Museum Audience Insight

Awesome Spaces and Sticky Stuff: Early Childhood Memories of Museums

If you already received our e-newsletter, we apologize for the duplicate e-mail as we archive this article on the blog. 

The sublime:  "I was scared of the Tyrannosaurus exhibit because it looked so real I was sure it would bend down and eat me."

The (somewhat) naughty:  "I remember going to the ROM and seeing an aboriginal exhibit. I specifically remember trying to look under the loincloth of a life-size figure to see if it was anatomically correct."

The mundane and the exceptional:  "My grandmother used to take me to the Art Institute. I loved the blintzes we had for lunch there!! But I also remember loving the artwork and still have very strong emotional attachments to a lot of them."

And the funny:  "We went to the Plimoth Plantation. I remember being confused that they didn't know what a television was."

Childhood memories of visiting museums are engaging, touching, and, at times, inspiring as we see exactly what people remember for 20, 30, even 70 or more years. 

When we began planning our latest study of museum-goers, one of the major lines of inquiry concerned childhood museum experiences.  We wanted to collect the early museum memories of our respondents, and see if there were any patterns that correlated with adult museum-going behaviors.  Primarily, we had four questions:

1.     What makes a museum experience memorable, or sticky (that is, it sticks with you)?

2.     What ages are most impressionable?

3.     What are the pathways to museum engagement as adults?

4.     How do childhood museum experiences differ among different audience segments?

Methodology

To find out in the online survey we administered, we asked a series of questions.  First, we asked respondents, who were all recruited via museum e-mail lists, to think back to the earliest or strongest childhood museum memory and to tell us how old they were in that memory.  Then, we asked who they were with in the memory.  Finally, respondents were then asked to tell us anything else they remembered from that experience, in the form of a written response question.  

Nearly all 40,000+ respondents told us their age and who they were with in their memory. And over 28,000 took time to type in details about their memory.  Given that this was a pro bono project, we analyzed every 8^th memory, giving us a selection of approximately 3500 memories that we rigorously analyzed by type of museum remembered, what was remembered, the quality of the memory (i.e., how detailed), whether the memory was unusually negative or positive, and other factors.  We also did analysis by demographic segments, so we could control for age, gender, and other factors as needed. 

Please keep in mind, however, that we continue to go back to this large cache of data to further analyze, examine, and learn more, so this post, as well as the blog posts to come, is a first look at our initial memory findings.

Initial Findings

Overall, the mean and median age of memories shared was seven, with younger respondents generally having younger memories than older respondents (median age of six for those under 30, and rising to nine for those 70 or older).  Over half of respondents remember their mother in their memory, 56%, while just under half remember their father, 44%, though men were more likely to remember their father in their memory than women.  And, as we have already shared, school field trips were a critical pathway to adult museum visitation for a third of respondents, but nearly half of minority respondents and respondents whose parents had lower educational attainment.

We then coded memories to determine what types of museums figured prominently in the memories.  Of course, in some memories it was unclear.  There were also relatively few memories from zoos and aquariums, botanical gardens and arboretums, and nature centers, in part because the general public may not perceive them as museums; one respondent said they "did not visit museums but mostly zoos."  Others questioned if a zoo or a botanical garden actually was a museum at all. 

Additionally, there were relatively few memories of children's museums, we believe due to two factors:  1 - relatively few respondents over age 40 were likely to have experienced children's museums as children; and 2 - our research indicates that when the oldest child in a family hits about age six or seven, the whole family transitions out of children's museums, meaning that the oldest child may transition out before that early memory imprints, while also decreasing the odds that a younger sibling will remember it at all.  Therefore, we were unsurprised by this result. 

But there were many, many memories of history museums and historic sites (together 24% of memories), natural history museums (21%), and art museums (17%).  Additionally, 21% of memories were of science museums/centers, though at times it was unclear if the respondent was describing a natural history museum or a science center; we defaulted to science center when we were unsure.

What's Next

There were several themes that kept coming to the forefront of the memories collected, primarily:

• Collections (the actual artifacts and objects)
• Exhibitions (more the general feeling of an exhibition rather than the objects)
• Hands-on/interactive experiences
• The "Wow" factor
• Dinosaurs
• The spark of inspiration/learning
• Transformative experiences
• Staff interactions

In our next post, we'll begin to explore these top themes in more detail.

What do you think?  What do you remember from your childhood museum experiences?  To share, simply click on "comments" below.  (If you are reading this from your e-mail subscription to the blog, please go to http://reachadvisors.typepad.com to add a comment.)

Photo courtesy of Katie Clark, The Academy of Natural Sciences 

 

Pathways to Adult Engagement with Museums: The Importance of Field Trips

We are not really beating a dead horse here.  Sure, we have posted on our blog not once, but twice on the value of school field trips. 

Well, we are going to add even deeper research to the conversation now.

Museum educators know in their guts that school field trips are important, and that those experiences have long-term impact on museum visitation as children become adults.

In our latest survey of over 40,000 museum-going households, we found some intriguing data points that support those gut feelings.  In this study, we delved into childhood memories of visiting museums, asking respondents to think back to their earliest and strongest museum memories.  Respondents were specifically asked who they were with in that memory.

Overall, 56% remembered visiting with their mothers, 44% with their fathers, and 34% remembered school field trips (respondents could indicate as many choices as appropriate, but the only other significant response was siblings at 28%). 

Clearly, the best-trod path to museum engagement for adults is visiting with their immediate families as children.  But the 34% remembering school field trips is nothing to sneeze at.  In fact, it is huge. A third of our Core Visitors came to museums via school field trips.

Our respondents are, as we have shared on our blog, overwhelmingly well-educated, affluent, and white.  But what about minorities?  Or children from households with lower educational attainment?

To find out, we looked at minority respondents and those whose parents had lower educational attainment (because, yes, we asked that too).

Turns out, school field trips may be more important than we even suspected.

