Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on May 25, 2007 6:36:19 GMT -6
When the Stars Aren’t Enough
After 75 years as a sky dome with an attached museum of scientific artifacts, the Adler is about to reinvent itself. Its original mission of furthering science and helping the public understand the universe has been expanded to include becoming “the world’s premier space science center.” The new mission popped into focus a few years ago, after consultants convinced museum management they needed to humanize the Adler’s content and (were the stars aligned?) astronaut James Lovell happened to walk through the door. Lovell became the museum’s partner in the new permanent exhibit “Shoot for the Moon,” which opened last fall. Using Lovell’s personal story to illuminate space exploration, it’s the first step in a plan that will see two-thirds of the public areas of the museum revamped over the next five or six years.
Research on non-Adler visitors by the Leo Burnett Company (which worked pro bono) and Slover Linett Strategies, reported at the AAM meeting by Cheryl Slover-Linett, yielded this alarming tidbit: people said they “thought the work of astronomy was done.” Focus groups brought into the museum found the name, Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, unappealing, the exhibits too scientific, and astronomy itself unengaging. There was also an awareness deficit: some tourists at the Field Museum didn’t seem to know that the Adler was right next door. Slover-Linett concluded that the museum needed to be less rooted in the past. Faced with the mysteries of the universe and beyond, what the public wants, she said, is inspiration, personal connection, a memorable experience, and a view into the future.
The Adler was built and donated to the city by Sears, Roebuck executive Max Adler. When it opened in 1930 it was the first planetarium in the Western Hemisphere. A new theater was added in 1999 (the building now houses two), and the following year the museum logged a record half million visitors. But the party was short-lived: president Paul Knappenberger told the AAM audience that after 9/11 both attendance and government funding took a dive. Attendance immediately dropped 30 percent, he said. (It’s now back up to about 400,000). City funding, which had been $2.5 million annually, has fallen to $2 million (the museum’s annual budget is $11 million). With the Adler’s 75th anniversary on the horizon, Knappenberger said, it seemed like a good time to reassess.
Full story here: www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/thebusiness/070525/
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Always a good thing to retool and improve the Adler.