Museum Audience Insight

History Museums and Family Audiences - Why So Challenging? - Part II

What a thought-provoking call!

We just concluded our Museum Conversation on "History Museums and Family Audiences - Why So Challenging?" and we came away from it excited, inspired, and challenged.  If you were on the call, we hope you were as well.

Our discussion focused on the challenges of attracting family audiences, and our fantastic speakers from Conner Prairie, the National Museum of American History, and  American Girl Place Chicago shared with us their approaches and success stories.  Here are a few takeaways:

• It is about social experiences. Ellen Rosenthal, Executive Director of Conner Prairie, noted that families like to visit so that they can interact, and learn, together in an active environment.  At Conner Prairie, they have worked to make the entire site as hands-on and family-friendly as possible, from reproduction objects to backing off on guided tours (she noted that forcing a child to stand still and listen is never a good idea – neither is the parental “claw” on the child’s shoulder to hold them in place during a guided tour!). 
• Family connections are paramount. At American Girl Place, Gar Crispell, General Manager, said they utilize a litmus test on everything they do:  If moms trust it and girls love it, it passes the test. AGP focuses on strengthening the connections between moms and daughters, and the rest of the family, through the experiences at AGP.  Personalizing history brings it into the family, whether it is exploring a family tree in Bitty Bear’s Matinee or bonding with mom over the Julie Albright (1974) doll.       
• Make it easy to visit.  Megan Smith, Education Specialist at the National Museum of American History, stressed that you should never underestimate the importance of the small stuff.  That is, clean bathrooms, easy parking, clear signage, accessible lockers, and family restrooms and nursing areas.  Even small changes, like adding stools to the restrooms at Conner Prairie, can have big results.  It does not matter how great your program, or museum, is, if it is not easy for mom to get in and out with the kids, she will not come.
• Finally, visiting a history museum or historic site is about stories.  As Camy Clough, Senior Program Manager at the National Museum of American History noted, people want to “teleport themselves” to different times and places through the stories you tell.  People love great stories, whether it is about a famous figure of history or just your average Joe, because that is how they relate to those individuals, and the past.  This is certainly underscored by the success of American Girl, where the stories the dolls tell are the “chocolate cake” that has been fortified by the “vitamins” of history. 

We would love to hear more from you on this topic!  What successes have you had at your museum on these issues?  Any questions you would like to throw out to the panelists, or any insights you'd like to add.  To continue the conversation, just click on the “comments” link below

Finally, our thanks go out to our guests who shared their time and thoughts during this call, and to those of you who submitted questions to our guests and listened in. 

Dogs Love Museums Too

I love my dog.

I mean, I really love my dog.

Which is why I am now a big fan of the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park.  I will come back to that.

I am clearly not alone in loving my dog, however.  Pet ownership has never been higher in the US.  But the family dynamics of pet households, particularly those with dogs, has changed pretty dramatically.  Dogs are less likely to be the companions of children, and more likely to be the “children” of empty-nesters or childless couples or singles who truly consider their pets to be part of the family. The sheer size of the rapidly-growing pet industry is stunning as well:

• There are now twice as many households with pets than with children
• Pet-spending is one of the top ten retail segments in the US  – exceeding the toy industry

Now, I love museums.  I would not have dedicated my career to them if I did not.  So I know I should feel embarrassed (and maybe I am embarrassed that I am not embarrassed) that there have been times my husband and I have chosen not to visit a museum because Shadow, a.k.a. The Best Dog in the World, could not go.

Which makes me think. If I feel this way, how many others are making similar decisions and choosing to not visit museums because they are not doggie-friendly?

Our firm's research in other fields indicates that it's probably about a third of potential museum visitors. Among the affluent populations (who are prime museum-goers) a third of respondents would be very interested in activities that could include their dog. Another third do not care, and another third would avoid it.

I am not advocating the museums start allowing non-service dogs into galleries, historic spaces, or even zoos. That is clearly inappropriate.  But museums that have grounds should consider opening up those grounds to our beloved four-legged friends.

