More Success Stories from NE States on How to Boost Attendance
A Look at the Future of Heritage, Cultural and Arts Tourism
by Karen Peterson
Keys to Successful Marketing for Cultural Heritage Tourism
by Amy Webb
An Introduction to Diversity's Importance for Museums
by Tania Said and John T. Suau
More Success Stories from New England States on How to Boost Attendance
MASSACHUSETTS
When the National Heritage Museum in Lexington, MA, noticed that attendance at its Saturday children's programs began to waver, it changed the time from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., to attract families who are involved in Saturday morning sports. Recently, the museum has had great success with drop-in Saturday programming, typically crafts projects that relate to current exhibits or holidays. During the exhibit on New England dairies, visitors made cow puppets, butter, milk paint, and milk glue putty.
The museum offers programs suitable for a variety of age groups, since a recent visitor survey indicated that the average age of children who visit the museum has decreased; the average age of adult visitors is 40; the average age of children is 10. "Game Day," which invites visitors to enjoy a variety of board games, attracts repeat visitors and an intergenerational audience.
CONNECTICUT
The Mark Twain House and the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center collaborated to present an evening tour in December that attracted over 350 people. The event ran from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. and included first-floor tours of both museums, living history presentations, musical performances, carriage rides, crafts, and refreshments. One third of the specially priced tickets were sold prior to the event, which was publicized through AAA.
The two museums have experimented with various formats over the years; three years ago, they presented "Christmas at Nook Farm;" in the following year, the Mark Twain House offered its own living history presentation. In 2000, the current program was created.
A Look At the Future of Heritage, Cultural and Arts Tourism
By Karen Ida Peterson, Managing Director,
Davidson-Peterson Associates
A major concern for cultural institutions today is determining what the impact of 9/11 has been on the tourism industry overall-and by extension on heritage, culture, and arts tourism. How will recent attitudinal changes impact tourism today and tomorrow? And in this new world of generational marketing, what impact will baby boomers have in the future?
Where Was Tourism Before September 11?
Prior to September 11, tourism was a huge national industry, garnering $582 billion in annual revenues; $100 billion in state and local taxes; and employing a workforce of 17 million people. However, the industry began to suffer with the economy's downturn. Business travel was trending down in 2001, the number of conventions and meetings was down, hotel occupancy slipped, and business air travel declined. Overall, consumer/business confidence was waning.
Where Has Tourism Come Since September 11?
In the period immediately following the attacks, hundreds of thousands of travel industry workers lost their jobs. The airlines were hit hardest, with 130,000 airline and aircraft manufacturing jobs lost. In addition, hospitality jobs decreased significantly, with 4,000 jobs lost just in New York City, and many more elsewhere. Hotels were among those hard hit following the attacks, but appear to be rebounding.
| 2000 | 2001 | |
| September | 66.5% | 55.9% |
| October | 66.7% | 59.5% |
| November | 58.7% | 53.4% |
| December | 48.3% | 45.4% |
Similarly, air transportation is also making somewhat of a comeback.
|
|
Passengers | |
| September | - 31.7% | - 19.0% |
| October | - 25.6% | - 16.4% |
| November | - 20.3% | - 15.7% |
| December | - 13.6% | - 12.8% |
| January | - 13.0% | - 14.5% |
Other travel components have seen positive changes. Amtrak saw an increase in ridership, with long-distance trains selling out. Likewise, Greyhound had a surge during crisis week. While their numbers are declining and begin to approach normal, Greyhound's long-distance business remains strong.
A major impact of September 11 is that travel and tourism now sits at the table with our national leaders. President Bush has recognized the industry's importance to the GNP and to jobs, the Commerce Department is listening to the industry, and Congress has provided relief money for the airline industry and may be asked to help other industries.
What Is Likely To Happen During The Next Year?
Overall, recovery prospects look good. Airline business was down early in 2002, but recovery to 2001 levels is expected by the third quarter. It appears that auto travel could recover more quickly as travelers continue to choose driving over flying, gas prices stabilize, travelers journey closer to home, and the interest in family travel increases.
