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 |
Links:
- https://legionofhonor.famsf.org/files/famsf_factchart_021414.pdf (FAMSF income and statistics)
- http://legionofhonor.famsf.org/education (education offered at museum)
- http://legionofhonor.famsf.org/ (main page)
- http://www.museumsassociation.org/campaigns/love-museums/facts-and-figures (museum demographics)
- http://hyperallergic.com/68051/2012-museum-attendance-numbers-show-a-diverse-global-art-scene/ (museum demographics)
- http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Attendance-survey–Tour-de-force-show-puts-Tokyo-on-top/29142 (museum demographics)
- http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/10/top-5-largest-bay-area-museums.html?page=all (Bay Area Museums)
- http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/06075.html (SF demographics)