Museum Attendance Declining in the United States

The NEA held a webcast roundtable discussion of its 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts yesterday, which will be archived on its site but isn't yet. We also can't locate the actual survey results, but they must be up somewhere, right? This press release discusses some of the 2008 survey's findings, which are somewhat disheartening, showing, as they do, a decline, especially among the young, in arts participation, including visiting museums. The release seems to correlate this decline with the comparable decline in arts instruction in schools, which may be a fair point. At the same time, continual increase in attendance charges probably serves as a factor, too. Ditto for budget cuts that have resulted in reduced hours. One positive thing the survey shows is that technology can serve as a vehicle for arts participation (we at GMOA are continually striving to bring in new audiences through exactly that). What do you think accounts for declining attendance?