The hotel industry reported that room demands were up ½% by the end of 2002. And while tour operators experienced cancellations following the September 11 attacks, only 2% have reported cancellations for 2002. Not surprisingly, the Northeast was hardest hit. There is a renewed interest in motorcoach travel, and history and cultural tours show relative strength in tour types.
How Do Travelers Look At The World Of Travel Today?
For Americans, leisure travel remains an inalienable "right": 83% say it is important to be able to travel whenever and wherever they want; 80% feel it is important to visit out-of-town family and friends, and 67% say it is important for Americans to travel as they did before attacks.
A majority of Americans (64%) reported that leisure travel is a good way to take their minds off stressful times, is important to their well being (61%), and that the inconveniences of travel won't stop them from traveling (62%). And six out of ten Americans said they felt traveling to destinations in the U.S. is safe. From these statistics, we conclude that travelers are much less likely to feel the terrorist attacks will influence their travel plans now than immediately afterwards.
"Recent terrorist events are likely to influence my future travel plans."
September 12
37% Agree
October 12
27% Agree
November 5
22% Agree
January 14
18% Agree
How Will Today's Travel Attitudes Impact
Heritage/Cultural/Arts Tourism?
Stress relief is critical to vacation travel. Seven out of ten Americans feel that life has become too complicated and that they need to find new ways to reduce stress. The major reason for travel is to relieve this stress and remove oneself from the parts of life that stress us out the most. For this reason, nostalgia will have enormous appeal to tourists. People are attracted to the idea of life moving at a slower pace, old-fashioned values, and uncomplicated schedules.
Market research tells us that time is the new currency. Over 50% of Americans feel that they do not have enough vacation time, and a majority of these people said that time poverty is a serious issue. It is important to remember that to our target audiences, saving time is as important as saving money. This is why packaging with industry partners to save consumer time will impact visitation.
Museum professionals should also consider the following when thinking about ways to increase visitor attendance.
- Family matters! 65% of Americans get the most satisfaction in their lives from family. Family is a broad, extended concept--intergenerational travel is important for grandparents and extended families. For parents, re-connecting with children is key (31% of families have children under 18). Invite families to your facilities. Look for ways to involve both parents and children in an interactive experience.
- Patriotism is strong, and traveling is a patriotic duty. Americans are focused on America, President Bush asked us all to resume our normal travel, and business-as-usual means travel as usual. Focus events and programs on America, American arts, and your local cultural heritage where possible.
- Traveling closer to home is much more desirable now. As John Marks, SFO, said, "Flying isn't the problem; being away from home is." Driving is primary mode of transportation. The new marketing theme is that a destination is "only a tank away." Focus your marketing efforts on nearby areas. Help your area residents be tourists at home. Invite them to bring visiting family to your events, exhibits, attractions.
- Controlling costs and saving time are key goals for visitors. 64% of Americans like to take all-inclusive vacations; 57% are looking for the lowest priced vacation; and buying cruises, packaged vacations, or packaged travel with operators/agents will continue to grow in importance. Offer packages which help customers save time and money.
- By focusing on America and American cultural and heritage themes;
- By inviting local and area residents to think again about culture and heritage at home;
- By packaging to save visitors time and money;
- By focusing on family togetherness in events and activities; and
- By relieving stress through emphasizing fantasy and escape to another time.
The Boomers are coming. There are now 78 million Americans who were born between 1946 and 1964. Boomers represent the largest cohort in the population-dwarfing all other groups. Now entering their fifties-a key time for increased focus on heritage, cultural, and arts events/attractions-boomers are the future of cultural tourism.
For Boomers, travel is a necessity, not a luxury. They are experienced travelers, who possess a sense of entitlement to their vacations. Because they are experienced, Boomers seek more adventure in their travels and are interested in immediate gratification. Boomers see themselves as forever young-the adult teenager. Never, ever market to Boomers as if they are seniors. Because they believe themselves to be special, Boomers want to best of everything. The best way to attract them is with unique, authentic experiences. Museums can try activities such as opening up just for them after regular hours, or holding meet-the-artist events.