Let's first unpack the parental educational attainment.  Respondents were asked what the highest level of education at least one of their parents had attained.  When we compared the results by this response, we found that the higher the parental educational attainment, the more likely parents figured in the memory and the less likely school field trips were the driver.  In fact, respondents who had at least one parent with an advanced degree were 2.3 times more likely to remember visiting museums with a parent than those whose parents had not graduated from high school. 

The reverse was true as well, as respondents whose parents did not graduate from high school  were two times more likely to remember a school field trip as their earliest or strongest museum memory than those who had a parent with a graduate degree, as seen in the following chart shows: 

In short, for children who grow up in households with lower educational attainment, school field trips are an incredibly powerful and important pathway to future engagement with museums as adults, figuring in nearly half of memories for those whose parents have the lowest educational attainment.

We see similar patterns when we examine the data by the race and/or ethnicity of respondents. 

And so we find that for minority children school field trips are also an incredibly powerful and important pathway to future engagement with museums as adults.  Indeed, nearly half of African American respondents remembered a school field trip. 

Additionally, the trend may be accelerating.  For example, Hispanic respondents under 30 were significantly more likely to remember school field trips than older Hispanics, indicating that school field trips are increasingly important.

This makes the recent cuts of school field trips by school districts, and even by some museums, even more distressing.  If museums truly want to engage audiences that are diverse and representative of their communities, then school field trips simply must not only be retained, but expanded to ensure that children who may not otherwise visit museums do so.  It is a significant pathway to raising engaged, life-long, curious, and diverse learners who love museums.  Cutting them off cuts off opportunities for children . . . and for future generations of potential museum goers. 

What would we love to see happen?  We would love to a see a major push for significant funding for school field trips to museums so that school districts were not worried about bussing or fees (we would also love funding for museums to hire additional staff members to solely focus on presenting the most exciting, awesome, and sticky museum experiences possible for schoolchildren).  Because school field trips are not a luxury.  They are absolutely crucial for children and for museums, now and in the future.  

What do you think?  To share, simply click on “comments” below.  (If you are reading this from your e-mail subscription to the blog, please go to our blog's website to add a comment.)

 

Photo:  Erie Maritime Museum
 

Museum Visitation in Tough Economic Times

 

AAM recently released a report that, despite financial stress in our economy, museum attendance, overall, increased in 2009.  This is certainly great news for museums, and we encourage you to examine Phil Katz's report carefully.

This piqued our interest, so we took a look at a separate set of survey data that we are analyzing right now from our recent research of over 40,000 museum-going households.  In this study, we asked these Core Visitors to museums if the recent economic downturn had affected how often they visited museums.  Our preliminary look at one question in that study approaches the question of visitation trends from a different angle.

Before going further, however, we do want to emphasize that our research is not incompatible with AAM's report.  It is simply a different perspective that fleshes out the story of attendance at American museums.  More on that below.

Methodology of the Reach Advisors' Study

This winter 103 museums participated in our study of museum-going households, yielding a sample of over 40,000 respondents.  Participants were recruited via museum e-mail lists, creating a large sample of Core Visitors to museums (but not of infrequent visitors or non-visitors).

Overall Results

The good news is that, overall, the majority of Core Visitors to museums are continuing to visit at about the same pace, despite the economic downturn, with 71% indicating their museum-going habits are about the same. 

But while 7% of respondents are visiting museums more often, perceiving museums to be a good value, that is matched by another 7% who feel that museums are too expensive, and are therefore cutting back.  An additional 15% made no judgment on the value of museums, but simply said they were cutting back on household spending.  This would seem, at first glance, to indicate a potential net loss in visitation, though the AAM study indicates otherwise.  As we will see, however, when we examine the data more carefully a net loss may not be the result. 

Engagement = Good Value

When we took a first cut at the data, it was clear that the Core Visitors who visit the most often are most likely to feel the museum is a good value, and are more likely to be increasing visitation.  In contrast, the Core Visitors who generally visit less often are more likely to be cutting back on visits.  Makes sense.  Core Visitors who have increased their visitation are also:

• More positive about the museum whose survey they are responding to
• Twice as likely to say the museum meets their needs than those who are cutting back
• More likely to say they would recommend the museum
• 50% more likely to go to their public library at least weekly
• More likely to have graduate degrees and earn more than $100,000/year

 

Core Visitors who are cutting back their visitation appear to have been less engaged with the museum to begin with.  Therefore, it is not so surprising that, being less engaged, they are less likely to perceive the museum as a good value.  And with their generally lower incomes, when it comes time to trim that family budget and cut out expensive luxuries (which museums can be perceived as), museums are more likely to be shut out. 

Who Is Cutting Back?

We took a closer look at what audience segments are more likely to be cutting back on museum visits.  These respondents were more likely to fall in one of two groups:

• Generation Y adults in their 20s.  These young adults were 50% more likely to feel museums are too expensive.  Given that young adults generally do not form the core of museum membership programs, those admission fees may be hitting them harder . . . or at least be perceived that way.  Additionally, this recession has been disproportionately affecting young adults in their 20s, so their discretionary income is down to begin with.
• Parents of children 8 and older.  Our data indicates parents whose children are 8 and older are also cutting museums from their budgets and leisure time (peaking with parents in their 40s). What do we think is happening here?  Generally, we do see family visitation drop off once children reach about ten anyway.  Children's extra-curricular activities increase, families are busy, and museums may no longer seem as necessary for learning opportunities.  The economic downturn may be accelerating this trend, with families cutting museums even earlier as discretionary spending shrinks.  This is, indeed, troubling, as it indicates an increased pace of families dropping out of the museum-going habit, which may have long-term ramifications for museums seeking to increase the number of adults who are curious and love museums.

Who Really Values Museums?

Interestingly, in this first look at the data, only one audience segment really stood out as increasing their visitation:

• Parents of children 5 and under.  Already this was the segment that generally visited museums the most often, with repeat visits common at children's museums in particular, but also science centers and other types of museums (if perceived to be age appropriate).  With a focus on child development and learning, and high repeat visitation rates to begin with, these families are more likely to be putting more time, and money, into what they perceive to be high-value experiences that are critical to their children's development.

