State museums attracting fewer and fewer patrons

Monday, March 6, 2006 | 7:30 a.m.

CARSON CITY - Despite a growing population and increasing tourism numbers, state museums are experiencing a continuing decline in attendance.

Since 2000 the numbers at the seven state museums have slumped 15 percent, and officials say they are failing to attract tourists.

Jim Barmore, director of the Nevada State Museum in Carson City, said the museum typically saw about 80,000 visitors a year, "and then 9/11 hit and you see what happened."

Attendance at the museum in Carson City last fiscal year was 53,564, compared to 79,982 in fiscal year 2000.

Since 2000 annual attendance at the seven museums has fallen from 218,680 to 185,042 last fiscal year.

Museum officials said Nevada's museums are following a national trend, and they believe several things have caused the downturn, including competition for people's attention and tight budgets. Donors have given to relief efforts for 9/11 and natural disasters, shuffling donations away from museums and other nonprofit groups.

"It's hard for us in the marketing aspect," said Teresa Moiola, spokeswoman for the state Department of Cultural Affairs. "We have no money to reach out to the tourist in Las Vegas. We're competing against entertainment activities."

The Nevada State Museum and Historical Society in Las Vegas is not far from downtown, she said, "but tourists have to make a drive out to us."

Many private museums, including the fine arts gallery at the Bellagio and the Guggenheim Hermitage at the Venetian, do not release attendance figures.

Doreen Alvarado, interim executive director of the private Lied Discovery Children's Mus-eum, said monthly attendance had been down to 5,500 to 6,000. That's down from 7,000 before 9/11.

She said it's difficult for a nonprofit museum, with little if any money to advertise, to compete with the "events and attractions in the city as it has grown."

Alvarado said the list of philanthropic donors in Las Vegas is small and the same people are being asked to give. The museum, she said, is looking at other ways to raise money.

Darin Hollingsworth, executive director of the Liberace Foundation, said the Liberace Museum's monthly attendance runs between 3,500 and 4,000, down about 200.

"Ours is down slightly year to year, but I'm not alarmed yet," Hollingsworth said, adding that the decrease may be a result of less targeted advertising toward group tours and group activities.

The museum had a "banner year" in 2002, the year that the museum completed its $1 million renovation, but attendance has since been decreasing, Hollingsworth said.

The state provided $4.7 million last fiscal year to the museums with an additional $946,000 coming from private sources that include store sales, donations, and investment income. That means the state is supplying 83 percent of the operating money compared to 64 percent of the money in fiscal 1995.

The only bright spot among the museums was the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Boulder City, where attendance increased from 1,632 in 2003 to 14,319 last year.

"We're very lucky with railroads," Moiola said. "We have a niche market."

But that's not the case up north, where the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City has dropped from 44,328 in 2000 to 34,950 last year.

A legislative audit, released last week, took issue with the marketing plans by the museum division, saying the plans needed more specific goals and needed to clearly identify the groups it wanted to reach. The audit also said several museums didn't have strategies to approach business, foundations and other organizations for fundraising.

State museum officials are trying to increase the museums' visibility with educational programs and exhibits, as well as various marketing efforts.

Barmore said the Carson City museum's programming and publicity have never been higher.

"We have more things going on than ever before," Barmore said. "We're trying to fight our way back."