Not surprisingly, Boomers are not passive people and want to control their experiences. We can't just lecture to them, we need to let them learn through interactive experiences. Also of great importance to Boomers are creature comforts. They may want to explore cultures, but they don't want to get into the down and dirty to do it. The upshot is that Boomers will pay for luxury, expertise, and convenience. They want a good price for great value. Boomers will pay a lot more for a connoisseur tour than a regular tour if it makes them feel special.
More so than other demographic groups, Boomers are severely time deprived. For this reason, we need to make our experiences stress-free, convenient, and easy-to-buy. Because Boomers are not homogenous and need to be treated as individuals, herding is not an option for program and event coordinators.
We can increase heritage/cultural/arts tourism by Boomers:
- By offering them unique experiences -- not the same old thing;
- By putting them in control of their own visit, using interactive learning experiences;
- By making them feel special, like insiders;
- By providing packages which offer great value at a meaningful cost savings;
- By making a visit easy and convenient; and
- By respecting their individuality.
- American history and culture,
- Family togetherness, and
- Travel from nearby areas, an easy drive away.
By Amy Webb, Director of Heritage Tourism, National Trust for Historic Preservation
Overall, the outlook for cultural heritage tourism includes growing numbers of potential visitors, but at the same time increasing competition.
Opportunities
Let's start by talking about the opportunities and the appeal of cultural heritage tourism. Cultural and heritage tourism ranks among the top activities for U.S. travelers. According to TIA, "visiting museums and historic sites" was the third most popular activity for domestic travelers in 1999, behind shopping and outdoor activities. While the rankings remained consistent from 1998, museums and historical sites increased slightly in popularity in 1999 (cited by 15% in 1999 as compared to 14% in 1998). Cultural events and festivals ranked fifth in popularity in both 1998 and 1999 with a consistent 10% of U.S. resident travelers participating in this type of activity.
Culture and heritage dominate the festival travel market. According to TIA, art and music festivals are the most popular type of festival for travelers, attracting a third of the festival travel market. The second most popular type of festival is ethnic, folk and heritage festivals, attracting 22% of festival travelers. Combined, this means that over half (55%) of all festival travelers attend a cultural or heritage festival.
Growing interest in heritage travel has provided a boost to historic lodging facilities. For example, the National Trust for Historic Preservation operates Historic Hotels of America, a membership program for heritage accommodations. Historic Hotels currently ranks as one of the 15 largest hotel consortia in the world, according to Hotels magazine (July 2000). In the past two years alone, the number of rooms available through Historic Hotels has seen a 32% increase. In 2001, an estimated 10.7 million guests will stay in one of the 167 historic hotels participating in this program.
Aging baby boomers are a growing market for cultural heritage tourism. The Travel Industry Association's travel trends indicate that baby boomers took more trips in 1999 than any other age group, and the profile of boomers fits with that of the cultural heritage traveler. Cultural heritage travelers tend to be slightly older than other travelers, and aging boomers, like cultural heritage travelers, spend more on their trips than other age groups. A 1998 Market Assessment Plan on baby boomers prepared by the National Tour Association noted that "because boomers are more experienced travelers, they will expect more from their experiences and terms such as cultural tourism, heritage tourism, sports tourism, active tourism, adventure travel and ecotourism will be commonly used within the next decade."
The growing boomer market certainly provides tremendous growth potential for cultural heritage tourism, but it also raises the bar in terms of visitor expectations. The sophistication of this emerging market will demand an experience that is authentic, high quality, and in many cases, customized to meet individual interests and needs. The most successful cultural heritage tourism destinations are providing a variety of changing visitor experiences that will draw repeat visitors as well as appealing to a range of first time guests.
Thanks to TIA's 1997 profile of historic and cultural travelers, we now have baseline data about the overall number of cultural heritage tourism travelers. This 1997 study confirmed the findings of a number of site specific studies completed by the National Trust-specifically, that cultural heritage travelers stay longer and spend more money. Cultural heritage travelers make up a significant portion of all U.S. travelers. A third of all U.S. adults visit historic sites and cultural attractions while traveling, translating to 65.9 million people a year.
