Museums in the Neighborhood: evaluating the socio-economic impact of museums

Stephen Sheppard, Williams College and C3D

American Association of MuseumsDenver, Colorado

April 30, 2008

Museums can be powerful sources … Of economic development

• Productive organizations that produce goods and services

• Bring visitors to community who make purchases from other firms and organizations

• Generate employment that helps support the neighborhood

Of community development• Create pride in community and wider awareness of neighborhood

• Generate contacts with other communities and neighborhoods

• Build networks of interactions or potential interactions between community organizations

Of quality of life• Improving educational opportunity and providing amenities to neighborhood

• Providing social space and open space for public use

How to document and evaluate these impacts?

Income, employment, social network, quality of life Income and employment

• Attracting visitors and residents, purchasing inputs from local economy• Comparing museums with similarly sized establishments in other sectors

• Museums often generate MORE income and employment than manufacturing or business services

• Museums generally among the top 10 sectors

• Communities don’t generally have to choose one or the other Social Network

• Museums provide social space• Museums forge partnerships in community• Weaving the fabric of social network

Quality of Life• When quality of life improves, demand for neighborhood increases• Directly measured in additional value

• Relative to other neighborhoods in the urban area• Relative to time before museum opened or expanded

Income and employment generation

Museum Budget Non-Local Visitors Price Level

$4,500,000 65,000 2007

Direct Indirect Induced Total

Gallery and Other Programming $4,500,000 $2,202,567 $1,991,781 $8,694,348

Non-local Visitors $643,820 $116,967 $169,354 $930,141

Total $5,143,820 $2,319,534 $2,161,135 $9,624,489

Impact in a wide variety of sectorsImpact of Dia Beacon Gallery and Visitors by Economic Sector

Description Direct Indirect Induced Total

Museums and historical sites $4,500,000 $0 $2,779 $4,502,779

Real estate $0 $488,907 $85,404 $574,311

Food services and drinking places $268,450 $40,281 $130,629 $439,360

Owner-occupied dwellings $0 $0 $353,143 $353,143

Hotels and motels including casino $207,090 $5,704 $8,069 $220,863

Miscellaneous store retailers $168,126 $2,123 $14,303 $184,553

Other educational services $0 $241,998 $12,260 $254,258

Power generation and supply $0 $136,223 $55,250 $191,473

Offices of physicians dentists $0 $0 $151,807 $151,807

Maintenance and repair of nonres property $0 $126,816 $10,322 $137,138

Hospitals $0 $0 $127,253 $127,253

Business support services $0 $124,034 $3,023 $127,057

Telecommunications $0 $55,960 $46,916 $102,875

Monetary authorities and depository $0 $32,347 $60,664 $93,012

Wholesale trade $0 $32,129 $53,442 $85,571

Services to buildings and dwellings $0 $74,687 $13,648 $88,335

Employment services $0 $76,852 $9,422 $86,275

Top Impact Sectors in Western MassachusettsIndustry Definition Direct Indirect Induced Total

State and Local government passenger transit $4,953,288 $918,634 $4,147,665 $10,019,587

Museums, historical sites, zoos, and parks $4,953,288 $2,340,160 $2,137,708 $9,431,157

Funds, trusts, and other financial vehicles $4,953,288 $2,496,266 $1,819,049 $9,268,602

Computer Systems design services $4,953,288 $660,312 $3,122,889 $8,736,489

Elementary and Secondary Schools $4,953,288 $1,154,313 $2,615,037 $8,722,638

Travel arrangement and reservation services $4,953,288 $2,349,773 $1,396,866 $8,699,927

Motion Picture and video industries $4,953,288 $2,617,634 $1,112,360 $8,683,282

Performing arts companies $4,953,288 $1,527,023 $2,145,306 $8,625,617

Agriculture and forestry support activities $4,953,288 $295,422 $3,366,720 $8,615,430

Grantmaking and social advocacy organizations $4,953,288 $2,009,712 $1,635,818 $8,598,818

Civic, social, professional and similar organizations $4,953,288 $1,816,095 $1,823,769 $8,593,151

Insurance carriers $4,953,288 $1,981,677 $1,616,970 $8,551,935

Custom computer programming services $4,953,288 $545,368 $3,025,560 $8,524,216

Seeing the network of community partners

Forging links between affluent and poor neighborhoods

Zoom in to see links between neighborhood groups

Improving quality of life

Improved QOL increases demand for neighborhood

Larger impacts for neighborhoods closest to museum

Conclusions While the exact amounts vary, all of the museums we

have studied show:• Positive local economic impacts for income and employment• Impacts that compare favorably to other economic sectors for

comparable organizations• Powerful abilities to forge social networks between different

groups and different neighborhoods• Positive impacts on local quality of life that increase the

demand for residence in the neighborhood• Contributions to wealth creation in the community

These findings have important implications for museums• Motivation for local financial support for museum• Socio-Economic health of community can be an important part

of museum mission

C3D Toolkit: http://www.c-3-d.org/Toolkit