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January 5, 2006 \ OFFICE
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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.