There have to be ground rules, of course. And you can think creatively about how to accommodate both dogs and those who would choose to avoid dogs (separate entrances, or have doggie-friendly days or times). Here are some other suggestions to consider if you choose to have doggie-friendly grounds:

• have water bowls around, especially on hot days
• designate shady spots for tying up dogs if owners choose to go inside a building
• keep a supply of plastic bags readily available for cleaning up

There may be unexpected benefits for the museum as well.  In our research for resort or master-planned community clients, we often recommend the creation of dog parks, not just for the dogs but because these types of meeting places have a powerful ability to bring community together. 

I am firmly in that third of respondents who want to include their dog in their weekend plans. And yesterday, we did – at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Garden.  It was great.  This museum takes a very common-sense approach to welcoming dogs; leashed, well-behaved dogs are welcome on the grounds, which includes the sculpture garden. Shadow, my husband, and I had a wonderful, memorable time enjoying art in a beautiful setting that welcomed all three of us. And we will be back.

- Susie

Top:  Shadow with Marianna Pineda's Eve Celebrant.

Bottom:  Shadow sniffing around Mark di Suvero's Sunflowers for Vincent.

History Museums and Family Audiences - Why So Challenging?

It is tough being a history museum or historic site, trying to attract family audiences. As we saw in our August e-newsletter article, history-based museums are the least favorite museum type among young families.

But as children get older, visitation does increase dramatically (to recap, the graph is below and is based on a survey of nearly 5500 children’s museum visitors and members).

 

Additionally, survey work of family visitors at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History confirms and extends this research. As seen in the graph below, family visitation continues to increase as children get older, peaking at age 13 but holding relatively steady through the teenage years.

 

data courtesy, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History

 

On Tuesday, October 30 (1:00 EDT/10:00 PDT) we are hosting a Museum Conversation on “History Museums and Family Audiences – Why So Challenging?” to drill down on the challenges history museums are facing.

Joining us on this free one-hour conference call will be:

• Ellen Rosenthal, Executive Director, Conner Prairie
• Gar Crispell, General Manager, American Girl Place Chicago
• Camy Clough, Senior Program Producer, National Museum of American History

During this call, we will be tackling big issues, from age-appropriateness to time-strapped families to guided tours to the “been there, done that” fallacy.

This call is about your needs and challenges in the history museum field, and we are encouraging you to submit questions to our panel!  Please feel free to click on “comments” below this posting and submit questions for the call or for discussion on this blog. 

Want to dial in for the free call?  There is still space available!  Simply e-mail me at susie at reachadvisors.com (though replace the "at" with an @!) or leave a message for me at 617.489.6180 x 4.  I will confirm your registration via e-mail.

Can’t make the call? Check back here a day or two later and we will post a recap and continue the conversation.

NOTE - comments posted to this entry have been moved to our recap entry.

October E-news: Diverse Audiences, Diverse Museums

We have been asked to share some of our previous research articles more broadly, and this blog is the perfect way to do so.  We will continue to archive our e-newsletters articles here so that you have the opportunity to share them, and comment back to us!

Over the past three issues we have explored visitation patterns of young families at science-based museums, history-based museums, art museums, and botanical gardens/arboretums.  This data, from a national survey of visitors and members of children's museums, has helped us shed light on why young families visit other types of museums, and when they do so over the course of the family life cycle.

Our research also asked these visitors and members what they thought about diversity in their museum and in their communities.  With nearly 5500 responses, we were able to analyze these responses by demographic characteristics, including education and race/ethnicity.  We expected the results to be interesting.  But the results were more than interesting.  They shed fascinating light on opinions of diversity, and presented some stark differences in how different groups think, or do not think, about the topic.

How important is diversity to a museum?

When it comes to children's museums, 66% of respondents felt that the museum was doing a good representing different races, cultures, and ethnicities.  An additional 28% were not sure, or had not noticed. We also asked respondents how important did they feel it is to expose their children to diversity. 65% of respondents said it was very important, 31% said somewhat important, and 4% said it was not important. 

We wanted to know how important it really was to these parents, so we looked to see how these different groups responded to other questions.  First, we found that the more important it was to the respondent, the more engaged they were with the children's museum.  That is, those who said it was very important were significantly more likely to visit more often, and donate, than those who said it was not important. 

