An ambitious goal. Perhaps designed to hold a budget axe over the museum's
head. I would try to meet the numbers by working with a larger museum in
Dallas/Waco on a high-profile exhibit and use those numbers to supplement
on-site attendance. Also some sort of teacher's kit that is aggressively
marketed regionally could help with numbers. Third option would be to throw
a festival related to your collection/institution. I would guess that the
said president would not hold you to specific numbers if there were
significant evidence of finding creative ways to attempt to meet the goal,
and you never know you just might meet them.

I assume that in the initial discussions when the numeric goal was set there
was no discussion on sufficient marketing funding to achieve the numbers.
There is a pretty solid body of costs associated with increasing attendance
numbers. To make money, or generate bodies, you need to spend money. In my
own experience I have found that after the Director (whose job is to provide
vision, or to implement a clearly stated existing vision) the second most
important job is that of the PR person. Just doing good work is not
sufficient, the publics need to know what you have. Good luck, you
definitely have a great opportunity to prove your mettle.

nburlakoff

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf
Of Julie Holcomb
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2004 7:06 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: annual attendance in small museums

I would like to hear from new, small museums.  Our museum has a staff of
1.5 and a budget less than $75k.  We opened in mid-October on the campus
of mid-size community college.  Our college president expects our
attendance should be 8500 this first year (actually, not even full year
since our fiscal year ends in August).  Our college population on this
campus is 2500, our city population is 25,000 and our county is around
50,000.  We're in a small, rural, east Texas county about an hour south of
the Dallas Metroplex and an hour northeast of Waco.  I would be interested
to hear from other museums like mine and Katie's as we are fending off
mid-year budget adjustments.  (If your department is not making its
projected income, your budget is adjusted accordingly.)

Also, how do you in small museums respond to those expectations?  How do
you increase attendance?  I come from an archives background rather than a
museum background so I'm still learning how to pull this off.
Julie Holcomb
College and Special Collections Archivist
Pearce Collections Museum at Navarro College

> Do any of you from small museums (staff of 2.5, budget under $150k,
attendance under 20k) feel that your board has unrealistic expectations
for
> your attendance/admissions numbers?  Our city population is about 36k
and
> our county is around 92k.  Our attendance is under 10k.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Katie
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
-----------
>
> Katie Anderson
>
> Museum Director
>
> Rome Area History Museum
>
> 305 Broad Street
>
> Rome, GA 30161
>
> 706-235-8051
>
> cell 678-908-7751
>
> fax 706-235-6631
>
>  <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
[log in to unmask]
>
>  <http://www.RomeHistoryMuseum.com> www.RomeHistoryMuseum.com
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
-----------
>
> Our timely new exhibit "Before the Hanging Chad: Early Voter
Registration"
> explores the changes in voting restrictions since the birth of our
Nation
> and ending with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  Highlights include the
struggles of non-property owners, women, and African-Americans to gain
voting rights.  Test your knowledge of civics by taking a 1965 literacy
test
> used to control voter registration.  Runs through July 2004.
>
>
>
> Join us again this year on Memorial Day, May 31, for observances,
speaches,
> a parade, and observances at Myrtle Hill Cemetery.
>
> ***********************************************************************
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ========================================================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).
>

=========================================================
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).

=========================================================
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).