Less than half of visitors to human rights museum paid to get in
Less than half the people flocking to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights are paying to get in.
According to numbers CBC News obtained through an access to information request, since doors opened in September 2014, the museum saw 243,040 visitors. Of those, roughly a quarter — 22 per cent — took in the museum free of charge through complimentary admissions.
Free admission evenings have been held once a month since January 2015. According to the museum, these nights drew an average of 1,900 visitors. The bulk of people who saw the museum for free, 32,364 attended free pre-opening events such as the opening ceremonies and free preview tours.
When it came to paying customers, fewer than two out of five people — 39 per cent — paid individual admission rates in the eight months the museum has been open.
Of the paid admission rates, school groups accounted for 16 per cent of the museum's revenue to date.
The remainder of visitors have attended the museum through events paid for by a third party.
Revenue target surpassed
Museum spokeswoman Rhea Yates said those numbers don't tell the full story. In fact, the CMHR has had a tremendously successful first year.
"Overall visitation and overall revenue are the key measuring sticks and the museum is doing well on both. Our 12-month visitation goal is 250,000 — we nearly reached that in seven months," she said.
The museum has also surpassed its $1.5-million revenue target for the 2014-2015 fiscal year and is expected to take in $1.8 million.
"We have multiple ways of earning revenue. So, while of course admission to the galleries is important, we also earn revenue from the boutique, our bistro restaurant and from facilities rentals," Yates said.
"And all of those areas are doing well."
Plus, many of the freebies won't happen in the future.
"Our opening year is a bit of an anomaly because we welcomed many people on our inaugural weekend — 9,000 through our free preview tours — and that's not going to be happening every year, so that number is going to be dramatically lower," Yates said.