 

Other respondents, that is, older Core Visitors, and Core Visitors in their 30s and 40s without children, were generally unchanged in their museum-going habits.  Which also indicates that in tough times, they are not willing to cut museums out - a good sign of engagement and support (even if they are not visiting museums more often!). 

 

Our Results vs. AAM's Results

The results of this study only tell a part of the story, and the results from AAM tell a different part.  Some things to consider: 

• First of all, the data present two very different things.  AAM is sharing actual attendance figures, while our research is asking about general visitation patterns.  That is, we did not specifically ask our respondents how many times they visited a museum in 2009, or 2008. 
• Second, our results are from Core Visitors.  It does not include the visitation of casual visitors, so we do not know if casual visitors are visiting more, or less, often.  Even though we didn't survey infrequent visitors in this specific survey, we see indications that some museums are being perceived as a greater value for the less frequent visitors as their economic situation gets tighter.  While that macroeconomic environment isn't necessarily a good thing, it's probably a good thing when museums see more visits from these infrequent visitors. 
• Finally, we suspect that the Core Visitors who are visiting museums more often may be more than outweighing the Core Visitors who are visiting museums less often.  Given that the respondents who are visiting more are more likely to be parents of preschoolers with high visitation rates to begin with, this is actually quite possible.

Simply put, our data presents a story told from the perspective of Core Visitors, asking about general visitation patterns, while AAM's data presents a story told from the perspective of museums with hard visitation numbers.  We have confidence in BOTH sets of research, and do not find them to be incompatible, but instead complementary as we flesh out how difficult economic times affect museums and their visitors.

What do you think?  Have you seen visitation rise, or fall, during the recession?  Have you noticed more younger families visiting?  Is your museum finding something different from the overall trends?  What about you and your family? 

To share, simply click on “comments” below.  (If you are reading this from your e-mail subscription to the blog, please go to our blog's website to add a comment.)

 

One Man's Crusade: Stephen Colbert's quest to save the Generation Y male from himself

 

The Generation Y male, in his late teens or twenties, is a fascinating mixture of technical prowess and media savvyness.  He is also, well, having circles run around him by the Generation Y female.

Now before we go any further, yes, there are Generation Y males who are incredibly smart, well-educated, who read, go to museums, give back to their community, and who are creative geniuses.  They do exist (and if you are a Generation Y male reading this, we bet you are one of them). 

BUT we are talking in generalizations here, and, in general, this generation of young men has seen their female peers succeed, and intellectually grow, at dizzying rates.

Consider:

• Today, women in their 20s are nearly 50% more likely to have a college degree than men in their 20s.
• In most major metropolitan areas, the gender gap has reversed, and women in their 20s outearn men in their 20s . . . the gap's grown to as much as $1.20 for every $1.00 a young man earns (and we bet this has increased as the recession has disproportionately hit young men who work in finance and real estate/construction).
• Additionally, in our research women in their 20s are nearly twice as likely to read and/or visit museums in their leisure time.  They are also three times more likely to participate in art activities, twice as likely to be what we call "Creative Consumers," and are nearly 50% more likely to give money to causes they care about (in contrast, men are 2.5 times more likely than women to say they "don't change my life for causes"). 

Enter Stephen Colbert, the star of The Colbert Report.  We have blogged about him before, and we bet this will not be the last time we focus in on this media juggernaut.  The Colbert Report is an incredibly popular show, particularly with young men.  And Stephen Colbert is engaging them, and making them care, about things that, well, we want people to care about.  Such as:
    

• Museums.  In his efforts to have his portrait considered a "National Treasure" and part of the Smithsonian's collections, he doubled visitation at the National Portrait Gallery during the period his portrait was on display.  Undoubtedly a huge number of those visitors were young men.  (By the way . . . his efforts ended up being successful as his portrait is now part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of American History.)
• Science.  When NASA announced a competition to name the newest wing of the space station, Stephen Colbert encouraged viewers to write in "Colbert" as their entry. "Colbert" garnered four times more votes than any other entry.  OK, so NASA declined to actually name the space station wing after Colbert . . . . but they did name the treadmill installed in the space station the "Colbert." 
• Politics.  He talks about politics all the time on the show.  It is news satire.  But he also took action . . . by attempting to get on the Presidential ballot for the South Carolina primaries.  He didn't get on the ballot, but not by lack of signatures.  And viewers learned more about the election process along the way.
• Iraq.  He cares passionately about the soldiers in Iraq (though his real position on the war itself is unclear).  He doesn't want us to forget that young men and women are making big sacrifices there.  To help increase morale, he spent a week in Iraq this June, filming his show (and he got a crew cut to match his camouflage suit).  Soldiers loved it.  And it was yet another way of keeping Iraq front and center in our lives.
• Philanthropy.  Through his show he has encouraged viewers to donate to worthy causes.  In 2008 his viewers donated over $250,000 to donorschoose.org.  Just last month he announced the support of Colbert Nation for US Speedskating, which had just lost their biggest sponsor.  He encouraged viewers to financially support our speedskating team . . . and they donated over $40,000 in just the first 24 hours.  And you know he will keep encouraging them to do so.  (Additionally, we bet you that viewers, regardless of whether they donated or not, will be much more engaged in the speedskating events during the Winter Olympics.  They'll care because Stephen Colbert made them care through his support and coverage.)

So why does this matter to museums?  Stephen Colbert is reaching out to what is probably the toughest, most jaded audience segment out there, young men.  He is forcing them to care, and they are responding.  And isn't that something that museums strive to do? 

Why do you think Stephen Colbert succeeds at reaching young men?  His humor?  His ability to poke fun at himself?    And what do you think museums can learn from The Colbert Report?  Simply click on “comments” below to share your thoughts (and if you are reading this from your e-mail subscription, go to our blog to comment).

The Magic of Seven-Year-Olds

Note - this article is identical to the one just sent out via our e-newsletter, which we archive via our blog.  For those who subscribe to both the blog and the e-news, we apologize for the duplication!

Over the past couple of years we have talked quite a bit about Museum Advocates - those curious individuals who love going to museums in their leisure time - but where do Museum Advocates come from?  And do they have childhood experiences that are similar?

