Hello Colleagues,
Our museum is free on the first Thursday of every month -- part of a "First Thursdays" tradition that includes most museums and galleries in the city. We are also open until 8 pm that day, extended from our usual 5 pm closing time. It's always been a full, long day with lots of visitors who probably wouldn't otherwise come, and for the most part we are happy and proud to be able to offer this opportunity. Lately, however, we have seen an increase in large school groups coming on that day, without any notice or scheduling. We can't provide guided tours (those have usually all been booked up), so they are sent on "self-guided" tours led by their parent/teacher chaperones. (Sometimes these chaperones are not especially effective at crowd control, but that happens with paid groups too :) )
We are getting to the point where it's feeling like a security issue -- with a school group or two filling our small lobby, it's hard for front desk staff to monitor the comings and goings of other folks, or to provide good customer service to visitors not affiliated with the group. (The way our lobby is laid out, it's very difficult to intercept the group before they enter, and would cause even more chaos if we asked them to go back out to wait outside.) With 100+ children roaming around the museum, it can be hard for anyone (including them) to have an educational experience -- or even a pleasant experience. We've checked in with some schools/groups who have done this multiple times, and they are not really willing/able to pay, or to give us a heads up that they'll be coming in... So we are trying to figure out what our options might be to improve this situation. Things we've considered:
- Timed entry -- like, tell them they're welcome to come in, but we're staggering their entry times so we can manage the crowd size a little better. There are some things to do/see in the neighborhood, so they might not feel totally stranded if we put them off for an hour or two. But they might.
- Give them a rain-check for another day -- not sure how this would work, since they've already gotten it together to come *that* day -- but maybe we could gather enough contact info to work it out for next time?
- Expand our free days to twice a month (or more) so everyone isn't trying to come on the same day. (We need the revenue, so this is tough -- but the huge crowds are costly in other ways, so maybe worth it?)
Any thoughts/experiences/suggestions? I'm sure this issue is not unique to us.
Thanks in advance,
Mikala
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Mikala Woodward
Exhibit Developer
Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience
Seattle WA
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