We made it a very youthful event, and 
partnered with a hip university museum, the McDonough Museum of Art at 
Youngstown STate. MVHS saw a 10% increase in membership just from that 
event, and raised about $5,000. Still, it is a struggle. I am still a member 
of YLAB, though I now direct a new children's museum in town. YLAB is 
currently focusing on a three-month lecture series, the first of which deals 
with the Oscars. Feel free to e-mail me at my personal address to talk more. 
Its [log in to unmask] Sorry for the long winded message.

Liz Nohra
Children's Museum of the Valley
Youngstown, OH

>From: Mike Rippy <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Young Professional Programs
>Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 12:53:17 -0500
>
>What type of program does your institutions have for young
>professionals?
>
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