The Numbers Are In...

I recieved a wonderful E-Mail from Dr. Jim Bennett, Museum Director of the Oxford Museum regarding the Steampunk Exhibit which ended last month. The final visitor numbers were tallied from the past few months and the results were amazing!

Dr. Bennett writes:

"I'm sure you have heard that the exhibition was an outstanding success. Visitor numbers were beyond all expectations, people's reactions were universally positive and the press coverage was great. Here are some statistics to back this up.

The total attendance during the four months of the exhibition was 78,537 which was amazing for the middle of the winter, when attendance is at its lowest. This was well over twice the figure for the same period in the previous year.Our YouTube video had about 55,000 views during the same period. We had to reprint ‘Broadsheet’ twice during the exhibition. Attendance at the special events in the programme was also very good, for example:

Makers' Day: 2,113

Steampunk Mannequins: 2,504

STEAM Day: 3,217

Final Saturday: 3,514

In terms of attendance figures, this was the most successful exhibition

ever mounted by the Museum. Attendance figures, while important, are not everything, so here is an example of an unsolicited email received from a visitor:

"I visited your museum on Saturday January 30th for the first time and wanted to give feedback on my visit as I did not see a visitors book. I really enjoyed my visit. We specifically went on that day to see the
Steampunk exhibition. I wanted to come to the Makers Day earlier in the month but the snow made it impossible.


I thought the exhibition was super, all the people going round seemed to be enjoying it, the visitors were animated when going round the exhibition. Also I thought it was a super idea to have some of the
museum’s exhibits in display cabinets at the end of the tour which fitted in with the Steampunk theme.


We travelled 150 miles round trip to see the exhibition from Leicestershire and it was well worth it. I would probably not visited the Museum of the History of Science without seeing the Steampunk exhibition mentioned on the BBC web site. But the video and write up led me to look at your web site (which I think was excellent) and plan to visit.

The museum was very crowded with visitors but it was nice to be surrounded by people talking and enjoying themselves in a museum, a positive experience.


Thank you for organising such a fascinating and enthralling event."

Once again, very special thanks to Art Donovan for putting together such an amazing event! I am honored that he and some of the other exhibitors from this show will be gracing the gallery of the second annual Steampunk Bizarre!


Cheers!
~Dr. Grymm