Case Study (SWOC Analysis)

Case Study Analysis Part I — Environmental Scan

I. Economic Scan

-The museum (and its sister museum, the de Young) is in San Francisco, a very expensive city

-The smaller numbers of people going to museums in the general trend is a concern

-It is under the umbrella management and supported by the FAMSF (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco)

-Fine Arts Museums: Support and Revenue Sources (Gross)

  • Contributions 48%
  • Admissions 17%
  • City Appropriations 21%
  • Earned Revenue 11%
  • FAMF Endowment Support 3%

-City Appropriations (21% of support and revenue sources)

  • Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (building, art, security, maintenance)
  • Corporation of the Fine Arts Museums (operations, fundraising)
  • Fine Arts Museum Foundation (endowment, restricted funds, de Young funds)

-The museum seems to be finically sound, as it gets many private contributions and can earn revenue through both ticket sales and venue rentals

-Money

  • Acquisitions $3,038,277
  • Endowment $120,644,247
  • Approved Budget FY 13/14   –COFAM $41,688,080

–City $13,783,318

–Total $55,471,398

-Being paired organized with the De Young (under FAMSF) is a great advantage

  • They are partnered in many events, and hold different parts of larger exhibits at the same time bringing people to BOTH museums
  • Memberships are for both museums bringing new audiences to each of them

-Holding traveling exhibits brings more people from out of town (and the Bay Area in general) to the museum to see both the new and temporary exhibit but its permanent collections

-It is definitely a must see tourist destination and gets lots of business from such tourists and tour groups

 

II. Demographic Scan

-Attendance (FAMSF):

  • de Young 1,239,213
  • Legion of Honor 307,780
  • Total 1,546,993

-Other Statistics

  • Member Households 102,582
  • Website Visitors 3,607,210
  • COFAM Employees 303
  • City Employees 256
  • Docents 216
  • School Group Visitors 41,579
  • Volunteers 335

-National trends have been that modern/contemporary art museums and exhibits have been the most popular, while more traditional museums have been seeing lower numbers in attendance and participation.

-In 2012 the Legion of Honor/De Young was named the Number Four largest museum in the Bay Area, with a revenue of $35,471,922, and attendance being 1,588,654 visitors.

-Attendance has dropped between 2012 and 2013, BUT not by a large number

-San Francisco City Demographics (2010, 2013)

  • 2013 Population: 837,442
  • High school graduates: 85.9%
  • People who hold a bachelor’s degree or higher: 52%
  •  White: 48.5%
  • Asian: 33.3%
  • Latino: 15.1%
  • African American: 6.1%
  • Native American: 0.4%
  • Two or more races: 4.7%

-San Francisco is a diverse city (in both race and age), with high education levels

-Higher education levels would seem to indicate more participation in the arts

-The FAMSF have an attendance number that is over the overall population of the county, so tourists and school tour groups obviously play a large part in numbers for attendance and participation.

 

III. Cultural Scan

-San Francisco is a diverse and liberal city

-It has a history of appreciating art

-SF MOMA is the most popular museum in the city

-Multitudinous types of art are present in the city

– The museum offers tour and programs for all ages (including education programs for young children all the way up to college groups)

-Many people in the Bay area go to museums and local art exhibitions on the weekends and in free time

-The Legion needs to incorporate more technology to keep up with its competitors

 

IV. Other Environmental Elements

-Tourism is insanely important to FAMSF and the Legion of Honor

-The number of attendees for the two museums associated with the FAMSF is larger than the population of the entire county!

-San Francisco itself is a factor

  • It is an art city
  • Known for its appreciation of art in ALL of its forms
  • Many tourists are drawn for different reasons
  • There is a huge culture of supporting the arts and museums

 

Case Study Analysis Part II — SWOC Analysis

  Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Challenges
Cultural Product(s) -lots   of significant pieces (both historical and artistic)

-Large   and varied collection

-Many   time periods represented

-traveling   exhibits! International reputations

-some   people see museums as boring

-viewed   as “stuffy” and “old school”

-very   formal, can be seen as intimidating subject material

 

-Beautiful   art and history artifacts

-amazingly   large collection, can change exhibits to foster new interest

-hosts   traveling exhibits and gets people to the museum from out of town

-outside   spaces used for large and “current” exhibits

-Need   to be open to displaying more “modern” types and genres of art

-need   to get more people of ALL ages into the museum

-need   to foster a younger audience

 

Pricing -Member   tickets are free

-Most   tickets are $10 or under (Adults: $10, Senior: $7, Student: $6, Youth: $6)

-reasonable   pricing

-Group   prices available

-Unlike   some museums in Washington DC and London, the museum is not free to enter

-tickets   for certain events cost more

-often   get student or group tours into the museums for special exhibits, even if   prices are higher -Getting   lower income people into the museum

-Need   to pay to park, or take public transportation and then a ticket on top of   that

 

Place (Access) -in   San Francisco, a place know for love of culture and arts

-easy   to access, in the city itself

Great   views

-San   Francisco can be expensive to travel too

-parking   in the city is difficult

-The   park it is located in can be a bit confusing to navigate

-Again,   great views, good for photography and for venue rentals -Getting   people into the museum  (as it is not   on a main street downtown)

-the   parking is hard

Promotional Efforts -Part   of FAMSF, multiple outlets to promote

-advertise   together with the De Young

-Not   a brand in itself

-Always   associated with the De Young

-Good   to advertise with FAMSF most of the time, gets the name out well -Needs   to find a way to advertise as a single entity to bring more attention

 

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