Last month I was in DC on business and thought I would re-visit the Udvar-Hazy facility. Being without a car, however, I scrapped my plans upon learning that the shuttle bus between the two NASM locations has been cancelled and it is a major headache to get to U-H by public transit.
I'm not complaining about that, since one of the articles linked below shows that nobody was using the shuttle NASM was losing big money on it, but my research into why the shuttle bus was cancelled led me to a lot of articles about the general decline in attendance at NASM, both downtown and at Udvar-Hazy.
Here, briefly, are the facts. In the past several years, average annual attendance at the NASM building on the Mall has dropped from 9-10 million to 5-6 million. Here are figures that I have been able to find from various sources:
1996 7 million
1997 ?
1998 10 million
1999 ?
2000 ?
2001 9.2 million
2002 ?
2003 9.4 million
2004 4.9 million
2005 6.1 million
2006 5 million
2007 6 million
Attendance has also fallen off at other Smithsonian museums, but not nearly so dramatically. One of the results is that in 2006 the American Museum of Natural History surpassed NASM in attendance for the first time as the most-visited museum on the DC Mall, and probably in the world.
Then there's Udvar-Hazy. In 2002 when the facility was being built, it was estimated that it would draw 3-4 million visitors per year. Here are the actual figures (the facility opened in Dec. 2003):
2004: 1.6 million
2005: 1.1 million
2006: 1.16 million
2007: 1.0 million
Are these numbers something to be concerned about? Do they indicate a drop in public interest in aviation history? See:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17245119/
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/sp ... ance_x.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01782.html
None of the explanations given in these articles by museum officials for the drop-off since 2004 seem convincing to me. One of the articles above may be on to something when it points out how rarely the galleries at the NASM downtown ever change. Now, any concerns have to be somewhat mitigated by the sheer magnitude of the remaining numbers. Especially for the downtown building. 6 million! Pretty amazing, even considering the advantages of location.
Yet, the NASM is concerned, about both facilities. Last year, they accepted the offer of respected consulting firm Booz Allen & Hamilton to do a study on the attendance problem (free of charge) at both facilities. The full report doesn't appear to be public, but the news release is interesting.
http://www.boozallen.com/about/article_ ... s/38178051
Quote:
Says senior associate Stephen Ganote, who led the effort, “The museum assumed attendance issues were related to marketing and communications. But our research showed that there were more fundamental issues at both locations that had to be addressed before a marcom plan could be designed.”
Quote:
The analysis showed that the Udvar-Hazy Center has surprisingly low membership and relatively high annual parking fees and may be hamstrung by its long, confusing name. In addition, most of its exhibits are oriented towards adults, and particularly toward aerospace enthusiasts.
They also discovered that the National Air and Space Museum’s two core missions, preservation and education, appear to conflict.
Quote:
The Booz Allen team presented a comprehensive plan to National Air and Space Museum leaders with action steps and “quick hits” created for the Udvar-Hazy Center which, if implemented, could expand attendance there by thousands of visits per year. Suggestions included:
- Enhancing the visitor experience with interactive children’s tours and other initiatives
- Enhancing the Udvar-Hazy Center’s brand by focusing on marketing and re-branding
- Lowering access barriers involving parking fees
To substantially increase overall National Air and Space Museum attendance, the team recommended taking steps that included:
- Prioritizing attendance by establishing the National Air and Space Museum as the nation’s leading technology education museum
- Enhancing the visitor experience by adding more frequent rotating exhibits and other initiatives
Enhancing marketing
Booz Allen’s recommendations also suggested aligning the vision and mission for both the Udvar-Hazy Center and the National Air and Space Museum by undertaking several initiatives, including:
- Revisiting the National Air and Space Museum’s preservation mission
- Improving the Udvar-Hazy Center’s ability to attract visitors by concentrating on exhibits and marketing
- Reviewing the National Air and Space Museum facility’s financial plans
With respect to parking fees, for those who don't know, parking at U-H is set at an outrageous $25 in order to prevent it from being used by travelers from nearby Dulles airport.
So - comments, everyone? Is there anything to be concerned about at either facility, and what should be done to address it? I did have to smile at the observation that Udvar-Hazy seems "oriented towards adults, and particularly toward aerospace enthusiasts." How true! A big, well-lit building full of not much besides great airplanes is just about nirvana to us, but maybe the general public would rather have dimly lit, cramped spaces where you can only see the planes from one angle while peering around display kiosks like at NASM downtown?
More seriously, one is struck by the bare-bones, non-interpretive nature of the U-H display.
Also, I would love to see the detail of what the full report says about "revisiting the National Air and Space Museum’s preservation mission" which supposedly appears to conflict with its educational mission. As a preservationist, that sounds ominous to me.
"Exhibits ... rebranding ... marketing." Fascinating topics in which, it has been observed here in the past, aviation museums generally lag the field. Again, the details would be interesting.
I would like this to start a discussion that generates insights applicable to other air museums, public and private.
August
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