Challenges
These findings clearly indicate that there is a strong and growing market for cultural and heritage tourism experiences. That said, reports on attendance at individual historic sites are mixed. The National Trust's collection of historic sites has grown from 18 to 20 in the past year, and attendance at National Trust sites has shown an average 2% annual increase for the past two years. Statistics from the National Park Service's historic sites, however, showed a 3-4% decrease between 1998 and 1999.
Conversations with site managers and marketers at major historic sites across the country indicate concerns about flat visitation despite the growing cultural heritage tourism market. While no research has yet been completed to address this issue in a comprehensive way, historic site staff offered their own theories about why this is happening.
1) Increasing Competition
While the number of heritage visitors seems to be growing, the number of heritage attractions is also increasing. Thus rather than boosting attendance at one site, the additional cultural heritage travelers are spread out between more attractions. Additionally, attractions that previously would not have been considered heritage attractions are looking for ways to incorporate "edutainment" or learning opportunities into the visitor experience.
2) Customer Service
While cultural heritage sites have traditionally excelled in the areas of conservation and preservation, customer service and marketing are newer concepts for many. The sophisticated cultural heritage traveler will demand an experience that is not only authentic, but also one that provides a high level of customer service.
3) Changing Travel Market
Cultural heritage sites have been slower to adapt to changes within the US travel market. With the shift away from longer family vacations to multiple, shorter trips throughout the year, cultural heritage attractions need to find ways to attract local visitors as repeat guests as well as appealing to travelers from further away. The sites that have been the most successful have diversified their offerings to include changing attractions along with special events and new experiences. This is exemplified by two of the TIA award winners this year; Mount Vernon and the Ka'anapali Beach Hotel in Maui. Mount Vernon used the bicentennial of George Washington's death to take a new look at a familiar historical figure, and the traditional Hawaiian musical entertainment provided by the Ka'anapali hotel's employees help to make the experience come alive for the hotel's guests.
Creating a Cultural Heritage Tourism Infrastructure
In the past few years, there has been a growing trend at the national, regional, state and local level to create a variety of support structures to bring diverse cultural and heritage attractions together with the tourism industry.
Last summer, the Heritage Tourism Program at the National Trust spoke with key individuals in almost all of the 50 states to find out more about cultural heritage tourism efforts. The results of this informal survey have shown a virtual explosion of new statewide program in the last few years and a growing number of non-traditional tourism partners who are becoming actively involved in this effort.
Less than a decade ago, terms such as "cultural tourism," "heritage tourism" and "cultural heritage tourism" were seldom heard in the tourism industry. When the National Trust began our Heritage Tourism Initiative in 1990, virtually no state had a heritage or cultural tourism program. Today, at least 27 states (more than half the states in this country) have a dedicated cultural or heritage tourism program at the state level. (For the purposes of our phone survey, a statewide program was defined as a dedicated effort that goes beyond "business as usual", that has dedicated part or full-time staff, and that explicitly includes "cultural" or "heritage" in the name of the program). 20 of these 27 programs are less than 5 years old and 3 of them were started this past year.
The leadership for these state programs is often, but not always, found in the state tourism office. While the majority of these programs (21) are led by state tourism offices, there are a dozen statewide cultural or heritage organizations that have stepped forward to play a leadership role for their state. In 6 states (including Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia), a state historic preservation organization is playing the leadership role. The state arts council is helping to lead efforts in four states, including Maine, Missouri, North Carolina and Vermont. The state humanities council is leading efforts in two states, Arizona and Connecticut. In some states, the leadership role is shared by more than one organization, accounting for the fact that there are more "leaders" than there are "programs." Bringing in new, non-traditional tourism partners at the state level has provided greater depth and diversity to statewide cultural heritage tourism efforts across the country.
