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ART MUSEUMS

MARKET ASSESSMENT
The Economic Census (July 2004), published by the U.S. Census Bureau, provides the
following data on museums (NAICS code 71211):
• There are 4,535 museums in the U.S.
• Receipts/revenue total $5.87 billion.

The number of museums in the U.S. make up approximately 25% of the world’s total.

According to the American Association of Museums (AAM, www.aam-us.org), museums

rank in the top three for family vacation destinations, and tourists who visit museums
spend nearly twice as much on their travel as those who do not. Households on
historic trips spend an average of $722 per trip, excluding transportation to the
destination.

The AAM provides the following facts about the operations of U.S. museums (August
2005):
• One-third of Americans say they have visited an art museum, a history museum, an
aquarium, zoo, botanical garden, or science and technology center within the past
six months. Almost a quarter have gone within the past year.
• There are 2.3 million museum visits per day, adding up to 865 million visits per year
to American museums.
• There are more than 11,000 museums in the United States and nine out of 10
counties in America have at least one museum – 75% are small-scale and 43%
located in rural areas.
• More than half (56.6%) of museums are free to the public, and of those museums
that do charge, 58.7% have free days.
• Of Americans age 18 and older, one in 480 is a museum volunteer.
• Organized as public trusts, American museums are grounded in the tradition of
public service and hold their collections and resources as a benefit for those they
were established to serve. Museums spend approximately $1.1 billion annually to
care for more than 750 million objects and living specimens in their collections.
• A recent national survey indicates that Americans view museums as one of the most
important resources for educating our children and as one of the most trustworthy
sources of objective information. Annually museums spend more than $1 billion to
provide over 18 million instructional hours for educational programs such as
professional development for teachers, guided field trips, staff visits to schools, and
traveling exhibits in schools.

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STATE OF NORTH AMERICA’S ART MUSEUMS
The 2005 State of North America’s Art Museums survey, conducted by the Association
of Art Museum Directors (AAMD, www.aamd.org), provided the following information
about U.S. art museums:
• For the first time since AAMD launched the survey in the wake of the events of
September 11, 2001, 49% of the museums surveyed reported growth in overall
revenue, with an additional 30% reporting that income had remained steady. Nearly
90% of museums reported stable or increased contributions to operations,
endowment, and facilities and infrastructure.
• Twenty-nine percent (29%) of the museums responding to the survey reported
increasing their exhibition programming since 2004, and 97% reported a stable or
growing acquisition program. Public participation in museum activities was also
strong, with 45% of museums reporting an increase in attendance.
• With economic growth, museums have been able to focus on growing public service
for the future; 84 of the 114 museums responding to the survey indicated that they
are moving forward with building projects.

The complete survey is available online at

www.aamd.org/newsroom/documents/2005SNAAMFINAL_000.pdf.

MOST-VISITED ART MUSEUMS

The following are among the largest U.S. art museums, based on annual number of
visitors:
• National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)
• Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, New York)
• Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, Texas)
• Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, Illinois)
• J. Paul Getty Museum (Malibu, California)
• Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, Massachusetts)
• Museum of Modern Art (New York, New York)
• Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
• Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture (Washington, D.C.)
• Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, New York)

PRIVATE-SECTOR ART MUSEUMS

The lines are blurring between public- and private-sector museums, as well as not-for-
profit and for-profit museums. Operation of a museum as a business is becoming
increasingly recognized.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, one of the larger private-sector museum

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ogranizations, was among the first art institutions to become multinational. The
Foundation operates, in addition to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York,
the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin, Peggy Guggenheim
Collection Venice, and Guggenheim-Hermitage Las Vegas. Popular art exhibitions are
developed to be able to travel throughout the foundation’s museums. This has lowered
costs, which is distributed among the sites, and increased revenue double, or even
triple. This has also afforded a greater deal of exposure for the foundation which has,
in turn, attracted corporate sponsors who want to reach a large international public.

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) opened in November 2004 in a new $425 million
625,000 square foot building on 53rd Street in Manhattan.

AN EVOLVING MARKET
Over the last 25 years, art museums have become adept at presenting their collections
in ways that reach out to new and different audiences. They have accomplished this at
a time when many other cultural institutions, like symphonies and ballet companies,
have seen either a decline in attendance or a narrowing of their audience base. Part of
the reason for the museums’ success in this regard, of course, is that it costs far less to
go to a museum than it does to attend, say, a concert or a ballet. Another reason is
that museums have also created successful educational programs that have allowed an
increasingly large number of people to appreciate and enjoy the art on display. This
has, in turn, led museums to widen their range and interests. Indeed, one of the great
questions of the future will be to what extent the canons of art are enlarged or modified
by the impact of more diverse audiences.

Ten years ago, for instance, the average visitor to the Museum of Modern Art was
female, white, and 55 years old, with a household income in excess of $70,000 a year.
Today, the visitor is 35, with a household income of less than $50,000 a year. Males
and females are almost evenly represented, and, while still predominantly white, the
ethnic makeup of the museum’s visitors has grown significantly more diverse.

Blockbuster exhibitions have also helped popularize museums. These events have
become so successful they are now seen as potent economic forces; indeed, cities
without museums vie to attract them with large grants. While easy to disparage,
blockbusters take an inordinate amount of time and money to produce and often attract
such large crowds that it becomes nearly impossible for museum goers to see the
works of art clearly. Yet they are popular precisely because they provide an
opportunity for an eager public to be in the presence of, and to look at, great works of
art. A current blockbuster is the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs
exhibition, which opened in Los Angeles in June 2005. Boosting more than 130
artifacts, the exhibit marks the first time in 26 years the tomb treasures of King
Tutankhamun are touring U.S. museums. The 27-month tour will also travel to Chicago
and Fort Lauderdale.

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The challenge for museums amid the sensation of blockbusters is to avoid the trap of
constantly having to find new and more exciting shows in order to sustain public
interest. This is easier said than done, and the seemingly endless number of
exhibitions devoted to the work of Monet or Picasso, not to mention van Gogh, reflects
how shallow the base is for such shows. No museum, however, can sustain its
audience on blockbuster exhibitions alone, and the most successful museums now and
in the future will be the ones that are able to establish carefully balanced programs that
also explore the work of less well-known artists or movements.

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