By Paul Lane
While 2009 was among the worst of times for a lot of people, last year was among the best of times for many museums, both nationally and locally.
A recent report released by the American Association of Museums found that 57.4 percent of U.S. museums saw an increase in attendance in 2009 from 2008. The survey of nearly 500 institutions of all sizes found that 14.6 percent saw an increase of 20 percent or more compared to 2008.
The Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum fell into that category. Acting director Rae Proefrock said that 2009’s attendance was up 50 percent from 2008. She said that local tourism groups have made an effort to bring travel writers and tour groups to North Tonawanda, and that the increased border crossing requirements might have compelled Niagara Falls visitors to stay in Niagara County, but museum leaders couldn’t pinpoint the reason for the uptick.
“It wasn’t necessarily local people,” said Proefrock, who noted that the museum increased its media relations efforts last year. “We had many people from all across the country.”
That trend was atypical, according to the AAM report, as the “staycation” phenomenon caused many people to visit their local museum. Museum admission costs — “a bargain as compared to movies or other forms of leisure entertainment,” according to the report — aggressive marketing and new/special exhibits were other reasons cited.
Special exhibits were a boon for a couple local museums. The Buffalo Museum of Science saw 210,000 people visit in 2009, many of whom were there to see the touring “Body Worlds” anatomy exhibit in the summer and fall. By the 43rd day of the 88-day exhibit, 75,000 people had already visited, matching the museum’s total attendance in 2008.
Love of football, meanwhile, helped the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society increase its admission revenue by 37 percent in 2009. That was largely due to the museum’s “Buffalo Bills 50th Season” exhibit, which opened in late summer and featured memorabilia from the NFL squad’s history.
“We have been working diligently to make our museum more accessible, welcoming and entertaining,” said Cynthia A. Conides, the museum’s executive director, who said that the only year in which more attendance revenue was earned was 2001, when its Pan-An Exhibition tribute exhibit was on display. “While there is still work to be done, our successes in 2009 show that we are on the right track.”
The historical society also saw its gift shop sales increase 20 percent, a trend that was not echoed in North Tonawanda.
“Our attendance increased, but our gift shop revenue did not,” Proefrock said. “That says to us that people weren’t foregoing their vacations. They were just being more cautious in their travels.”
Museums, likewise, had to remain cautions despite the attendance boon. About 67 percent of museums reported financial troubles due to drops in public funding, investment income, philanthropic support and other causes.
The Albright-Knox Art Gallery falls into this category. The Buffalo art center saw its revenue drop 24 percent and its operational endowment dip 21 percent, prompting a series of cost-cutting moves. The museum reduced hours and days in April (a funding bump from Erie County has allowed some of those hours/days to be brought back), closed for a week in May while furloughing its employees, trimmed staff travel and maintained a $2 admission increase it enacted in January 2009.
In addition, the museum’s Collector’s Gallery, which had featured pieces created by Western New York artists since 1933, was shuttered in October. Museum officials also enacted an operating plan in July that would focus on pushing fundraising efforts and other revenue-generating methods, including developing exhibits that can be toured.
“The current economic climate has created a funding situation that has forced us to make some very difficult decisions,” said Louis Grachos, the gallery’s director. “In operating during these difficult economic times, the gallery’s leadership and staff continue to explore creative approaches that balance the operating budget and preserve the unique cultural vitality of the Albright-Knox, as well as the staffing levels needed to achieve both objectives.”
And despite a successful 2009, the historical society has raised its admission prices for the first time in nearly a decade, citing the rising Consumer Price Index as the reason for the move. The cost for students older than 13, adults and seniors went up $1 effective March 1.
“There never is a good time to raise prices, but I’m glad that we were able to hold rates steady for nine years,” Conides said. “We’re committed to providing value to our community and an experience that is both exciting and educational.”
The AAM reported stressed that there’s no way to predict how museums will fare in 2010. Facilities are increasingly leaning on the Internet to find new visitors, though. The historical society, for example, saw the number of unique visitors to its Web site jump by 45 percent to 148,173, a jump museum officials attribute in part to its presence on Facebook and Twitter.
Most other local museums, including the science museum, carousel museum, North Tonawanda History Museum and Carnegie Art Center, also have Facebook pages.
Whether via high-tech means or traditional methods, however, museums have managed to largely reconnect with their communities.
“In a time of financial stress for museums and economic hardship for many of their users, museums have become increasingly important to the communities they serve,” the AAM report said. “People desire to visit a quiet, beautiful place in times of economic uncertainty.”
Contact Paul Laneat 693-1000, ext. 116.
