I believe I heard Ed Abel say once that 60% of museum visitors say they first started going to museums as children. Going with their parents had the highest return rate of all. When I was a child (too many years ago), many art museums would not allow anyone under 12. Mother took me around the building at the Huntington in LA so I could see the Blue Boy through a window. I was nine and small for my age. She said boys of 12 were running in the halls. She thought it was a shame they could go in, and I could not. Thank goodness she could take me to places like the U. S. Capitol, Plymouth Rock, the Old North Church, national parks, Woodrow Wilson's birthplace in Virginia, etc. and whet my appetite regardless of age. By the age of nine they had dragged me through 37 states. I love it that I now will see parents viewing an art exhibit with the infant in a papoose pouch. I will take my grandson to a museum this weekend as part of my time on his birthday weekend. He has come to expect such since I first took him to the Houston Museum of Natural Science when he was six. Mary Kirby Historic Upshur Museum [log in to unmask] On Fri, 9 Jan 2004 09:13:08 -0500 Tom Hanchett <[log in to unmask]> writes: > Our museum is debating audience development strategies. Does anyone > know > of data on the relative importance of children as part of the > potential > museum-going population? What do you lose if you do NOT go after > children and youth? Have experts written about this? We are > especially > interested in history museums. > > Tom Hanchett, Levine Museum of the New South > [log in to unmask] > > ========================================================= > 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). > ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! ========================================================= 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).