HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Museum Of Science And History Advisory Committee - 06/10/1999 V
MINUTES •
Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History
Advisory Committee Meeting
June 10, 1999
The Museum Advisory Committee met in the Museum at Noon on Thursday,June10, 1999.
Members Present: Henry Brennecke, Woody Riley, Kathy Heymann, Art Howerton, Pat Bacak-
Clements, C.W. Carpenter, and Evelyn Farias-Gonzales.
Upon motion by Art Howerton and seconded by Pat Bacak-Clements, the minutes of the May 6,
1999 meeting were approved unanimously.
Business:
a. A collection of magazines and a video tape were mistakenly accessioned. Normally such
items are maintained as usable resources for research rather than as collection items. Upon
motion by Pat Bacak-Clements, seconded by Art Howerton, the Committee unanimously
approved the staff recommended deaccession.
b. Sandra Linderman, Museum Educator, discussed the school attendance for the
school year through May. Attendance (23,207 with June and July remaining) will be down
significantly from 37,957 last year. The biggest drop was in attendance from local schools.
Schools from outside Corpus Christi accounted for 56%, the highest percentage ever. There was
a discussion of responses to teacher surveys and interviews. There was also a discussion of
program offerings and new programs being developed. Access to information about the Museum
program from a WEB site will be very important to teachers in the future.
c. There was a discussion of the results of the "History Sale". Ticket prices were reduced
between April 10 and May 31 and there was a special effort to market this price reduction.
Attendance compared to the same period the previous year was actually down from 21,798 to
19,573. Revenue was down from$1.04 per capita to $.88 per capita. The only category that
increased was children age 5 - 12 which increased by 60%. This experiment suggests that the
admission cost is not a significant negative factor in attendance except that a lower admission cost
for children would likely increase the number of children that come to the Museum. Rick Stryker
recommended that no permanent change be made in the admission fee structure for the present.
d. There was a discussion of the upcoming focus group sessions to be conducted by Chip
Jeffries of Appelbaum and Associates. People from the community have been invited to provide
an outside perspective on the Museum.
e. There will be no July meeting.
There being no further business the meeting adjourned at 1:15 p.m.
SCANNED