Besides gift shop discounts and cafe reduced prices, the various forms of annual membership to the Grand Rapids Public Museum also include invitations to member-only events like the recent exhibition preview on June 6, on the eve of opening day to follow. Between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. the members were invited to register to attend after the day's usual public hours had ended. In addition, there was a cash bar at the 2nd floor landing before proceeding to the SHARKS exhibition on the 3rd floor. A photographer recorded casual and some posed pictures (see the following screenshot from the Facebook page for the museum). An email survey was sent out to those attending to gauge the experiences of those who came.
The next day, Saturday the 7th, was the SHARK exhibition opening for general admission visitors. But on the same day from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. the City of Grand Rapids was hosting its own 175th birthday party at the Rosa Park Circle. Booths were lining the surrounding streets, including ones from the city library and also the Grand Rapids Public Museum. So engagement with the public is not only inside the museum and the individual and group level of engagement, but also at other locations away from the museum's own property.
Since the GRPM (www.grpm.org) combines nature, history, and science/technology there are people with some or all of these interests who attend from time to time, and some who subscribe as annual members to attend regularly alone or with a guest or with a family pass. Youth who reside in the city also have free admission until age 18. And the nearby parking ramp allows free validation to county residents, not just for members. In all these ways the board of directors and staff of GRPM make efforts to reduce obstacles (financial or visibility - absent from places that potential visitors see) so that more and more people will enter the museum and interact with the multi-modal ways of communicating: artifacts, moving and still images and graphics, text, and video displays.
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