But we had a hunch that those who said it was "somewhat" important in reality did not care one way or the other.  And when we compared their responses to those who felt it was very important, we found two absolutely stunning results.  Those who felt it was very important were 4.5 TIMES more likely to seek diverse populations, and 4.5 TIMES more likely to seek diverse and integrated communities.  Those are tremendous differences, telling us that those who said it was only somewhat important, really, did not care so long as diversity did not get in the way of their lives. 

Who feels strongly about diversity?

In determining who it was that felt so strongly about diversity in their community, and their museum, we discovered two key correlations:  the educational level and the race/ethnicity of the respondent. 

As seen in the graph below, with education the respondent was significantly more likely to seek to expose their children to diversity, and to seek a diverse and integrated community.  They were also less likely to say the museum was doing a good job exposing their child to diversity, not feeling that they were doing a bad job, but feeling that the museum could do more.

The other major factor was the race or ethnicity of the respondent, which, as seen in the graph below, made a tremendous difference in the responses.  African Americans were the most likely to want to expose their children to diversity, the most likely to seek diverse and integrated communities, and the most critical of how the museum deals with diversity.  Caucasians, on the other hand, felt significantly less strongly on all of these issues. Asian Americans and Hispanics fell in between.  It just was not as important an issue to Whites.

Why is this relevant?

Although there were major differences in responses to the diversity questions, we should not lose sight of a couple of important points. 

First, the majority of the core audience for children's museums feels strongly about exposing their children to diversity, and they look to museums of all kinds to help them do this.  We see this as a green light for museums of all types to continue to push to represent different races, cultures, and ethnicities in their programs, exhibits, and outreach efforts.

And second, the responses of African Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanics, both on these questions and in their attendance patterns at other types of museums, tells us that while museums are working to attract diverse audiences, more needs to be done to truly reach and engage them on a personal, and regular, basis.

To learn more

This short article only scratches the surface of the research we conducted on this and related topics.  Please feel free to comment below with any additional questions or thoughts.  If you missed any of the earlier issues, examining young family visitation at science-based museums, history-based museums, or art museums and botanical gardens/arboretums, simply let us know.

September E-news: Family Visitation at Museums, Part III: Art Museums and Botanical Gardens/Arboretums

We have been asked to share some of our previous research articles more broadly, and this blog is the perfect way to do so.  We will continue to archive our e-newsletters articles here so that you have the opportunity to share them, and comment back to us!

 

This month we continue our series on family visitation at museums by focusing on art museums and botanical gardens/arboretums.  This research, based on a national audience survey of 5,500 museum-going families, was presented by Reach Advisors at the Association of Children's Museums conference this spring.  In this survey we asked what other types of museums parents and grandparents like to visit with their families, which gave us some insight on why they visit other museums, when they visit in the life stage of their family, and how museum-going behavior shifts among different racial and socio-economic groups. 

In part one of this series we investigated family museum visitation at science-based museums (e.g., science centers, natural history museums, and nature centers), and in part two we examined history museums and historic sites. 

Art Museums and Botanical Gardens/Arboretums:  Mixed Trends

Art museums and botanical gardens/arboretums were, in general, more popular than history-based museums and less popular than science-based museums.  50% of respondents reported visiting botanical gardens/arboretums, making it the fourth most popular museum type overall.  39% of respondents reported visiting art museums, making it the sixth most popular museum type.  When the data was further examined by age and demographic data, however, both promising and troubling trends were uncovered.

Family Life Cycle

Families love to visit museums, and the data quickly confirmed that the age of the oldest child was the principal factor in what types of museums families visit.

Art museums do fairly well with families whose oldest child is less than two, with nearly 41% of respondents visiting, making art museums the fifth most popular for these types of families.  But once that oldest child reaches two visitation drops to less than 35% (see graph below).  As the family gets older, however, families return to the art museum, with 44% of families whose oldest child is 8 or older reporting visits.   Yet this growth in visitation over time does not match the growth exhibited by most of the other types of museums; art museums fall from fifth to seventh most popular over the same period.  This means that while families are returning to art museums, they are visiting other types of museums even more. 

Botanical gardens and arboretums had a markedly different visitor pattern than any other type of museum; they were the only museum type to lose visitation consistently over the family life cycle.  Botanical gardens and arboretums are actually the second most popular museum type for families whose oldest child is under two, with 56% of respondents visiting.  By the time the oldest child is 8 or older, however, only 46% of families are visiting and it has fallen to sixth most popular. 

