sustaining the future preserving the past - Cleveland Museum of ...

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Visitor Experience
This year, The Cleveland Museum
of Natural History reflected on
a successful past and offered a
glimpse of a sustainable future. In the
midst of celebrating our 90th anniversary
and honoring the Museum’s visionary
founders, we also laid the groundwork—
literally—for a home that represents the
future of sustainability.
The Museum presented seven special
exhibitions during fiscal year 2010-2011,
designed to appeal to visitors of all ages.
The monumental creatures of prehistoric
eras filled Kahn Hall and awed 145,046
visitors during Extreme Mammals: The
Biggest, Smallest and Most Amazing
Mammals of All Time. Together with their
families, children explored the science of
healthy living in Disease Detectives and
Let’s Get Active and donned hard hats for
the hands-on Little Builders. The opening
of PNC SmartHome Cleveland offered
something new to visitors, featuring
a guided tour of the energy-efficient
house. A Dynamic Climate permanent
exhibition was installed that examines
the Earth’s climate and the challenge of
climate change. Soldiers, Sailors and Stones
highlighted the efforts of Museum curators
to help restore the historic Soldiers’
and Sailors’ Monument on Cleveland’s
Public Square.
More than 41,000 visitors experienced
the stunning Leonard Krieger Visual
Effects System in the Nathan and Fannye
Shafran Planetarium. In December, two
sold-out winter solstice concerts featuring
live performances by the Almeda Trio
showcased the state-of-the-art technology
to a new audience.
The Perkins Wildlife Center and Woods
Garden continued to be a popular draw
for visitors. New animal acquisitions,
including a Peregrine Falcon, Barn
Owl and opossums, were exhibited in
the outdoor wildlife center and used in
educational outreach programs. Special
family friendly events such as the Owls
& Howls Children’s Halloween Party in
October and Groundhog Fun Day in
February continued to be successful, each
attracting more than 1,000 visitors.
The Museum continued to increase
engagement of visitors and new audiences
online, offering behind-the-scenes videos
of Extreme Mammals exhibit construction
and special “Creature Feature” videos
featuring Wildlife Resources staff. Online
audiences for social media sites like
Facebook and Twitter grew to include
thousands of people from across the region
and the world.
Building improvements included extensive
work on Kahn Hall that will significantly
improve climate control required for
special exhibitions and enhance visitor
comfort. A new bike rack outside the
Museum’s front entrance encourages
sustainable transportation while ensuring
safe and secure storage for bicycles. In
our Blue Planet Café, we took steps to
reduce the amount of waste and offer easy
ways to recycle—just one example of how
the Museum strives to lead by education
and example.