To find out, we started digging into the patterns and backgrounds of more than 30,000 core visitors to museums to see what separated Museum Advocates from core visitors.  As we started wondering about some of the clues buried in the data, last summer, we asked 110 Museum Advocates in their 20s and 30s to tell us about their earliest childhood museum memories, and then coded those memories to look for patterns.  Additionally, this spring we gathered 501 early museum memories of museum professionals (one from a study of science museum employees, the other from a survey of New England Museum Association members).  While museum professionals are different than the general public, what we found generally reinforced the findings from our Museum Advocates outside the museum field. 

Before we dig into what we found, a quick caveat:  this is just the tip of the iceberg.  Thus far we have examined some early museum memories, and their patterns, among Museum Advocates, but there is far more research to do, such as comparing these memories with those of Core Visitors (those who visit museums often, but tend not to define themselves as curious or to be particularly engaged with museums) and other segments of the general public.  We will be doing much more research to continue to test our hypothesis and the results we have found thus far (and any feedback you have on our findings will be helpful!).
 
Common Themes

 

For all 611 respondents, the mean, median, and mode of earliest museum memories is age seven.  Seven (give or take a year) appears to be a particularly "sticky" time when memories are being made and retained, and museums have the power to create those memories.

 
For about 2/3 of respondents, memories include one or both parents.  Although some individuals specifically mentioned their mom or dad, generally respondents referred to parents or family, implying both parents.  Given that our research indicates that only about a third of moms visit museums with their spouses, this also implies that dad may be rather important to raising new generations of Museum Advocates.  We'll test this theory out in future research, when we will ask more specifically about the roles of both moms and dads. 

For about ¼ of respondents, however, earliest memories were of school field trips, with no mention of any parent.  We were heartened to see this as we were initially afraid we would see a pattern that Museum Advocacy was almost exclusively handed down from parent to child.  Instead, there is a clear path for youngsters to become engaged with museums regardless of the engagement of their parents . . . through school field trips.  School field trips appear to be incredibly important not only to learning and visitation in the short-term, but also for the long-term sustainability of museums and to create a strong pipeline of museum professionals.  So we are increasingly troubled not only by the cuts in field trips by school districts, but also in the number of museums that are discontinuing field trip programming.

What They See Is Important

And when it comes to those early memories, what they see may actually be more important than what they do.  About a third of early memories came from natural history museums alone, a disproportionate number, indicating that natural history museums may have a disproportionate impact on the creation of young Museum Advocates.  Additionally, art museums and history-based showed up at high rates.  Why these types of museums?  Memories tended to be of large-scale, static exhibits that promote internal activity and imagination.  Dioramas, dollhouses, suits of armor, dinosaurs, period rooms.  Objects and exhibits that tend to be highly narrative appeared time and time again.  One of our favorite memories clearly illustrates how a static object can spark internal cognitive activity:  "[I was] maybe 4 years old and running around under the huge whale . . . . I pretended I was swimming with him - and we were friends."

Other museum types do not appear in as many memories.  At first we thought age might be the issue, in that older Museum Advocates were young children before large numbers of children's museums and science centers, in particular, were around.  But when we control for age and only look at respondents in their 20s and 30s, still these types of museums do not show up at nearly the rate of other types.  The only exception?  Overall, current employees (of all ages) of science centers were more likely to remember visits to science centers. 

The low incidence of children's museums is relatively easy to explain.  Many families stop going to children's museums when they feel their oldest child has started to grow out of it, typically around age five or six . . . and before that magic age of seven.  So a smaller incidence makes sense.  The low incidence of science centers is a puzzle, however, though a few more details may shed some light on this, and give us paths of inquiry for future research.

First, the memories from these types of museums are less detailed from natural history, history, and art museums.  Memories tend to be less vivid, more concise.  A typical one might be "went to the science center with my class."  Quite a difference.  At this time, we are postulating that the different narrative quality of the exhibits may be key to this difference, though we will certainly test this theory, among others.

The second thing we noticed is that, overall, hands-on experiences were in very short supply in the collected memories, even, again, when we controlled for age and only looked at younger adults.  Overall, fewer than five percent of memories included a hands-on activity.  And, of course, children's museums and science centers are highly hands-on.

Does this mean hands-on activities are not as important as traditional, static, artifact-based exhibits?  Not at all.  Hands-on activities have been shown to be a tremendously valuable learning format.  Just, for whatever reason, they are not as memorable.  We would suggest that museums continue to offer both types of experiences as they provide different, but equally important, learning opportunities.  Besides, parents of young children view hands-on activities as absolutely essential for a visit.  No question.  They expect them. 

 
These results are, as mentioned earlier, only preliminary, and just scratch the surface of what we think is a very rich vein of future research.  We would love to hear your thoughts as we create the research plan for delving deeper.  (And if you want to share your early museum memories, we would love to hear them too!).  To share your thoughts and questions, click on “comments” below (and if you are reading this from your e-mail subscription, go to our blog  to comment.

Facebook is My Newspaper

I remember the day when I realized that Facebook had replaced the newspaper for young adults. 

 
It was the day that I checked my account and saw a piece of national news (courtesy of Scott) and some museum-industry news (Jennifer).  There also was some hometown news (Jeff), and my sister posted she was eating lunch at her desk (a turkey sandwich).
 
Additionally, it was the second time that week alone that I first heard a piece of major news via news stories posted by friends.  Not via television, a news website, or the paper.  Facebook.
 
And it hit me.  I didn't need the Boston Globe anymore.  Or the White County News.  My friends were editing all the news I needed.  No, not editing.  Curating. 
 
We all know the newspaper industry is hemorrhaging.  Nearly every week another major paper stops printing (though does not necessarily mean stop operating, as some are going online-only). 

Even my Boston Globe has a murky future, at best, as it is losing $1,000,000 each week.  Hardly a sustainable future.  And while I still get the paper version of that newspaper, I recently cancelled my Wall Street Journal hard copy in favor of a subscription via my Kindle.  I am finding the reading experience to be different, but equal to, the hard copy (and it is never missing, or wet, or late).
 