13 of the current statewide programs have at least one full-time staff person dedicated to this effort and several states are dedicating more than one full-time equivalent. North Carolina has the largest program staff with 10 full-time employees at the state tourism office as well as a full time director of marketing and cultural tourism in the North Carolina Arts Council. Other states, including South Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, and Connecticut have the equivalent of more than one full-time staff person.
A number of the states that do not have a dedicated cultural or heritage tourism program are working on related cultural heritage tourism projects. For example, states located along the route of the Lewis & Clark expedition, such as Washington, Idaho, North Dakota and South Dakota, are gearing up for the upcoming Lewis & Clark bicentennial celebration. It is significant to note that a number of the other 23 states without a stand-alone program have incorporated a focus on cultural and/or heritage tourism into their overall efforts, or into targeted efforts such as rural tourism development or tourism development.
Talking to key contacts in each of the 50 states has also been very revealing in terms of the kinds of new programs that are being developed. Thematic cultural and heritage trails are becoming increasingly popular. Ethnic heritage trails, craft heritage trails, folklife trails, Art museum trails, music trails, maritime trails and more have been developed to link smaller sites together into meaningful visitor experiences.
Several programs at the national level, including the Millennium Trails program and the National Scenic Byways program, offer opportunities for trails and other linear corridors to receive national designation as well as promotional opportunities. The National Scenic Byways program provides one of the best opportunities at the national level as designation means increased opportunities to access federal scenic byway grants. Scenic byway grants are available for a variety of activities including the development of marketing plans and tourism marketing materials.
Ethnic heritage programs in particular are growing in popularity. America's population is becoming increasingly diverse. Statistics show that by 2010, Hispanics will be the largest minority. Thus it should come as no surprise that programs featuring African American heritage, Native American Heritage, and other ethnic sites and traditions are growing in number and popularity.
Both rural and urban areas have been actively working on cultural heritage tourism.
The past five years has seen the rapid growth of brand new cultural tourism programs in convention and visitor bureaus across the country. Cities such as Atlanta & Dekalb County in Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina, Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; San Diego, San Jose, and San Francisco, California and others have developed programs to market their destinations to the cultural traveler. What is perhaps even more significant than these stand alone programs is that cities, like Chicago, Indianapolis, Baltimore and others are incorporating cultural and heritage tourism into their everyday marketing efforts.
The creation of these new brand new cultural heritage tourism efforts has also created the need for ways to network and share experiences at the national level. Partners in Tourism, a 4-year old national coalition of over a dozen cultural and tourism agencies and organizations, has developed a mailing list of more than 2000 key leaders in cultural heritage tourism. Partners in Tourism has sponsored workshops and more recently, has been publishing Cultural Tourism News, a newsletter with the latest information about programs and projects at the state and national level. Thanks to American Express and the National Endowment for the Arts, Partners in Tourism is currently working on a national cultural heritage tourism initiative called Share Your Heritage. Through this initiative, a publication featuring a broad range of cultural heritage tourism success stories will be released next spring. The initiative will also include the development of how-to workshop materials featuring real-life best practices along with pilot training workshops.
An informal national network of practitioners called the Cultural Tourism Alliance has also been formed, and recently hosted its third annual conference. The Cultural Tourism Alliance has provided another valuable networking vehicle for cultural tourism practitioners.
These efforts at the national, regional, state and city level are really just the tip of the iceberg---an indication of a much larger grassroots surge of interest in cultural heritage tourism. Much of the richness of cultural heritage tourism comes from the small museums and historic sites, the mom & pop businesses, local performances and events.
These smaller attractions are realizing that there is strength in numbers, and that by working together they can do what no one could do on their own.
Again, we are seeing an increase in collaborative efforts in both rural and urban areas.
Three years ago, for example, a number of the cultural and heritage visitor attractions in Nashville, Tennessee banded together to create a marketing alliance called the Nashville Attractions Coalition or NAC. The coalition has expanded to include a broad range of attractions in Nashville and has provided opportunities for co-op marketing, trade show exposure and joint promotions such as the "NAC Savings Card," which features discounts at 28 Nashville attractions.
