Let Museums+more help you expand your visitor base.

Have you considered targeting aging boomers, who will be seeking educational, cultural and social opportunities as they phase out of careers and raising families? Ucko has organized the following session for the 2003 American Association of Museums Annual Conference:

Harnessing the Gray Tide: Museums and the Coming Waves of Older Adults

The graying of America will have huge implications for museums. The purpose of this session is to help museums respond to this massive demographic change, which is transforming our nation into a place having more older adults than children and youth for the first time in its history. "Third-agers" will be seeking culture and self-improvement in addition to ways they can incorporate service into their lives. Ranging in age from their 50s to centenarians, they will offer museums a challenging market as well as a resource for social capital. Are you prepared to harness this "tidal wave"?

This session will stimulate thought about new directions as well as explore ways in which museums are serving older adults today. It addresses how museums can extend the ways in which they serve intergenerational social needs while enhancing financial sustainability through targeted programming. In addition to highlighting exemplary museum programs, this session will introduce you to the Experience Corps, a new national program that can serve as a model for museums engaging with their communities.

Panelists: David Ucko (chair); Karen Franklin, President, The Judaica Museum, Hebrew Home for the Aged; Liz Gumerman, Volunteer/Docent Coordinator, Museum of Northern Arizona; Cathy Maupin, Vice President, Civic Ventures; Stefana Sardo, Project Director, Portland Experience Corps.

Creating Competitive Advantage