Technology has made this all possible, and it has turned the news industry, in particular, upside-down.  Newspapers are struggling to find ways to pay the bills when consumers expect their news to be free and online. 
 
Meanwhile, the media world is continuing to fragment, and websites like Facebook are the places where information is pulled back together.  I can pull in Twitter feeds and RSS (real simple syndication) feeds in to only one or two spots, creating my own, custom, news pages.  I could stop getting the Boston Globe and not really feel I am missing much, if anything.  Having always been a newspaper junkie, that realization is a bit shocking for me, yet I am hardly alone.  A recent study from the Pew Research Center indicates only a third of American adults would miss their daily newspaper "a lot." 
 
Overall, the decline of the newspaper industry has brought some crucial trends and shifts to our attention - trends and shifts that will affect museums as well. 
 
1 - It totally changes the PR landscape.  Museums have traditionally used newspapers and, to a lesser degree, magazines, to promote their exhibits and programs.  Now that model is rapidly disappearing as the economics of those industries fail (and as linear inches allocated for news content continues to decrease).  Other avenues must be used to spread the word about events, programs, and exhibits. 
 
2 - It is increasingly an inefficient use of promotional dollars.  Newspaper advertising is not inexpensive.  On a "per dollar" basis, other venues, ranging from your own e-newsletter to social networking sites to even direct mail can provide more bang for your buck.
 
3 - The decline of newspapers is part of a broader trend from which no one is escaping as people seek out information in different ways.  News is now primarily consumed online and via television (or even radio - NPR's audience has grown by nearly 50% since 2000).  What other venues are out there providing similar information to what you share?  Wikipedia?  Flickr?  YouTube?  Fortunately, museums have a secret weapon:  the real, authentic stuff.  Working with those information venues could actually create more relevance and interest in your museum.
 
4 - There has been a fundamental shift in our economy to a free-based model.  So many things are now free, running off a model of giving away certain content, or services for free, and it is paid for by a smaller number of consumers who receive additional, premium content or services.  But here is the thing.  Museums can and should thrive in the free economy because it is already the business model museums operate on.  Many people (visitors) receive free or drastically reduced admission that is subsidized by a much smaller group of members, donors, and funders.
 
5 - Newspapers were considered by many as a stalwart of the community.  Yet now, according to the Pew report, fewer than half of adult Americans think civic life would be hurt "a lot" if the local paper failed. (Go to http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1147/newspapers-struggle-public-not-concerned for more on Pew's research.) What are the other stalwarts of a community?  Museums certainly fall in the community stalwart category, but how many would miss us "a lot" if we failed?  It is a worthy question to ask yourself.
 
Yet all of this also presents tremendous opportunities for museums.  Going back to Facebook as just one example, it allows me to receive notices of things going on in my community, including museum programs, just like a local paper might.  I can "fan" all the museums I want, and am automatically informed of all their programming.  And see if any of my friends are going (thus making my own visit more likely).  It also reminds me of an event the day beforehand, so I don't forget.  I can subscribe to the news feeds, blogs, and Twitter feeds of museums as well, and actually become more informed directly from the museum itself on what is going on than reading an (edited) version via the paper.  And the best thing?  Museums actually have better control of the message and the distribution is free.
 
Will Facebook replace the newspaper for everyone?  No, but the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is adults over 35.  Facebook may or may not have legs, but if Facebook fails, something new, and probably even more comprehensive, will undoubtedly take its place.  The trick is keeping up and utilizing these tools to reach your audiences (and potential audiences) more effectively, where they already look for information, and in a way that builds relevance in their lives.

What do you think?  Is there anything you disagree with?  Or do you see these trends playing out as well in your community?  Click on “comments” below to share.  (If you are reading this from your e-mail subscription to the blog, please go to our blog's website to add a comment.)  Please include the name of your museum as well!

-Susie

Older Men are Awesome

They are curious, philanthropic, and engaged.  They are really happy visitors to a variety of museums.  They are a dream audience.

Who are they?  Men over sixty.  They are awesome. 

We first noticed the engagement of older men in our outdoor history museum (OHM) survey, as they responded to the survey in greater numbers than women over sixty, an atypical survey finding.  And when we analyzed their responses, it was clear:  of all demographic segments, men over sixty were the happiest with the museum.

Then we saw something similar in our study of science museum visitors.  While older men responded to the survey in similar numbers to older women, they were again the happiest audience segment.  Turns out, they are a fascinating audience.

Older Men and Museum Visitation

So why do older men visit, and enjoy, museums? 

Primarily, they go because they are curious and want to learn. Yet older men also chose a variety of reasons for visiting, telling us that while this audience is the most curious (and engaged, as we will see), they have a lot of different reasons for visiting museums.  Additionally, older men are generally more positive than other audience segments, and we consistently find that they are the most likely to say that their needs are met.

But it was their rate of membership that gave us a strong clue that something special was going on with these older men.  We consistently find in our research that older men are the most likely to be members.   Their reasons for joining are striking as well because they are so overwhelmingly philanthropic, focusing on improving the museum or helping their community.  Additionally, they are the least likely to join for budgetary reasons, such as saving money or to pay for services received.  It turns out that, for many, the budget is not a big issue.  The older men in these studies are very affluent, with incomes well above the national average, and they have extremely high educations to match.

Interpretation Preferences

So what do older men enjoy at museums?  When we carefully examined the written-in comments of our older men, it was clear:  it is all about their personal interests.  Men wanted to see and do blacksmithing, perform experiments, build stuff, or do anything with railroads.  Or, as one gentleman told us, he wanted to "fire the cannon, climb the rigging, sing the songs."  They want to do the stuff.  They want to delve in deep and work with their hands - in a way they want the antithesis of their pre-retirement lives when many of them were professionals working behind desks. 

Self-curated experiences are also key for older men.  That is, they do not want a lot of facilitation from staff.  They are happiest when they are given a map of the site or a floorplan of the museum . . . and then let loose. 