Other Trends
Another emerging trend in the cultural heritage tourism arena is a growing interest in sustainable tourism. Destinations are becoming increasingly aware of capacity issues and the impacts that visitors can have on cultural and historic sites. Some places are incorporating a preservation message into marketing materials and even into the visitor experience itself. In southern Colorado, for example, visitors can sign on for an interactive vacation to work side-by-side with trained archeologists to help preserve ancient Anasazi ruin sites.
Summary
In conclusion, the keys to successful marketing for cultural heritage tourism are best summed up in the five principles developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
1) Focus on Quality and Authenticity
The sophisticated cultural heritage traveler has high expectations for both attractions as well as the supporting visitor services. They also are more aware of "the real thing", and will expect heritage attractions to reflect high standards of authenticity.
2) Preserve and Protect Resources
With our irreplaceable cultural, heritage and natural resources, it is essential that the wear and tear of visitation does not destroy the very thing that visitors are clamoring to see.
3) Make Sites and Programs Come Alive
Finding creative and innovative ways to make the visitor experience engaging is becoming increasingly important in the competitive cultural heritage tourism market
4) Find the Fit Between the Community and Tourism
Respecting carrying capacity and finding a balance between the visitor experience and the quality of life for residents is a must for sustainable programs.
5) Collaboration
Partnerships are essential for success. The tourism industry needs to work together with cultural and heritage organizations to create visitor experiences that are sustainable, high quality, authentic and appealing.
Thank you.
An increasing number of states are making a dedicated commitment to cultural heritage tourism at the state level through statewide cultural or heritage tourism programs. Some programs focus entirely on tourism development, some on tourism marketing, and some provide a combination of the two. During the summer of 2000, the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Heritage Tourism Program contacted key individuals in all 50 states in order to get a more complete picture of cultural heritage tourism activities at the state level.
Overall Number of Statewide Programs
- 27 states currently have dedicated statewide cultural or heritage tourism programs. (AL, AZ, CT, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, MD, ME, MO, MN, NC, NV, NY, LA, MS, OH, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WV)
- 20 of the 27 programs are less than 5 years old, and 3 were started last year.
- Alabama's state tourism office was one of the first to get involved in cultural heritage tourism, releasing an African American heritage guide in 1983.
- The National Trust for Historic Preservation's Heritage Tourism Initiative launched several programs in 1990 that are still going strong including IN, TN and WI.
- Several states that do not have a statewide program are currently looking at ways to start one, suggesting that the number of statewide programs will grow.
N.B. A statewide program is defined as an effort that goes beyond "business as usual" with dedicated part or full-time staff that explicitly includes "cultural" or "heritage" in the name of the program. It is significant to note that a number of the other 24 states have incorporated a focus on cultural and/or heritage tourism into their overall efforts, or into targeted efforts such as rural tourism development or tourism development.
Leadership
- 21 statewide programs are part of the state tourism office (AL, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, ME, MN, MO, NC, NV, NY, LA, MS, OH, OR, SC, TN, VA, WI, WV)
- 6 statewide programs are part of a state preservation organization (MD, PA, TX, UT, VA, WV)
- 4 statewide programs have state arts council leadership (ME, MO, NC, VT)
- 2 statewide programs are part of the state humanities councils (AZ, CT)
N.B. Several states, including ME and MO have programs that are partnership efforts between two state agencies. Other states, including NC, VA, and WV have two programs at the state level, each of which focuses on a different aspect of cultural heritage tourism.
Staffing
- 13 programs have at least one dedicated, full-time staff person (FL, KY, MO, NC, NY, LA, OH, SC, TN, TX, VT, WI, WV)
- North Carolina has the largest staff with 10 FT employees within the NC Division of Tourism and a FT director of marketing & cultural tourism at the NC Arts Council
- Several other states have dedicated the equivalent of more than one FTE to cultural or heritage tourism (including CT, SC, VA, WV)
By Tania Said, Community Services Manager, Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies
and
By John T. Suau, Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums and former Manager of Meetings, Professional Education and Diversity for the American Association of Museums
"The hard and stiff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail."
