Museum Attendance Up In 2009
By Marcus Gilmer in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 28, 2010 7:40PM
And now for some good news: the city's museums saw a seven percent increase in 2009 over 2008 as 14.8 million people visited 14 Chicago-area museums and zoos in 2009. Tops was the Shedd Aquarium - which got a bounce from its revamped Oceanarium - with 1.9 million visitors. The Art Institute saw a huge bounce of 32 percent for a total of 1.8 million visitors, the new Modern Wing overcoming any negative reaction to the new admission fee hike. And the MSI, which also had a small admissions hike, had 1.6 million visitors, buoyed by the Harry Potter and You! exhibits. The Field Museum was the other museum to break the million visitor barrier with 1.3 million. Meanwhile, according to the Museums in the Park press release, the Lincoln Park Zoo welcomed an estimated 3 million visitors while the Brookfield Zoo had 2.2 million visitors. [CBS 2]