But while they generally avoid guided tours, if you have the keys to the storage area, or the attic or the cellar, men will go along with you to see that.  As one man in his sixties noted, "I enjoy behind the scenes opportunities.   To see attics or basements that are not usually available . . . " 

Underlying all of this is a burning desire to learn, because "I just enjoy learning new things," as one older man noted. 

Older Men - Great Engagement, Great Opportunity

So what does it all boil down to?  Older men are highly engaged, curious, philanthropic visitors and supporters of museums.

When serving older men, keep in mind that they are focused on adult activities and their own personal growth.  They want those behind-the-scenes opportunities, and they want the facts.  They are confident visitors who know how to navigate museums, and who often already have an excellent level of knowledge about history, science, and art, but they still want you to include a layer of new information that they will find stimulating. 

The audience of older men is relatively small, but with their interest, lifestyle, and affluence, they represent an under-tapped opportunity.  How?  They are in a time of their life when they are pursuing their personal interests intensely.  Museums can do a great deal more to attract greater audiences of older men by creating, as one older man requested, "higher level learning experiences" catering to their interests.  This extends to volunteer and development opportunities as well. 

The big question, going forward, is how Baby Boomer men will approach retirement.  To date, they have reinvented each lifestage anew, and there is no reason to think that their approach to retirement will be like that of their parents.  Will they follow these patterns, or will they chart a new course . . . which may not involve museums as much?  Will they also want to work with their hands?  Or will they want to provide other types of volunteer services?  In the meantime, we will be keeping an eye on the activities of the first wave of Boomer retirees, and how their behaviors will affect museums and volunteering.

Overall, however, older men are a fantastic audience.  They are happy with museums, and they find museums stimulating.  They exhibit deeper levels of engagement than other audiences primarily because their primary motivations for visiting are personal.  They are, in short, a dream audience. 

We would love to hear your thoughts.  Simply click on “comments” below.  (If you are reading this from your e-mail subscription to the blog, please go to our blog's website to add a comment.)

The Challenge of Moms

Moms are a tough audience.  They come to museums in large numbers, and with certain expectations.

Yet when we analyze the data from our major studies of museum visitors, we find that while moms in their thirties and forties are, overall, the largest audience segment visiting museums, we also find that they are the least satisfied segment as well.

Most likely to visit.  Least satisfied.  Let's step back and consider this.

Museum-visitor moms in their thirties and forties are primarily parents of pre-school to middle-school age children.  They are very well educated, when compared to the general population, and thus tended to postpone child-rearing.  They are also relatively affluent when compared to the general population. 

But despite their relative affluence, these moms tend to be highly budget-minded.  They tend to be more likely to join to pay for services they (and their families) have received, or to save money, than they are to contribute for more philanthropic reasons, such as to improve the museum. 

In our studies, moms are also the least satisfied audience segment, as illustrated by the graph below:

Yet they visit museums a lot, visiting their local museums multiple times a year.  Why?  Primary reasons given are family time, for learning opportunities for their children, and because their children like to visit. 
 
What is missing here? 
 
Mom's interests.

Overwhelmingly, when we look at the responses of moms in all of our studies, it has become clear that the primary drivers for museum visitation are the education, entertainment, and engagement of her children.  In the written-in comments from moms, moms rarely use words like "I" or "me," but instead use "we" and "my family."  Mom's interests, and engagement, tend not to be on the agenda. 
 
Moms are coming in large numbers, yet they are the most dissatisfied audience of all.  What gives?

When we began to analyze the responses of moms in our recent science museums and Connecticut surveys it became clear that there were two types of moms responding.  One group of moms who believe that visiting museums is an important thing to do for their children.  The other group are moms who believe that too, but these moms are also curious, omnivorous cultural consumers who love going to museums.  And when we compared the responses from these two different groups of moms, we found huge differences in their attitudes and their visitation patterns at museums.

The curious moms overwhelmingly fall into the category we call "Museum Advocates."  They love museums and value what they have to offer to them, their children, and their communities.  These moms tend to be more likely to support the museum for philanthropic reasons than the other moms, are much more positive about the museum, and are 50% more likely to say that their needs are met.  Finally, these moms visit a much wider variety of museums with their children, from science museums to art museums to history-based museums, etc.

The moms who visit primarily for their children overwhelmingly fall into the category we call "Core Visitors."  These moms tend to choose from a smaller variety of museums that moms perceive to be more age-appropriate for their children, namely museums that are highly hands-on, such as science centers and children's museums.  These moms tend to cycle in and cycle out of museums based on that perceived age appropriateness, and some types of museums are visited rarely, if at all. 

Because the focus of these moms is so much on the needs of their children, it seems as if Core Visitor moms make themselves second class visitors at museums.  It is not something that museums do to moms, but something they do to themselves.  And since Core Visitor moms are less likely to be engaged with the museum themselves, the fear is that their lack of engagement, and interest, subconsciously rubs off on their children, who then stop asking to come to the museum, breaking the museum-going habit.  And that is something we cannot afford. 

Instead, museums have a tough nut to crack:  engaging moms by layering on content for her in a way that clearly does not detract from the engagement of her children.

This is a topic that we are obsessing about at Reach Advisors.  When we analyze the two different types of moms, there are no significant demographic differences.  They have similar education levels, education levels, etc.  Yet their engagement levels, and their attitudes and visitation patterns, are very different. 

Of the handful of differences that we noticed, there is one we will flag in this email (with more to come in future discussions and research).  While almost all moms tell us that hands-on activities are primary attractions for their visits, the curious, engaged moms are much more likely to also mention narrative and story-telling, saying things like "telling with a good story is key."  That is a path of inquiry we are anxious to explore further as we continue our research to discover more about the differences in these two groups of moms, and the implications for developing more Museum Advocates.

As we plan additional research on moms, and Museum Advocates, we would love to hear from you what questions this data raises.  What do you want to know more about?  Is there anything you disagree with?  To share your thoughts and questions click on "comments," below. 

Data from Connecticut comes from the Reach Advisors study of Connecticut Cultural Consumers,

funded by the Connecticut Humanities Council and Connecticut Landmarks.

