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?

Market Research

You may well have gotten this information in your inbox as well, if you subscribe to our GMOA listserv, in which case feel free to ignore it, but we know the blog doesn't overlap perfectly with those who want the emails.

As we work toward a bigger and better tomorrow for GMOA, we have been working on getting some feedback from our patrons on how best to reach you and what types of programs and exhibitions you would like to see from us in the future.

We have developed an online survey through Survey Monkey, which can be reached by clicking on this link. It is quick and very easy to take. Please take the time to fill it out, we would love your feedback.

At the end of the survey is a chance to win a free 1-year family membership to the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art, the benefits of which can be seen here.