Grandparents

Overall, grandparents were more likely than parents to take children to other types of museums, and this was true for art museums and botanical gardens/arboretums.  For art museums, grandparents were significantly more likely to visit with their families - by 11 percentage points.  The difference for botanical gardens/arboretums drops to just 5 percentage points, but in both cases grandparents are a rather promising segment for both audience and membership growth.

Race & Ethnicity Matter

While the age of the oldest child in the family had the greatest impact on museum visitation, the likelihood of a visit could vary quite a bit among racial and ethnic groups responding.  Although 91% of the survey respondents were Caucasian (who therefore mirror the topline averages), with nearly 5500 total respondents, we were able to obtain statistically significant data on African Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanics.

Art museums had fairly consistent visitation by race and ethnicity, with visitation hovering around 40% for all four groups (see graph below).  Caucasians were the least likely to visit, and African Americans the most likely (among this sample of museum-going families).

Botanical gardens and arboretums had quite different visitation rates, with Asian Americans showing a strong preference for these types of museums with over 56% visiting.  African Americans were the least likely to visit with only 44% reporting attendance.

Other Findings

For most museums, visitation increased with education, and this was true for botanical gardens/arboretums as well.  For art museums, however, the increase was far more dramatic than for other types of museums; those with advanced degrees are nearly 2.2 times more likely to visit than those with a high school degree (43.1% vs. 19.6%).  Additionally, art museums were the least favorite type of museum for those with only high school degrees.  This suggests that those with lower education are finding higher perceived barriers to entry at art museums than at other types of museums.

Visitors to art museums, however, were also the most open to issues of diversity in their community. When asked what traits were important to them in their community, respondents that visit art museums were the most likely - sometimes by a large margin - to identify a diverse population and a diverse and integrated community as being important.  Additionally, visitors to art museums felt most strongly that it was extremely important to expose their children to different races and cultures.  This suggests that art museums can continue and extend their work to use art to share the many different cultures of the world to their visitors.

Why Is This Relevant?

While art museums do ultimately exhibit visitation growth over the family life cycle, the dropoff in visitation when children reach ages 2 - 4 is worth examining more closely.  Some of the written-in comments exemplify some of the reasons why parents of pre-schoolers choose not to visit.   

• I once took my girls to the [major art museum] where we are members, but did not feel it was a place that was particularly welcoming to kids.
• We try to visit both kid-friendly places as well as more grown-up oriented places (like art museums) so they learn how to behave appropriately in adult situations.

These comments illustrate common perceptions among respondents that parents simply do not feel that art museums are the most age-appropriate venue for youngsters. In these examples, either the museum itself feels unwelcoming, or it is used as a place to model grown-up behavior.  Art museums that seek young family audiences would do well to find spaces for family creativity as one representative respondent captured by saying "Hands-on art activities are always a plus."

Botanical gardens and arboretums have a great opportunity to attract more young families as so many families do visit when their children are infants.  Their challenge is still great, however, as they must first retain, then extend their audiences.

Interestingly, one of the reasons parents cited for liking botanical gardens and arboretums is that they are perceived as being very clean. 

• I like botanical gardens because . . . I am not worried about germs because they do not involve play exhibits that many children play on in the course of a day.

Germs are dirty, while dirt is clean!  Additionally, botanical gardens and arboretums "help my children appreciate and connect to their natural environment," a big plus for a generation of parents that loves to take their children outdoors as much as possible. 

To learn more

This short article only scratches the surface of the research we conducted on this and related topics.  Please feel free to comment below with any additional questions or thoughts. Also, look for the October issue for the final installment of this series, focusing on race, ethnicity, issues of diversity, and museum visitation.

August E-news: Family Visitation at Museums, Part II: Historic Sites and History Museums

We have been asked to share some of our previous research articles more broadly, and this blog is the perfect way to do so.  We will continue to archive our e-newsletters articles here so that you have the opportunity to share them, and comment back to us!