 

Creative Consumers, Extremely Creative Consumers, and Museums

 

We are delighted to welcome the inaugural article of Sally Johnstone, Senior Consultant at Reach Advisors.  Sally has extensive experience in marketing strategy and works with a variety of economic development, tourism, and community building clients at Reach Advisors.  She is also an amateur musician and enjoys taking her son, Dalton, to children's museums.  You can look forward to more posts by Sally on creativity, the arts, and Generation Y, as well as other topics, in the future.

Museums are wonderful places that share our cultural, and creative, histories.  They are also places of creative inspiration.  And so when we began the analysis of our Generation Y lifestyle research results this summer, we were intrigued to discover a very interesting group of young women (and a few men) setting new standards for creative expression.  Armed with a bedazzler, a fistful of multicolored Sharpies, and tech savvy that would put a NASA engineer to shame, this imaginative group represents 25% of Generation Y (members of the generation born after 1980).  Labeled Creative Consumers, this segment stands in sharp contrast to those at the other end of the spectrum - a segment almost as large that we've dubbed the Plain and Practical, who aren't even likely to draw a smiley face on a notebook.  As we will see, our Creative Consumers are tremendously important to museums.

The first thing we noticed was that Generation Y's definition of creativity has definitely expanded.  Creativity includes traditional activities, such as knitting, but it also includes spending hours to make a MySpace page have a very specific look. 
 
First, the attributes of the Creative Consumers:

Creative Consumers are into customization.  All of them have hand-crafted items themselves, or customized items in ways that go way beyond off-the-shelf options (by off-the-shelf, we mean a commercially available iPod case, computer wallpaper that came with the operating system, a standard MySpace template, etc.).

 

 

• Creative Consumers leave their own trademark on their belongings.  They adopt a signature icon such as Betty Boop, or a color that they consider their own, such as purple, that they use to reflect their own personal style.  They are likely to integrate photos of family, pets and friendsor with their own name into their creative works all in an effort to make everything a reflection of their unique personality
• Over 90% of Creative Consumers think that the things they own should reflect their personality, in stark contrast to just 55% of the Plain and Practical who feel likewise.  
• The Creative Consumers are three times more likely than the Plain and Practicals to want their 'stuff' to look different from everyone else's.
• The Creative Consumers are twice as likely to feel that their home should be an expression of who they are.

Creative Consumers are active and extroverted and eager to experience life:

• In their hang-outs, Creative Consumers are more likely to want to pick their own music, be outdoors, and do work or homework in the hang-out.  They are most definitely more social.
• They are twice as likely as the topline to be looking for public space to meet up with those sharing their interests and hobbies.
• Three-quarters meet up with friends somewhere other than home but indoors, compared to two-thirds of the topline, and only half of the Plain and Practical.
• Creative Consumers are nearly twice as likely to be into fitness, team sports and individual sports as the Plain and Practical.
• They are nearly three times as likely to do some form of art or craft; twice as likely to sing or play an instrument; three times as likely to blog as the Plain and Practical.
• If they are parents, their kids are twice as likely to do crafts as the Plain and Practical
• They are more likely than any other segment to enjoy visiting museums in their leisure time:  30% of the Creative Consumers do so, compared to 19% of the Plain and Practical.

Creative Consumers are more connected and active online: 

• Two-thirds of Creative Consumers are socializing while online (IM'ing, updating social networking profiles, checking on friends, emailing) compared to just half of the topline and only a third of the Plain and Practical.
• They are twice as likely as the Plain and Practical to be downloading music, etc.
• They are twice as likely to be visiting news sites online as the Plain and Practical.

 
Creative Consumers like to shop, yet are also greener:

• They are twice as likely to go shopping or travel as the Plain and Practical.
• So it is not surprising that they are twice as likely to be shopping online.
• They are twice as likely to purchase organic or local food; twice as likely to purchase things that help the environment.

 

There isn't much of a difference when comparing the Creative Consumers to the topline for most demographic measures (except gender, which skews female, like many things Gen Y).  They do not differ greatly from other Gen Ys in:

 

 

• Household income
• Education
• Age (within the parameters of Generation Y)
• Parents' education
• Marital/relationship status

 

For all that Creative Consumers are attractive and engaging young women, there's an even more interesting subset that we decided to call (in a particularly uninspired moment) the Extremely Creative Consumers.  For Extremely Creative Consumers, all of the above observations apply, albeit they feel even more strongly; for example, 97% of the Extremely Creative Consumers think that the things they own should reflect their personality, compared to 90% of the Creative Consumers.

The Extremely Creative Consumers (representing about 15% of the Generation Y women in our study) go even further to be especially artistic, unique, and original in everything they do. They draw, decoupage, collage, tear clothing apart and re-make it to express their personal style, sculpt, write poetry, blogs, fiction, create music, design websites - their activities run the gamut of creative expression accessible today.
 
Even an individual Extremely Creative Consumer's interests are truly wide-ranged, from performing arts to crafts like knitting and sewing.  Check out the list of hobbies enjoyed by this young woman from Hawaii (full disclosure: I am a card-carrying member of the International Society of Bassists).
 
Some Extremely Creative Consumers have figured out a way to profit from their creativity. Ashley Qualls, a teenager who parlayed a gift for creating custom graphics for MySpace pages into a million dollar business, was recently profiled in this case study from Fast Company magazine.

Other extremely creative consumers are not just creating their own works - they're creating documentaries and books about what others are making.  A September 3, 2008 article in the NY Times discusses Faythe Levine's upcoming feature-length documentary "Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft and Design" and book.  (An eight-minute teaser from the documentary is available online at her website.)
 
Where is this shift coming from?  Some of it may be the democratization of expression afforded by the Internet.  Some of it is today's relative ease and cheapness with which anyone can acquire the materials needed for art and craft.  And, some of it may be a new Renaissance of creativity sparked in this generation by a multitude of technical, social, and cultural factors.
 
