Many of you may follow Reach Advisors' blog, Museum Audience Insight (discussed in a recent HRC post by Liz Shapiro).  The blog provides information about audience, cutting edge techniques for marketing and audience development, and trends we should know more about. Susie Wilkening and James Chung have now taken the results of their on-going research into the museum visitor and produced a lively, easy to read book that delves more deeply into some of their findings.

Life Stages of the Museum Visitor: Building Engagement over a Lifetime looks at the results of four recent surveys conducted by Reach Advisors. Each of these surveys examined a different museum-going audience and the book nicely synthesizes and compares national visitor data from Children's Museums, Science Centers and Outdoor History Museums with state-specific data from Connecticut museums and cultural organizations.

The Connecticut results, from taken from the Connecticut Cultural Consumers Study sponsored by the Connecticut Humanities Council last year, should make Life Stages of the Museum Visitor required reading for all of us in the state.

Wilkening and Chung explore the life stages of museum visitors, focusing most of their study on younger audiences from childhood through young adulthood. As a result of the study they have divided our audiences into four groups - General Public, Casual Visitor, Core Visitor and Museum Advocates.

The authors present their findings and make concrete suggestions about ways to improve the visitor experience at museums. Some of their findings are startling, some are inspiring, but all will help us develop a deeper understanding of our visitors and their needs.

By Cathy Fields