This month we continue our series on family visitation at museums by focusing on historic sites and history museums.  This research, based on a national audience survey of 5,500 museum-going families, was presented by Reach Advisors at the Association of Children's Museums conference this spring.  In this survey, we asked what other types of museums parents and grandparents like to visit with their families, which gave us some insight on why they visit other museums, when they visit in the life stage of their family, and how museum-going behavior shifts among different racial and socio-economic groups. 

In part one of this series we investigated family museum visitation at science-based museums (e.g., science centers, natural history museums, and nature centers), and in September we will examine art museums, botanical gardens, and arboretums.

History Museums and Historic Sites:  The Gap with Families

First, the bad news.  History museums and historic sites showed the lowest popularity among the eight types of museums measured in this survey, with only 31% visiting historic sites and 23% visiting history museums. Additionally, for all demographic groups, history museums are the least popular.  Historic sites showed more variance in this measure, sometimes rising as high as the fifth most popular, but the majority of the time they ranked seventh.  Simply put, families are choosing to visit other museum types over historic sites and history museums.  But there are some silver linings and promising trends within the data.

Family Life Cycle

Families love to visit museums, and the data quickly confirmed that the age of the oldest child was the principal factor in what types of museums families visit.  But when children are very young, families are choosing other types of museums over historic sites and history museums.

Visitation at history-based museums remains stubbornly low . . . until the oldest child enters elementary school when visitation rises dramatically (see graph below).  History-based museums had the greatest rise in visitation during the family life cycle of all the museum types, doubling their attendance rate.  While history museums remain the least popular in families where the oldest child is eight or older, it almost catches up to many of the other types of museums, and historic sites rise to fifth most popular overall in this age group.

Grandparents

Overall, grandparents were more likely than parents to take children to other types of museums, but the difference in visitation between these groups for history-based museums was stunning.  Grandparents were far, far more likely to visit history-based museums than parents - by a margin of nearly 20 percentage points - making them a terrific target audience, and membership prospect, for these types of museums.

Race Matters

Although history-based museums were the least popular types of museums among families of all races, the likelihood of a visit varied quite a bit among racial groups responding.  While 91% of the survey respondents were Caucasian (who therefore mirror the topline averages), with nearly 5500 total respondents, we were able to obtain statistically significant data on African Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanics.

Historic sites were most popular with Caucasians, with nearly a third visiting them.  Additionally, over a quarter Hispanics and African Americans visit historic sites.  Asian Americans are the least likely to visit, with just over a fifth reporting attendance (see graph below).

History museums had less attendance than historic sites, but African American and Hispanic museum-goers are the most likely to visit, with just over a quarter visiting.  Nearly a quarter of Caucasians visit history museums, while not even a fifth of Asian Americans survey respondents visit.

The relatively low attendance of Asian Americans at history-based museums initially surprised us.  But when considering the geographic distribution of Asian Americans, which is heavier in the West Coast than elsewhere in the country, the discrepancy became more clear  since that region has a lower density of history-based museums than other regions of the country.

Although we did not quite have statistically significant data on American Indians, the responses of this racial group were intriguing and may begin to shed light on their museum visitation patterns.  While historic sites and history museums were still the least popular types of museums to visit, American Indians visited them in far greater numbers than other racial groups, with 46% visiting historic sites and 36% visiting history museums.  Further research may indicate a higher degree of engagement with these types of museums among American Indians. 

Education and Income

We typically find that museum visitation increases with education and income.  But this was not true for history-based museums.  Visitation actually peaked when parents only had some college (see graph below).

Similarly, visitation by those of lower income was higher than for those of higher income, roughly mirroring the visitation trend by education.  It was a pleasant surprise that history-based museums have lower perceived barriers of entry for those with less education and income. 

Other Findings

Overall, the gender of the respondent was not a significant factor in this survey.  But when it came to visitation at history museums, it was significant.  Males were much more likely to take their families to history museums than females, 34% vs. 22%.  Additionally, males were slightly more likely to visit historic sites.  Although history-based museums were still the least popular for both genders, it seems that history-based museums have more work to do in attracting women and their families.

Why Is This Relevant?

Clearly, history-based museums are struggling to reach young family audiences.  Although written-in comments did not shed light on why they tend not to visit, some comments provided an indication that helps us determine what is appealing about history-based museums:

• "We especially enjoy live performances and demonstrations at many museums, especially living history sites."
• "It broadens their experiences and can bring history to life. It's one thing to read about it in a book but, another to see, touch, feel and experience it."

