Dear Sarah

I think that the lower attendances are not so much to do with tourism
destinations, but with the Internet - the information revolution.  I think
this is the big issue that museums are facing in the near future.  Once it
was museums that held the information, the objects that excited us, or
provided us with visual knowledge.  Now it is so much easier to go on the
Internet and find the information we need. Museums are no longer seen as
being the repositories of knowledge.

I think that our challenge this century will be to make museums relevant.
There will always be a place for them, perhaps, but it may sit somewhere
between State Archives and art galleries.  We need to find a way (and not
necessarily by putting our museum collections on-line) to use the internet
to heighten people's awareness of what our institution offers that is
different or relevant or attractive.

We have put our prices up and have had more attendances since. People are
not rejecting museums because of the admission fee. It is just they can see
most of the things free without having to go into a museum.

Michael Strong
Director
Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology
www.abbeymuseum.asn.au





----- Original Message -----
From: "Sarah Brophy" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 10:04 PM
Subject: Re: Museum Attendance Trends


> I have a colleague who steadfastly lays the blame for decreasing admission
> on easy plane travel to "exciting" places of luxury or entertainment - the
> disney worlds, the lovely beaches, and other countries.  He assiduously
> pushes low entrance fees as a solution - $3 and less - and as a result has
> increasing attendance at his institution where nearby larger museums (and
> therefore with slightly different situations) are tanking.  I heartily
> endorse the concept of "lower the price and more will come more often".
If
> I could find places also testing the theory, I'd do a comparative study.
> I'd also love to do a financial study of museums who moved to free
> admission.  SB
>
> Sarah S. Brophy  -  bMuse
> Museum Writer
> 570 West Street
> Carlisle, MA 01741
> 978-371-8964
> www.gis.net/~bmuse
>
> =========================================================
> Important Subscriber Information:
>
> The Museum-L FAQ file is located at
http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed
information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message
to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help"
(without the quotes).
>
> If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to
[log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff
Museum-L" (without the quotes).
>
>
>
> __________ NOD32 1.838 (20040810) Information __________
>
> This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
> http://www.nod32.com
>
>

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).