A House Divided...

Fair warning: this post is long.

There is an unwritten rule in the museum world -- museums don't compete with each other.

In some areas, it could be very easy for museums to fall into the trap of trying to compete with one another. Museums sharing similar missions, foci, or collections in a relatively close geographical proximity might feel that they are in competition with one another. Even museums separated by hundreds or thousands of miles may feel that another museum is trying to steal exhibit X or hoard collection Y. All of these things aside, museums cannot compete with one another. To do so is suicide. Here's why.

There is another competitor in this arena. Museums in the same city or region on a certain level do compete with one another for visitors, but typically, patrons of a science museum are not likely to visit an historic home or a botanical garden, and vice-versa. However, museums do compete, collectively, with the other entertainment venues in that city or region. Shopping malls, movie theaters, festivals, sporting events -- these are the real competition.

One museum trying to attract visitors in a certain city must naturally compete with that city's other attractions for attention, visitation, and money. That's a big enough challenge by itself. Why add to it trying to compete with another museum whose mission, however similar to its own, is still different? Lincoln wrote that "A house divided against itself cannot stand...." Boy was he on to something. Competition can be fatal. Competition may be irrelevant.

For a city of less than 100,000 citizens, Roanoke has a lot of museums. There are seven in the city proper -- the O. Winston Link Museum, the Art Museum of Western Virginia, the Science Museum of Western Virginia, the History Museum of Western Virginia, the Harrison Museum of African-American Culture, the Mill Mountain Zoo, and your own Virginia Museum of Transportation. If we expand our radius a bit, we get the Salem Museum, the Blue Ridge Institute and Farm Museum, Explore Park, and the sundry museums at the Natural Bridge. That's a dozen museums within an hour's drive of Roanoke, and this list is not exhaustive. This is a sizable list of institutions for any community.

Despite the abundance of these cultural institutions, there is not yet a consistent or reliable answer to the often-heard question, "What is there to do in Roanoke?" There remains an ignorance about what is here and what the various cultural institutions do.

When VMT hosted its holiday open house last December, we had more than a few guests make the comment, "I didn't even know you all were still around." This is staggering, really, and a wake-up call for our self-important campaigns and attempts at service. If people in our own home town don't know we're here, how could we ever hope to attract people from out of town?

And yet, people from out of town know us and visit us far more frequently and consistently than townies. To the tune of 80%. So what does that mean for our efforts in town?

What if all of the area museums banded together and combined their advertising and marketing? What if they all stopped competing with one another and started competing with movie theaters and golf courses? No, it's not a fight that could ever be won, but it's one that would make the right moves and promote each museum better than any one could do on its own.

There's precedent for this, too. In Madison, Wisconsin, and in the Bronx in New York, museums have joined forces to advertise and market themselves. Sometimes it means pooling money for billboards or radio spots. Other times it means joint fund raisers that benefit all of the institutions. Still other times, it's just a forum for the museum members to share ideas and problems and benefit from the others' experiences.

We see no reason that can't happen in Roanoke. In some ways, its infant stages can be seen even now. Center in the Square encompasses three of Roanoke's seven museums, and has close ties to the O. Winston Link Museum. Imagine what kind of resources all seven institutions could share. Imagine a single joint ticket good for admission to each museum, good for a whole week. It already exists in part. VMT, the Link, and the History Museum of Western Virginia already operate a joint ticket program, sharing revenue with one another and providing a natural increase in attendance to each participating institution. This is not the venue for competition; it's the venue for collaboration.

Competition should be irrelevant.

Think of a shuttle service that connects each museum with other points in town. The Valley Metro service already stops in front of most of the institutions. Why not initiate a visitor-oriented route, stopping at each museum and all the major local hotels and hot spots?

Think of a high-quality, professional brochure available in every hotel and visitor station in the area. The brochure would feature beautiful photography, in-depth descriptions of what each institution offers, ticket prices, contact information, and even coupons for discounts at museum stores or exhibitions. One brochure, not seven. Seven visitors, not one.

Competition should be irrelevant.

What's truly distinctive about Roanoke's museums is that not one is state funded. Don't get us wrong, we all receive some state funding, but for most of us, it's not enough to pay the electric bill for the year, no less to fund operations. We're not saying this is bad. What we're saying is that private organizations know their communities better than any state agency could. The programs that we can offer are catered to the exact and specific needs and interests of our community. Complete state funding might very well dampen that effect as budget questions ultimately get answered in Richmond, not Roanoke.

The side effect of this specialized service is that we struggle to do these things for the always ugly reason of not enough dollars. There aren't enough dollars when they're spread among football teams, roller skating rinks, art galleries, museums, public parks... the list is endless. But if a contingent can get together and present themselves in a unified way, their voice is louder, their draw greater. More dollars flow that way, and these private organizations increase their service and enhance their offerings. Everyone wins.

Competition is irrelevant.