It seems to all go back to creating an authentic, hands-on, active experience for families. Historic sites, where history really happened, are uniquely positioned to create those authentic experiences in a way that many other types of museums simply cannot.  History museums also possess one-of-a-kind objects that can fascinate and inspire when presented in an active, participatory way.  Continued work to create and promote those active experiences will help history-based museums better serve young family audiences. 

Finally, families are clearly waiting to visit history-based museum until their oldest child is in school, and likely starting to learn basic history lessons.  Age appropriateness seems to be the primary factor in making decisions about visiting museums, and history-based museums will likely find that concentrating their efforts on attracting families with grade-school children will reap greater rewards than trying to attract families with younger children.   

To learn more

This short article only scratches the surface of the research we conducted on this or related topics.  Please feel free to comment below with any additional questions or thoughts. Also, look for the September issue to explore family visitation patterns at art museums, botanical gardens, and arboretums.

July E-news: Family Visitation at Museums, Part I: Science Centers, Natural History Museums, and Nature Centers

We have been asked to share some of our previous research articles more broadly, and this blog is the perfect way to do so.  We will continue to archive our e-newsletters articles here so that you have the opportunity to share them, and comment back to us!

Most museums seek family audiences, yet many museums are struggling to reach families . . . families that have increasing demands on their time and wallets.

This spring Reach Advisors asked nearly 5500 parents and grandparents what types of museums they visit with their families.  This research, from a study of children's museum visitors and members presented to the Association of Children's Museums (ACM), tells us what types of museums they visit, when they visit in the life stage of their family, and begins to inform us of some differences in museum-going behavior among different racial groups. 

In part one of this series we investigate family museum visitation at science-based museums (e.g., science centers, natural history museums, and nature centers).  In August, we will examine history museums and historic sites, and in September we will examine art museums and botanical gardens and arboretums.  Zoos and aquariums, with 95% penetration of the children's museum visitor market, mirrored topline survey averages (to request a copy of the presentation laying out some of the topline results, please e-mail susie@reachadvisors.com).

Museum-Going Families:  Affluent, and Well-Educated

Respondents to the ACM visitor and member survey tended to be Caucasian, affluent, and well-educated.  Indeed, the typical respondent was a Caucasian mom in her 30s with at least one pre-school child, a college education, and an income above the national average. 

Family Life Cycle

Families love to visit museums, and science-based museums are among their favorites.  These families are looking for opportunities to learn together in a fun environment, and science-based museums serve that role quite well, especially when families grow out of children's museums. 

The data quickly confirmed that the age of the oldest child was the principal factor in what types of museums families visit.  For all three types of museums examined in this article, visitation shoots up once that oldest child reaches grade school (see graph below).

 

Science centers were consistently the 2nd favorite museum type among family audiences (zoos and aquariums were the favorite).  In written-in responses, parents valued science centers for their interactive exhibits and for their educational value.  There was a strong sense that science centers did a good job stimulating all the members of the family.

Nature centers were also appealing to this generation of parents that loves the outdoors.  Parents are seeking opportunities to learn about and explore the outdoors with their children -  things that nature centers do very well.

Natural history museums also grew in popularity, with the animal displays receiving many comments.  Additionally, as one parent put it, "they have dinosaurs." 

Grandparents

If parents love to take their children to museums, grandparents love it even more.  While science centers were popular with both parents and grandparents, grandparents were far more likely to visit nature centers and natural history museums - by a margin of 10 percentage points - making them a terrific target audience, and membership prospect, for these types of museums.

Race Matters

Although science-based museums were popular with all racial groups responding, how popular each type was depended a great deal on the race of the respondent.  Although 91% of respondents were Caucasian (who therefore mirror the topline averages), with nearly 5500 total respondents we were able to obtain statistically significant data on African Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanics. 

For all races, visitation at science centers was fairly consistent, as seen in the graph below.

Nature centers, however, presented more varied data.  Overall, nature centers were the 3^rd most popular museum type.  Hispanics followed the topline average, but nature centers fell to 5^th most popular, indicating that Hispanics enjoy nature centers, but enjoy other types of museums more.  Asian Americans and African Americans were less likely to visit, and like Hispanics, were more likely to prefer other types of museums. 

