SMA Conference Materials: Demographic Realities in the 21st Century with Doug Horhota

These are materials from a session at the Small Museum Association conference from 2013. 

Demographic Realities in the 21^st Century

Who are the museum visitors today?

• Art museums. Have generally older visitor bases, with 65% of respondents over age 50. Only 18% of respondents are parents of minor children, and those parents that did respond have significantly older children; over half are in middle or high school. Respondents have the highest college attainment of any type, with 86% having at least a college degree. Additionally, 55% have at least one parent with a college degree. Generally, respondents are less diverse than the overall sample, with 92% identifying as white, and only 16% identifying as a minority.

• Science centers. Have generally younger visitor bases, with 72% of respondents under age 50. Two-thirds of respondents are parents of minor children, and most of those children are in elementary school. 80% of respondents have college degrees, and 53% have at least one parent with a college degree. Science centers have the most diverse sample, with only 84% of respondents identifying as white and 34% identifying as a minority. They do particularly well with Asian audiences, with 12% of respondents identifying as Asian - twice the top line (overall) average.

• History museums and historic sites. Like art museums, have generally older visitors bases with 65% of respondents over age 50. This sample is the closest to gender parity, with nearly 40% of respondents being male. A quarter of respondents are parents of minor children, and those parents have significantly older children; over half are in middle or high school. Respondents have the lowest college attainment of any type, with 78% having at least a college degree (though this is still three times the national average). They are also the least likely to have at least one parent with a college degree, only 45%. Respondents are the least diverse, with 95% identifying as white, and only 12% identifying as a minority.

• Children’s museums. Unsurprisingly have the youngest visitor base, with a whopping 89% under age 50, and 64% under age 40. Respondents are overwhelmingly female (89%) and parents of minor children (88%). Those children are significantly younger; two-thirds of respondents have at least one infant, toddler, or preschooler. 81% of respondents are college educated, and they are the most likely to have at least one parent with a college degree, 58%. Interestingly, despite being the youngest set of visitors, they also have the highest income, with 44% having household incomes over $100,000/year (compared to 39% top line average). And while respondents are not quite as diverse as science center respondents, they are significantly more diverse than art museum and history museum respondents.

Source:   http://reachadvisors.typepad.com/museum_audience_insight/2010/04/whos-coming-to-your-museum-demographics-by-museum-type.html

Assignment:  Each participant answer the following questions and take 5 minutes to jot down some notes.  

What are the current trends in demographics, housing, zoning, general development, population trends? 

What will your facility look like, expansion, location, who will your clientele be, how do you intend on attracting as the prime market? 

What can you be doing now to effect this change?