Statistics and Facts About Ontario Museums

A MUSEUM FOR EVERY INTEREST
Outdoors:
18 Agricultural Sites, 6 Conservation Areas and 23 Parks
History Buffs:
9 Archaeological Sites, 112 Archives, 96 Historic Buildings and 38 Living History Sites
Art Lovers: 98 Public Art Museums and Galleries
Flower Lovers: 4 Botanical Gardens
Families: 8 Children's Museums
Local History: 153 Community Museums
Aboriginal History: 9 First Nations Cultural Centres
Things Nautical: 15 Marine Museums
Military History: 43 Military Museums
Living Things: 13 Natural Science and History Museums
How and Why Things Work:
19 Science & Technology Museums
How We Get Around:
14 Transportation Museums and 12 Railway Museums
Animal Lovers: 2 Non-commercial Zoos

UNIQUE MUSEUMS
· Ingersoll Cheese Factory Museum and Sports Hall of Fame - Ingersoll
· Canadian Clock Museum - Deep River
· Chatham Railroad Museum - Chatham
· Museum of Health Care for Eastern Ontario - Kingston
· Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre - Sault Ste. Marie
· Ontario Provincial Police Museum - Orillia
· Redpath Sugar Museum - Toronto
· Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography - Ottawa

INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM DAY: MAY 18, 2008
Created in 1977, International Museum Day is intended to provide a nucleus for museums' creative aspirations and efforts and focus international attention on the work done by museums. The International Council of Museums (ICOM) invites museum professionals to use International Museum Day as a springboard for initiatives which promote the work of their institutions to the public, draw the attention of supervisory bodies and governments to the role and needs of museums, and foster dialogue between professionals and across disciplines. Visit the ICOM web site for more information.

A MUSEUM IN EVERY TOWN…
· Is there a museum site in every city, town, and village in Ontario? Yes!
· Need help finding a museum? The OMA offers an Online Guide to Ontario Museums, in both French and English.

…FOR ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE
· There are 26 different types of museums included in the OMA's Online Guide to Ontario Museums, including agricultural museums, art galleries, botanical gardens, children's museums, First Peoples cultural centres, rail museums, science and technology museums, sports museums and halls of fame, etc.
· There are hundreds of special events taking place in May in celebration of May is Museum Month 2008.
-Ontarians enjoy attending museums, historic sites and art galleries. 3.67 million people attended museums, 3.33 million visited an historic site and 2.81 million people visited an art gallery in 2005.
Ontario museums and heritage attractions are more popular than ever, with total attendance of almost 19 million people each year, a 12% increase over the past 10 years.
· Ontarians spent $190 million on admissions to museums and heritage-related activities in 2003, up 28% from 1997.

… AND ATTRACTIONS FOR TOURISTS
· In 2003, over 9.4 million overnight visitors to Ontario attended museums, festivals or cultural activities. These 9.4 million visitors spent $3.9 billion in Ontario in 2003.

· Museum and culture tourists tend to stay longer and spend more money in Ontario than other tourists. On average, overnight cultural visitors spent 60% more during their visits than other overnight visitors ($410 per person vs. $260 per person).

MUSEUM WORKFORCE
· Wages and salaries are the largest single expense for Ontario museums, accounting for over $280 million.
· According to 2002-03 statistics, Ontario museums have over 8,000 paid employees and over 16,000 volunteers.

MUSEUM FINANCES
· Ontario museums and heritage attractions spend over $562 million per year in operating and capital expenses. $521 million - or 93% of the total amount - went towards day-to-day operating expenses.
· Overall, Ontario museums and heritage attractions operate in a fiscally responsible manner by balancing their budgets each year.
· Earned revenues - admissions, memberships, gift shop and other sales - have more than doubled over the past 10 years. Fundraising has nearly doubled during the same period.
· In 2002-03, earned revenues accounted for 28% of operating revenues, while fundraising accounted for an additional 9% of operating revenues.

PUBLIC FUNDING
· Public funding from federal, provincial and municipal governments remains the primary source of revenue for museums and heritage attractions, but is declining in proportion. Public funding has decreased from 75% to 64% of total operating revenues in the past 10 years.
· The Ministry of Culture's Community Museum Operating Grant program - the OMA welcomed the announcement in March 2007 of an additional $2.3 million in operating funding. Although a funding gap still exists, this is a welcome step in the right direction.
· The Museums Assistance Program, the national funding program for museums across Canada, operates at 1972 funding levels and provides only short-term project funding with $9M per year for more than 2,500 museums.
· Key Ontario cultural cities contribute far less per capita to arts, culture and heritage than other Canadian centres. Compare per capita spending by Toronto ($14.64) and Ottawa ($4) to $17.71 in Vancouver and $26.62 in Montreal. In the U.S., San Francisco, a striking example of cultural tourism at its best, invests $86.01 per capita in local arts, culture and heritage.
· In Ontario, municipal amalgamations have changed the landscape of the province's cities and towns by reducing the number of municipalities from 815 to 445.
· Ontario municipalities carry significant responsibility for Ontario's museums - they own/operate 64% of museums in the provincial Community Museum Operating Grant (CMOG) program.

ONTARIO MUSEUMS: KEY TO VIBRANT COMMUNITIES
· Ontario museums and heritage attractions contributed $355 million dollars to the province's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2001, a 26% increase from 1996. Ontario's heritage sector generated 11,700 jobs in 2001, a 12.5% increase from 1996.
· Museums have a fundamental role to play as educational infrastructure in a 21st-century learning society, where the strength of our economy depends on each individual's ability to think critically, learn new skills and adapt to a rapidly-changing culture and economy.
· Museums, heritage and cultural organizations foster creativity and innovation in our society and help to attract talented people to our communities.
· Museums and heritage attractions contribute to safe and comfortable neighbourhoods and foster local identity and pride.
· Museums contribute to the quality of life in Ontario through educational programs for children and adults, by enhancing community identity and pride, by helping to renew small towns and urban neighbourhoods, and by assisting in youth development.


SOURCES
· Provincial Profiles of
Cultural and Heritage Activities
in 2005 -- Hill Strategies, October 2007
Canadian Museums Association, Election Toolkit 2006, 2005
· City of Toronto, Culture Plan: for the Creative City, 2003
· Creative City Network of Canada, Making the Case for Culture, , 2005.
· Doherty, K., Early Days: Exploring the Needs of Small Municipalities, 2003.
· Hill Strategies Research Inc., Arts Research Monitor, various issues.
· Hill Strategies Research Inc., Consumer Spending on Culture in Canada, the Provinces and 15 Metropolitan Areas in 2003, 2005.
· Institute of Museum and Library Services, Charting the Landscape/Mapping New Paths: Museums, Libraries and K-12 Education, 2005.
· Ministry of Culture, Strengthening Ontario's Heritage, 2005.
· Ministry of Tourism and Recreation, Ontario's Overnight Cultural Tourist Market, 2003, May 2005.
· Statistics Canada, Heritage Institutions 2002-03 (Data tables), Cat. # 87F0002X.
· Statistics Canada, Economic Contribution of the Culture Sector in Ontario (2001 data), December 2004.