Overall, natural history museums were the 5^th most popular museum type.  As seen in the graph, however, Hispanics were the group most likely to visit natural history museums. 

So while all three science-based museums had a strong showing among the racial groups analyzed, visitation and relative popularity could vary significantly.

Other Findings

Overall, the gender of the respondent was not a significant factor in this survey.  But when it came to visitation at natural history museums, it was significant.  Males were much more likely to take their families to natural history museums than females, 51.7% vs. 41.2%.  Additionally, males ranked natural history museums 3rd favorite, while women ranked them 5th.  Women therefore tend to choose other types of museums over natural history museums.   

How the respondent felt about diversity significantly affected visitation as well.  That is, respondents who felt it was extremely important to expose their children to different races, cultures, and ethnicities were much more likely to visit science-based museums than those who felt it was only somewhat, or not at all, important.  With most visitation coming from individuals who care strongly about diversity, that tells us that museums can continue to work to expose their visitors to issues of diversity in their exhibits and programming.

Why is this relevant?

So what have we learned about family visitation at science-based museums?  First, families appear to see science-based museums as the natural "next step" after children's museums.  These museums are typically highly interactive, providing excitement, learning, and fun for all ages.  They also tend to wait to visit until their oldest child is learning about science in school, when they begin visiting in droves.  Finally, the importance of nature centers and natural history museums varies significantly among different racial groups, giving us some indication of where more work needs to be done to attract diverse audiences. 

To learn more

This short article only scratches the surface of the research we conducted on this topic.  Please feel free to comment below with any additional questions or thoughts.   Also, look for the August e-newsletter to explore family visitation at history museums and historic sites, and the September issue to explore art museums and botanical gardens and arboretums.

Sputnik, lighting a spark, and museums

50 years ago, the Soviets launched Sputnik and kicked the space race into high gear.

While that's distant history now, that era left behind quite a legacy. America gained a significant edge in engineering and the sciences in the 1960s and 1970s.  We have Velcro and Tang.  A generation of youth inspired during the moon shot era have gone on to Silicon Valley and Seattle to create the world’s biggest technology-driven companies…and many of those individuals now are raising an interesting question of whether there’s been anything anywhere near that motivating to encourage the current generation of youth to dream as big as they were allowed to do during the Apollo days.

While there may not be anything on the scale of the space race giving so many kids the license to think so boldly, there is still something that is keeping that kind of dreaming alive.

My six-year-old son may be the biggest space nut on this planet. As I think back to where in the world he picked that up (I happened to struggle in my college astronomy class), I realize that the spark probably happened during a visit to the National Air & Space Museum when he was four, finally moving him beyond his policeman obsession. 

Fast forward two years later, after his space obsession unfolds:  One morning, my six-year-old asked me if he could go to the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum to watch video of the president delivering his speeches about committing to get a man to the moon and back by the end of the decade.  That came out of the blue since I hadn’t discussed the museum with him before.  So I called the museum to ask if they have an exhibit showing that video, and the person on the phone said they had a segment as a portion of a small display, but suggested that we get in touch with their library.  So I spoke with the librarian, and he said that he’d make arrangements with the archive department. 

So we showed up, and the librarian said with a quizzical look, “I wasn’t expecting him to be so young.  I thought he’d be in high school.”  Then he called the archivists to alert them that we were on our way, and told them, “He’s coming, and he’s a bit smaller than you’re expecting.” 

The archivists couldn’t have been nicer.  They had the two JFK speeches ready to view.  While my son was totally engrossed by the speeches, the archive staff members were peeking around the corner, curious about the six-year-old who was digging into their archives.  They left him with a parting gift of the two speeches on a CD, and two photos of JFK meeting John Glenn after he returned to earth as the first American in orbit.  My son walked out thinking that the JFK Museum was the coolest place on earth.  And today, he asked to return.

Long story for a short point:  While the government isn’t necessarily doing anything like they did in the 60s with NASA, there’s still something out there that can light that kind of a spark in kids’ lives.  Museums. 

Figure out what you do that can be truly transformative, make sure your staff understands how their touchpoints can make that difference, and go out and do it.    

- James

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