Speak Up for Museums on Feb. 28th

Today's entry is about advocating for museums based upon information provided by the American Association of Museums.  Museums, like libraries and archives, are under duress.  Perhaps you will feel moved to help.      

Over the Christmas holidays, our home had a revolving door and was occupied by a mobile and ever changing set of people.  We hosted out-of-town family members and beaus of our children.  What did we do for entertainment and enlightenment? 1) Went to the Parris Island Museum, twice. 2) Went to the Kazoo Museum and factory, made our own kazoo - and had a ball.  3) Saw the "New Harmonies: Roots of American Music" Exhibit at the Beaufort Branch Library three times.  4) Visited the Hunting Island Lighthouse complex.  So for my family, the ability to visit local museums with high standards is a crucial factor in why we continue to live here in Beaufort.   

What is a museum? There are many definitions. Among those with currency today are, in no particular order, pillars in our educational infrastructure, protectors and interpreters of our historical, scientific and cultural heritages and bastions of authenticity in an increasingly virtual world. Yet in a stubbornly stagnant economy, museums can be seen as crucial economic cogs for communities, large and small, all across America.

These days, museums are serving what is perhaps an unexpected function for U.S. communities, but a role our institutions have served for decades: as economic engines, creating jobs and generating business for companies large and small, but particularly small, in communities everywhere.

In direct expenditures alone, museums annually inject more than $20 billion into the U.S. economy. America’s estimated 17,500 museums employ more than 400,000 individuals. And perhaps most compelling in these times of tightening local budgets – and the slash and burn approach to budgeting at the federal level -- was a recent U.S. Council of Mayors study that found that, for every $1 invested in cultural institutions (including museums), municipalities saw $7 in tax revenues come into their coffers. That’s a rate of return that would make even Warren Buffett swoon.

And that astounding return is due to the thriving cultural tourism industry in our country. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, cultural tourism accounts for $192 billion in economic activity annually. And many of those monies are spent with the local eateries, the local bed and breakfast, or the local gift shops in communities across the country.

And museums have long been cultural destinations in and of themselves. Trips including cultural and heritage activities comprise one of the most popular and significant segments of the travel industry, accounting for 23% of domestic trips. And clearly those trips generate economic activity for local businesses. Visitors to historic sites and cultural attractions, including museums, stay 53% longer and spend 36% more money than other kinds of tourists.

One need look no further than Beaufort County to see the impact our museums have on our economy. 

• Parris Island Museum
• Coastal Discovery Museum
• Verdier House Museum
• Heyward House Museum
• Penn Center Museum 
• Gullah Museum
• Daufuskie Island Museum
• The soon to open Beaufort History Museum
• Hunting Island Lighthouse complex
• ... And, I may have left out some others

Hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors go to one or more of these local institutions each year.  Along the way, they spend dollars in our local community for food, gas, lodging, tours, and souvenirs. 

How do museums generate such economic benefits? The enduring popularity of museums is a major factor. Nationwide, there are an estimated 850 million museum visits each year – that’s more than attendance at all professional sporting events and theme parks combined. Witness the fact that the Smithsonian Institution alone attracts 30 million visits each year.

Our own "New Harmonies: Roots of American Music" exhibit had 5,000 visitors from Dec. 17 through Feb. 4th - and that's excluding Sundays - a very busy "Let's visit a museum" day. 

All of this is to share the value museums bring to our communities every day, as economic sparks, as pillars of our education system, and as major contributors to the overall quality of life here in America. 

If you value our local museums, we urge you to visit the American Association of Museums website (www.speakupformuseums.org) for action points.  

Museums are vital to our communities and their economies. Help us keep our museums ─ and our communities ─ strong by lending your voice to ours, ensuring that the cause of museums is heard on February 28.