Hill Strategies Research on Museums and Heritage Organizations

The latest issue of Hill Strategies' Arts Research Monitor focuses on museums and heritage organizations, including national and provincial data on the situation of Canadian museums and other heritage organizations as well as an American report on the educational role of museums.

Click the title of each report summary below to access the full version. 

Government of Canada Survey of Heritage Institutions: 2015

This Canadian survey, conducted in 2015 and capturing data from 2013, is intended “to provide aggregate data to governments and cultural associations in order to gain a better understanding of not-for-profit heritage institutions and to aid in the development of policies and the conduct of programs”. The total revenues of heritage organizations were estimated at $2.12 billion in 2013, a 2.9% increase from 2011 (figures not adjusted for inflation). Total expenditures were $1.97 billion, resulting in an operating surplus equivalent to 3.7% of total revenues in 2013.

Ontario’s Museums: 2014 Profile

This aggregate profile of 184 Ontario museums “identifies the realities of operating museums in Ontario today” and provides “compelling evidence to demonstrate museum impacts and their economic, social and cultural contributions to Ontario’s communities”. The 184 Ontario museums responded to a survey designed and conducted by the Ontario Museum Association (OMA) in 2014-2015, and the survey results were analyzed by Hill Strategies Research Inc.

Attendance at Quebec museums and heritage organizations in 2014 and 2015

(La fréquentation des institutions muséales au Québec en 2014 et 2015, optique culture no 48)

This report highlights attendance statistics at 422 Quebec museums, interpretive centres, and exhibition spaces (excluding artist-run centres). In 2015, total attendance was 14.0 million, slightly below the record level from 2013 (14.2 million). The report notes that school attendance showed a recent decrease, falling from over 1 million in previous years to 843,000 in 2015.

Building the Future of Education: Museums and the Learning Ecosystem

This American report highlights findings from a “convening” of about 50 museum and education practitioners, funders, and policy experts, which had the goal of launching “a national dialogue about the future of education and how leaders from the worlds of education and museums can work together to integrate the nation’s educational assets into a vibrant learning grid”. A “vibrant learning grid” would be “a flexible and radically personalized learning ecosystem that meets the needs of all learners”.