--Philosopher Lao Tzu
Diversity is often regarded as difficult work, yet the benefits derived from engaging in a strategic diversity initiative are immeasurable. Knowledge, use, and respect for diversity enables museums to reach their goals and objectives. Museums that maintain and value diversity are more apt to successfully serve their visitors, audiences, and stakeholders, resulting in improved productivity. This kind of community-mindedness makes sense for museums, since they are often funded publically. If museums are to succeed in the coming decades, they must recognize diversity in its broadest sense and integrate its management principles into all aspects of the museum.
"Many museums' long-term health and survival will depend on how well they deal with diversity issues. Given the rapidly changing demographics in this country, museums have to ask who's going to be walking through the doors in the coming decades. And more to the point, what will it take to create a welcoming environment for "non-traditional" museum goers."
--Charles Coe, Program Coordinator, Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Oftentimes the initial steps are the greatest obstacles. The first steps include engaging stakeholders (staff, volunteers, board, and community members) in an open dialogue to help all involved to acquire knowledge. Next comes a process of building consensus around what to do to improve diversity in the museum, followed by a "call to action." Training is a very effective step to initiate the dialogue and to engage museum staff, volunteers, and board members in understanding the parameters of diversity and how it impacts the daily work of museums. To this end, the American Association of Museums (AAM) and the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies (SCEMS) delivered "Leadership through Diversity: Building Audiences and Strengthening the Workforce for Tomorrow's Museums" (LTD) this spring at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum in Pequot, Connecticut.
To advance diversity in the museum field, LTD's goals are: to build communication skills for multicultural organizations; to understand how cultural competency impacts museum work; and to motivate the leader in each of us to make a difference. Recent workshop attendees attest to value of the balance between the theoretical exercises and the group activities that validate the theoretical. Participants also confirm that the opportunity to discuss practical issues with colleagues is one of the most rewarding components of the workshop. Activities include a Cultural Competency Assessment, Envisioning the Perfectly Diverse Museum, Curating for Change: The Power of Objects; Mapping Progress in Diversity; Managing Conflict: Museum and Community Collaborations; Leading Up and By Example; and Strategies for Action.
Case For Diversity
The question arises time and again: "Why diversity?" In the corporate world, global markets and regional diversity have helped to drive companies to engage in multicultural marketing and business practices, with a keen eye on the overall effects on their bottom lines. The latest trends indicate a strong push toward including "non-cultural diversity" target markets, such as the gay and lesbian constituencies, in the mix of diverse segmented markets. In most museums, however, profits are not the measure of success. Museums, like most non-profits, are driven by missions to serve the public. With increasingly competitive and diminishing funding sources for museums add to the urgency for museums to act in more entrepreneurial ways.
The same shifting demographics that continue to change the United States combined with Web sites that are accessible internationally have helped to make museums rethink their "communities" and how they are able to proactively engage those communities. This should drive museums to strive to be relevant to this increased diversity and they must be representative of the audiences they seek to serve. If they want to sustain themselves and flourish, museums must respond to their community members.
In order to better serve these diverse communities, museums must engage multicultural (as well as non-cultural diversity) into every aspect of what they do. Staff, volunteers, and board members should be as inclusive and reflective of every diverse component of the museum's community. Of course, one understands that the diversity in a rural community in Maine may not be the same diversity in urban communities in Boston. Each community has its own challenges and the changing organization should continue to define and redefine what the diversity of its community (more aptly "communities") looks like.
If a museum is able to engage each of the many diverse constituencies in an on-going, sustainable relationship, the results will be a rewarding and positive museum-community relationship. Diversity is a process and a goal that will constantly be changing. As such, the perfectly diverse museum engages in change as a systemic approach to the work it does.
