When I talked to Steve Nash (director of the Nasher) back in March, I asked him about the new push. He said that the stats for the first year weren’t bad –the museum was in the top 55 or 60 museums in the country and its paid attendance made the top 30. But Mr. Nasher had hoped more people would come.
Given all the publicity, why hadn’t they?
“We did some market research prior to launching this media campaign to try to determine among other things the recognizability of the name Nasher Sculpture Center,” Nash said. “We discovered that in the immediate four-county area we really have a low recognition factor.”
How low? 15 percent recognized the name.
“After a year of stories and articles, it’s surprising, if not shocking,” he said. “It means that the message isn’t getting through. So why is that? I mean, the name was plastered all over the place for a year.”
His theory was that most of the advertising was in the print media, where the “knowledgeable, well-read, well-traveled arts consumer” saw it. But there was also a different world out there not focused on art – or anything printed, apparently. Say, 85 percent of the area.
“It’s not part of their consciousness.”
They should have, you know, put it on FrontBurner.
