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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Museum Of Science And History Advisory Committee - 01/05/2006 nos 26 vie> MINUTES '^' JAN , Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History m r006 ,.. „_ Advisory • Committee Meetingarni m CRY r;ST,�?;.a;'S January 5, 2006 \ OFFICE sr The Museum Advisory Committee met in the Museum's DeDietrich Conference cti4'.4u' W on Thursday, January 51h. Members Present: Grady Price Blount, Margaret Bolick, S aron Brower, Cheryl Gillenwater, Randall Meredith, Bill Richmond, Phyllis Riddle, and Linda Scott. Upon motion by Cheryl Gillenwater and seconded by Linda Scott the minutes of the December 1, 2005 meeting were approved as presented. Upon motion by Cheryl Gillenwater and seconded by Sharon Brower the absences of Margaret Bolick, Randall Meredith, Bill Richmond, Phyllis Riddle and Linda Scott were excused for good cause. Chairman's remarks: Grady Price Blount acknowledged the submission of the 2005 Annual Report to the City Council and asked if there was any comment or questions. He then asked if there were any comments on the meeting schedule for 2006 that included a couple months where the meetings would not be held on the usual first Thursday of the month. Business: a. Rick Stryker provided charts and data on attendance in calendar year 2005 with comparative data for the previous three years. Also provided were charts comparing the family and school group visitor patterns with 1999 and 1994 demonstrating the significant drop in Museum attendance by these target audiences impacting admission revenue. Attendance by school groups rebounded significantly from the 2004 level, improving overall attendance along with improvements due to visitors taking advantage of promotional discounts, member's attendance, and attendance by children on Saturday mornings. There was no significant change in the source of visitors although local visitors increased to 27% of the total non-school visitors. Visitor surveys continued to show a strongly positive visitor experience. The Museum web site is increasingly included as a pre-visit part of the experience with 25 percent of visitors making that their first stop and teachers increasingly using web resources to plan class visits. b. The Committee discussed admission fees comparatively with other local and state museums. Upon motion by Phyllis Riddle and seconded by Randall Meredith the Committee approved the recommendation that the admission fees remain the same for the next year. The vote was four in favor, three opposed, and one abstention. Thereafter a discussion ensured regarding the sentiment of the minority that a way should be found to further increase the discount for children visiting the Museum. Two factors that have to factor into this discussion are the mandate to avoid negative impacts on admission revenue and membership sales. It was decided a workshop should be held on a Saturday morning to discuss this at some length with Friends Board members invited since changes could impact membership sales. Revenue from Friends membership sales is used to fund the exhibit and program budgets. Recommendations made for consideration by members of the Committee included providing coupons through school students visiting the Museum and special promotions during the week in the summers and for families on Sundays. SCANNED c. Sandra Linderman, Museum educator, introduced new education assistant Amy Bishop. She then reported to the Committee about the new CCISD funded fifth grade science curriculum program, a web based social studies curriculum developed for 5th grade funded by a grant from the Coastal Bend Community Foundation, and the rock and mineral traveling truck program developed with funding by CCISD for 3'4 41h and 56 grade classes. Recommendations from the Committee included the inclusion of assessments in the programs and the development of a downloadable pre-test for teachers to help assess the impact of the program. d. Rick Stryker reported that the Visualized Concept Study agreement has been signed and the study should start in January. The children's exhibit Bats in My World will be installed in May and run through the remainder of the year. The Committee was shown the coupon from the Winter Texans coupon booklet and the ABC Bowlers coupon. The Winter Lecture series starts January 10'h and will continue on Tuesdays through March. There being no further business the meeting adjourned at 1:15 p.m.