Art museum's challenge is to sustain attendance

7/29/2001

How will attendance at the Toledo Museum of Art's “Star Wars: The Magic of Myth” stack up against the exhibit's previous stops? If the 1,500 advance tickets and 2,500 new memberships already sold are any indication, pretty well. The challenge, museum officials say, is sustaining attendance for the show's five-month run - the longest of any exhibit in the museum's history.

Organizers predict the Toledo show will draw 180,000 people during its run beginning Aug. 5. Here's the attendance for other cities that have hosted the Star Wars exhibit:

Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, Washington.

October, 1997-January, 1999.

Attendance: One million.

San Diego Museum of Art.

September, 1999-January, 2000.

Attendance: 95,000.

Minneapolis Institute of Art.

February, 2000-June, 2000.

Attendance: 127,000

The Field Museum, Chicago.

July, 2000-January, 2001.

Attendance: 340,000.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

March, 2001-June, 2001.

Attendance: 136,000.

-- CHRISTOPHER BORRELLI