Beginning a diversity plan
i. Build a community of learners interested in diversity. Individual and group awareness is paramount.
ii. Review your museum's vision, mission, and strategic plan.
iii. Envision the perfectly diverse museum by consulting internal and external groups about their needs of the museum.
iv. Read the literature; research other organization's experiences of diversity; measure your museum against the ideal.
v. Begin a dialogue with senior management about the positive outcomes, e.g. more audience, better exhibitions, improved work teams, and diverse funding, to build their support.
vi. Allocate resources and demonstrate diversity is a priority.
vii. Develop a diversity plan with action steps, deliverables, timeline, and responsibility.
viii. Depending on your plan, training, internal and external advisory groups, and reaching more visitors may be part of the process and outcomes.
ix. Remember it's a process; follow your plan and review it regularly.
Resources
To help begin individual and group awareness, read one of the most relevant publications about how individuals can inspire and promote diversity and change in an organization is the book, "Tempered Radicals: How People Use Difference to Inspire Change at Work," by Debra E. Meyerson. She has compiled and digested over 15 years of research about organizational behavior in the public and private sectors (with some research in non-profits, primarily in hospitals) into a sensitive book. Here, Meyerson explains how simple things from the way one wears his/her hair to the types of clothing one wears to define his/her culture can cause dramatic shifts in how an organization embraces diversity. Inspirational and insightful, the book provides an in-depth analysis of the steps individuals go through to engage the organizations they work for in "walking the walk" of diversity.
For the nuts and bolts of beginning a diversity plan, with considerable diversity research and communication models, read "The Diversity Directive: Why Some Initiatives Fail & What To Do About It," by Robert Hayles, Ph.D. & Armida Mendez Russell. Current thinking in the field is presented succinctly to emphasize the importance of inclusiveness, how to assess the current model and be more effective, overcome obstacles, and make a strong business case for diversity. The authors clearly describe the issues for diversity change, define diversity, present strategies and models for individual and group development, preparation needs, staying on track for results, describe how to revitalize existing diversity initiatives, and establish diversity competencies. Both books will build a strong foundation for change at your museum.
Additional Resources on Diversity
Texas Association of Museums. Action Plan: Multicultural Initiatives in Texas Museums. Austin, TX: Fall 1995, http://www.io.com/~tam/multicultural/actionplan.html.
Includes institutional self-study, institutional goals and strategies, tools for surveying diversity, case studies, a glossary, and guides to resources and hiring practices. A must for those interested in diversity issues; relevant to museums of all types and sizes.
Corrin, Lisa G. Mining the Museum. Maryland Historical Society. 1994
The catalog of the exhibition of the same name curated by Fred Wilson. The exhibition shocked many and pleased others with its challenging juxtapositions of objects found in the collections of the Maryland Historical Society. The exhibition questioned history's presentation of the past particularly regarding minority presence.
International Council of Museums. (ICOM). Museums and Cultural Diversity: Draft ICOM Policy Statement. Paris, France: UNESCO-ICOM Information Centre, October 1998. http://www.icom.org/diversity.html
Provides the most extensive statement on global diversity issues for cultural heritage organizations. ICOM's Working Group on Cross Cultural Issues developed this report and strategic plan.
Rutledge, Jennifer M. Building Board Diversity. National Center for Nonprofit Boards. 1994.
A guide to changing the make-up of a board so that it better reflects the community. It recognizes that building a diverse board is a commitment to a process.
U.S. Department of Commerce and National Partnership for Reinventing Government Benchmarking Study. Best Practices in Achieving Workforce Diversity. 2000.
The study team reviewed a wide range of diversity literature and identified over 600 companies and organizations recognized for their efforts in achieving workforce diversity. The results provide a rich condensation of information and ideas.
Wilson, Fred. "The Silent Message of the Museum." A keynote presentation at Museums Australia conference. 1996. See http://amol.org.au/archives/1998/oldamol/museums_australia_wilson.html.
An African American artist discusses the processes he went through in developing the exhibition "Mining the Museum" which counters the usual presentation of history and material culture and raises issues of authority and voice.
AAM. Excellence and Equity. 1992.
A report with high impact charging museums to focus on public service, education, outreach, diverse audiences, and dynamic leadership.