The Peoria Riverfront Museum turns a year-old this weekend. Peoria Public Radio’s Alex Rusciano reports the facility is planning special events and marketing to boost attendance:
Attendance at Museum came in nearly 25-percent below projections for the year. The low-number report has officials lowering this year’s annual attendance goal to 200,000. Interim Museum CEO Debbie Ritschel says they’re launching a new marketing strategy later this year:
“I think we’re going to see a lot more of our program and social media stepped up. I think that we’re going t0o look at how we talk to people through our media partners. We’d like our message to be more concise and consistent and we’d like our look to be something that, when you get a postcard from the museum in the mail, it’s a wow,” Ritschel says.
Ritschel says the museum is also planning more school outreach and a Chihuly Glass exhibit next month to draw more people to the $140 million public-private partnership. She says they are celebrating the one-year anniversary Sunday with free admission and $5 tickets to the Giant Screen Theater. Ritschel says they’ll also have kids Halloween crafts, drawings and gift bags. The Caterpillar Visitors Center is also celebrating it’s first anniversary Saturday with free tee-shirts to the first 200 people through the door.