I Am A Cultural Tourist

I just returned from the 5-day American Association of Museums conference in Philadelphia. Good times. My favorite thing about this conference is that the museums of the host city open their doors to attendees, and there are events every night that allow us to explore... so I can now highly recommend the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Independence Hall to anyone who might be heading to the City of Brotherly Love.

This being a conference, of course, I attended a wide variety of educational sessions during the day. Most were about the sorry state of the economy, blah. But one of the best sessions I've ever attended was on the last day - about being a year-round advocate for your museum among elected officials. The panelists shared their personal experiences of visiting the Hill to advocate for their museums with local delegations, and there was a staffer from a Rep's district office sharing the inside story, as well. There was a lot of good practical information about how to weave advocacy into all of an organization's year-round plans, and I think most in the audience thought it was very helpful.

Since I have a very particular point of view on - and a real interest in - this topic, I actually stood up and asked a question for the very first time at a conference. I asked the panelists if they had any advice for those of us who live and work in the great, under-represented District of Columbia. After a few sympathetic sighs and nods, the panelists actually gave some really good advice that I'm going to start using, both to advocate for museums and other causes I support:

1. Don't ignore Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and her office. She can be a strong internal ally for your cause, since she's paying attention to how other members of Congress are voting on issues and she can lobby from the inside. Get her and her staff involved.

2. Even though DC residents don't have voting representation, we need to think creatively about ways in which we ARE constituents of lawmakers in other areas. For example, if I'm a member of a museum in a different state, I can advocate on behalf of that museum (and the field in general) to the lawmaker representing that district. As an alum of universities in 2 different states, and a contributor to both their giving programs, I can write to those lawmakers on issues of higher education. My family lives in Indiana, so I can rope them in too.

3. Just like in "regular" fundraising, you can never say thank you enough. Thank elected officials who voted the way you liked on key issues - again looking for those constituency ties mentioned above.

My own trick for the last few years has also been to write to the leadership of both parties in both Houses. Sometimes I've even gotten a response... even a form letter means someone read and recorded my opinion in a database somewhere.

Thinking about all of this stuff after the session, I thought the most useful "hook" I might have to use in advocating for my field - arts & culture - is that I am an actual cultural tourist.

For those of you outside the field, trust me - that's a major buzzword. One of the biggest arguments cultural institutions make for both public and private funding as that we are economic generators. People who come to museums or go to theaters, etc., spend money on their tickets and buy in the shops, but they also spend money on parking, at restaurants, at hotels, etc. And the major marketing trend of the last decade has been to promote the arts through cultural tourism - literally, reaching out to people in different markets who like to plan their travel to destinations with strong cultural offerings. So institutions in different cities often band together to promote the city as a whole, attracting visitors to come visit and sample the wide variety of cultural destinations and spending their money in many, many ways. We like cultural tourism, and so do elected officials or anyone who cares about bringing new money into their local markets.

Well, my Mom and I take an annual fall trip, have been for about 8 years. We've been to Boston, San Francisco, Santa Fe, New York, DC, Charleston, and soon Louisville, Chicago, and probably Philadelphia again. And we are textbook cultural tourists. We specifically plan to visit a different city each year, and our main goal is to visit the museums, take the historical tours, see the parks and landmarks, go to the theater, and sample the restaurants. Spending money all the way.

So -- my new strategy for advocacy is to write to those lawmakers that represent the cities I've visited as a cultural tourist, offering real feedback on how a vibrant cultural scene makes an impact in their cities. I like it, I like it a lot.