In the end, we have to come back to that museum number: 30% of the Creative Consumers enjoy visiting museums in their leisure time.   These bright young adults are Museum Advocates and the parents-to-be of the next generation of Museum Advocates. What can museums do to help them expand their creative horizons and foster their love of the institutions?  Some ideas:

 

 

• Provide an opportunity to gather with like-minded creative people: Creative Consumers like to gather together to practice their craft, share ideas, and socialize with others who enjoy their art. Etsy, an online marketplace for crafters, hosts a weekly Craft Night at their EtsyLabs headquarters.  Young crafters flock to Brooklyn to meet each other, learn from one another, and have a great time.  Museums could do likewise.
• Provide training: Many of the Creative Consumers are at an apprentice phase in their development.  Where else but a museum would the masters be found?  Are there programs and classes that you could offer in both historic and new techniques that would attract these young creatives?
• Provide gallery space:  Recognize their creativity by allowing them to share their work with others in your museum. 

Are you already working to engage this group of creative group of young women?  We would love to hear what you are doing!  Or if this article sparks new ideas for programming, share them as well!   Simply click on “comments” below.  (If you are reading this from your e-mail subscription to the blog, please go to our blog's website to add a comment.)

 

- Sally

Museum Advocates Are Different

People who love visiting museums are different than the general public.  Yet, as we explored last month, even among museum visitors there are differences between those who visit and join museums because they are supposed to do so for their children (becoming core visitors who are not necessarily personally engaged with the museum) and those Museum Advocates who genuinely love (and are emotionally connected to) museums.  The question then becomes how are Museum Advocates different than everyone else - and how can we convert more museum visitors into Museum Advocates?

In our recent lifestyle survey of adults in their 20s and 30s we took a look at the data to see just how Museum Advocates are different.  What we found was that those who love museums think, spend their leisure time, and connect to their world differently.  And they are pretty interesting people to boot. 

So what exactly did we find?  First of all, the percentage of individuals who are Museum Advocates does not change with age; either they love visiting museums, or they do not.  But what museums they actually visit does change with lifestage.  That is, specific museum visitation is often determined by the age of any children in their lives.

Museum Advocates also tend to have, not unexpectedly, higher educational attainment than the rest of the population, and their parents tend to have higher educational attainment as well.  We believe this indicates that most Museum Advocates grew up visiting museums with their well-educated parents, and these family experiences nurtured a love of museums that continues today.  Promising news as college educational attainment continues to increase, but one big question is what other pathways exist to create Museum Advocates out of some of the 72% of adults without college degrees.

Social and Connected . . . By Choice

The image of the young adult glued to the computer screen all the time is not true of Museum Advocates.  While they are heavy users of technology to facilitate their lives, it certainly does not take the place of real-life socialization and activities (though they do expect, simply expect, wireless Internet access in public places).  Instead, they are more likely than the general public to seek out public places for those with similar interests to meet, such as book clubs or knitting groups.  They are more active socializers with their friends, and they are seeking public places to meet up with peers and family. 

Omnivorous Cultural Consumers

These busy adults in their 20s and 30s are also wide-ranging in their cultural interests.  They are much more likely to cite reading books and magazines as an enjoyable way of spending their leisure time.  These Museum Advocates are also significantly more likely than their peers to enjoy travel, live theatre, classical music and opera, and live music.  Unsurprisingly, then, cultural activities are far more important to them than to the general public.

Curating Their Lives

Compared to the general public that does not self-identify as enjoying visiting museums, these younger Museum Advocates are much more creative and keyed into aesthetics than their peers.  They are customizing their belongings, and curating their lives, by making careful, thoughtful selections based on individual taste and what image those selections project.  They feel much more strongly that their stuff reflects their personality and should simply look different than other people's stuff.  And they also feel more strongly that home is a refection of their identity. 

How do they do this?  By customizing their clothing, fashion accessories, cell phones and iPods, virtual spaces, and their personal spaces, both at home and at work.  They are also significantly more likely to create or view arts and crafts, including photography, scrapbooking, journaling and/or blogging, going to crafts fairs, and participating in children's art activities. 

Socially and Environmentally Aware

Compared with the general public, Museum Advocates are more philanthropic, and living greener lives.  They are more likely to donate money to charity, volunteer, and to purchase products that help causes they care about.  Additionally, they practice what they preach by actively recycling, buying organic and/or local foods, seeking greener transportation, spending more for a green product, and changing their lifestyle to live more lightly on the planet - all to a greater extent than their peers who are not as emotionally connected to museums.

A Refuge for the Family

Young adult Museum Advocates, with their busy lives, are also seeking places of refuge.  They are much more likely to seek out quiet spaces, away from crowds, and to think of home as a place of retreat and sanctuary.  Additionally, those Museum Advocates that are already parents are more likely than other parents to identify family learning as being a top priority in their lives, especially outdoor family opportunities.

Museum Advocates and Adults in their 20s and 30s

So what does this mean for museums?  Clearly, the things that Museum Advocates love to do, and the activities they undertake to help society and the planet, correlate extremely well with the missions of museums.  Additionally, we believe that many of the traits that set Museum Advocates apart among young adults are representative of Museum Advocates of all ages.  Thus, the question then becomes how do we grow the Museum Advocates audience, converting more of our core visitors and the general public into Museum Advocates?  We might not have the answers now, but this research does begin to shed light on where an individual museum might tap into a larger audience base.  Additionally, it gives us some ideas of how museums can continue to evolve to better serve adults in their 20s and 30s and become even more important in their lives. 

For museums hoping to reach more Museum Advocates, especially those that are in their 20s and 30s, some questions to consider:

• Can museums become the hangout for Generation Ys in their 20s?
• Can museums become the top choice for family learning and family time?
• Can museums encourage more social engagement?
• How can museums help individuals curate their lives?
• How can museums encourage and inspire creativity?
• How can museums promote cultural engagement?
• How can museums become a place of refuge and retreat for more people?

Over the next few months we will continue to dig further and learn more about what sets Museum Advocates apart, and what we can do to instill that emotional connection to museums in more children and adults.  Stay tuned!

We would love to hear your thoughts . . . simply click on "comments" below.  (If you are reading this from your e-mail subscription to the blog, please go to our blog's website to add a comment.)