HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Museum Of Science And History Advisory Committee - 01/10/2008 4,��1 34 se)
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Corpus Christi Museum of Science and tory
Advisory Committee Meeting ud Cr%ttrrr'I � w
January 10, 2008 add i':i 4!GE y-0
The Museum Advisory Committee met in the Museum's DeDietrich Con e 2•.4" votm at
Noon on Thursday, January 10,2008. Members Present: Margaret Bolick, Luella
Gipson-Torres, Jonda Halcomb, Jim Moloney, and Nelida Ortiz.
Upon motion by Jim Moloney and seconded by Margaret Bolick,the minutes of the
December 6, 2007 meeting were approved as presented.
Upon motion by Margaret Bolick and seconded by Nelida Ortiz the absences of Kathy
Juneau and Lucy Sosa were excused.
Business:
a. Review 2007 attendance in the context of long term trends and the impact of
attendance on earned revenue
• 71,351 visitors came to the Museum in 2007, the highest attendance since 2001.
Of that number 18,573 (26%) were students on school field trips. Of the non
student visitors, 29%were from Corpus Christi,48% were from other locations in
Texas, 19%were from other States, 1%was from Mexico, and 3% were from
other foreign locations.
• The paid attendance categories reached a level last achieved in 2002, although
this number is less than half what it was ten years ago. Lack of marketing
prominence by the CVB is the greatest influence to this decline, a major limiting
factor in earned revenue.
• Free days were initiated in August to provide local economically challenged
audiences with greater access to the Museum. On the 8 free days thus far this
fiscal year, 64%of visitors were from Corpus Christi and attendance increased by
39%over the same days the previous year.
• Seasonality graphs compared 2007 and 1996 fluctuations in attendance. In 1996
attendance was 135,552. Among families the peak months remain March, June,
July and August. These peaks are not as pronounced as they were in 1996 when
the CVB was giving equal prominence to the Museum as they did to Aquarium
and the Lexington in their marketing. The school student peak was May with
February as the second busiest month. The April TEKS test in has diminished
April as a field trip month. The Senior citizen audience peaks in February with
January and March as high months similar to 1996.
b. Review fee and facility use policies
• By City Ordinance the Advisory Committee must review admission fees on an
annual basis. Rick Stryker provided a comparative chart of the admission fees
with comparable local and statewide cultural facilities. He recommended no
change given the increase in admission fees at the beginning of the fiscal year.
• Bonnie Laya reviewed the Group Rate Fee policy, Room Rental Policy, Facility
SCANNED
'Imre Noel
"P J4aI Policy, and Birthday Party Policy. The rates associated with these policies
are competitive or at least consistent with our mission.
• There were 389 room or facility uses in 2007: 105 were fee based events with 44
of those being birthday parties. The total room uses was down significantly from
2006 when there were 494 room or facility uses with 147 fee based events.
CCISD alone, a non fee based user, was down from 69 room uses to 39. As might
be expected revenue from this activity was similarly reduced.
• Both the Birthday Party Policy and the Educational Program Policy were recently
reviewed and revised. No changes to these policies are recommended.
c. Members of the Committee each receive a copy of the Annual report to the City
Council for review.
d. Staff Reports
• The next 50th anniversary lecture will be on January 16th.
• The annual Winter Lecture series began January 8th and runs on Tuesday
mornings through March.
e. The Committee members were given a walking tour so they could personally see the
deteriorating conditions caused by deferred maintenance that were discussed at the
December meeting. Funding to address these issues is on the City Capital Improvement
Program list and will hopefully be considered for inclusion in the 2008 Bond Issue. The
tour included the areas that are most critically lacking in humidity and temperature
control due to HVAC deficiencies and the Columbus ships that are in a deplorable state
of repair.
The meeting adjourned at 1:15 p.m.