Omniplex closing?
The Omniplex, an awesome tourist attraction for our city, may have to close. This would be a huge blow to our city. Apparently, they're not anywhere close to breaking even when it comes to operating expenses.
I'd be interested to know how other science centers around the country are financed.
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"Omniplex fighting for its life
By Steve Lackmeyer and Ty McMahan
The Oklahoman
Declining revenues and attendance have placed Oklahoma City's Omniplex on a list of endangered science museums struggling to stay relevant in the Internet era.
The Omniplex still routinely draws a quarter million visitors a year, but after years of losses totaling more than $7 million, directors revealed last week they've considered shutting down.
After writing up a plan on how to close the Omniplex, board members decided to find a way to survive -- and rally community support.
Callers make plea
The museum's plight was made public for the first time Friday, when it was reported by The Oklahoman.
"The phones have been ringing off the hook," said Donald Otto, interim director. "They're all supportive. We're hearing from people we've not heard from in a while. And everybody is saying they don't want us to cut back -- they want it to be more than what it is today."
The Omniplex is a mix of aging exhibits with a few newer displays added in, all aimed at educating children and adults about nature, physics, biology, space, chemistry and engineering.
Cultural exhibits are sprinkled in, reflecting the intention of founder and longtime benefactor John Kirkpatrick.
For the last several years, interest and investment earnings from an endowment provided by Kirkpatrick covered operating losses. But those earnings are no longer sufficient to cover the gap or pay for new exhibits needed to keep the museum on the cutting edge, Otto said.
"We've been lucky enough to have an angel that founded this museum and supported it for many years," Otto said. "But times change, and it's time for the support to expand, and to be more than just from one family or one individual."
Before Bricktown's rebirth, the Omniplex, National Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma City Zoo were the chief tourist attractions.
The zoo and the hall of fame, renamed the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, have been enlarged and renovated. A new Oklahoma City Museum of Art and Oklahoma City National Memorial Center Museum made downtown a competing cultural and educational hub.
Otto said the Omniplex was hit hard by the drop in museum attendance reported nationally after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"It took a long time for people to recover, to go out again," Otto said. "There seems to be a portion of the public that just seems to have stopped going to museums."
Financial troubles also have been reported at the Putnam Museum in Davenport, Iowa, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, and the Museum of Science and Technology in Syracuse, N.Y.
Newer digs don't always ensure success.
Ohio's Columbus Center of Science and Industry opened in a new $125 million, larger museum in 1999 with hopes of attracting up to 2 million visitors a year.
But reports show attendance peaked at about 1 million that first year and dropped to less than 600,000 the past few years.
Some of the troubles are blamed on a building spree of science museums in the 1970s and 1980s.
Sheila Grinell, author of "A Place for Learning Science: Starting a Science Center and Keeping it Running," said expansion hastened the demise of some of those attractions by diminishing their status as regional destinations.
"Hands-on was new and valuable, and is still important to science education," Grinell said.
"The Internet and all the other options for getting that interactive experience became competition for science centers. A lot of the things we pioneered have become commonplace."
Grinell said science museums now have to earn their keep.
"You have to provide change, make things convenient, safe and accessible. You have to do some things for fees and contracts, like field trips and birthday parties."
Since the Omniplex's earliest days as a planetarium at State Fair Park, it has always been funded through donations -- including millions from Kirkpatrick -- and admissions.
A survey last year by the Association of Science Technology Centers of 185 museums shows nearly two-thirds of respondents have endowments. However, the survey's authors found endowments are less common in science centers than with any other kind of museum participating in the survey.
Grinell said few science museums have endowments. She said most successful museums operate "in the black," and "you can take a science center over seven years and they might be in the red for one year."
Grinell said public dollars typically cover a science museum's capital needs, while operations should be covered by contributions and admissions.
At the Omniplex, the directors have watched an extensive make-over of the adjoining Oklahoma City Zoo fueled by a permanent, dedicated sales tax. Nearby, the Softball Hall of Fame was expanded and renovated using $3.5 million from a property tax increase passed by voters in 2000.
Otto can quickly dream up a list of improvements needed at Omniplex: new exhibits, renovation of the interior and vintage 1970s-exterior and replacement and removal of outdated displays.
In the interim, however, cutting operations and reducing costs may be the only solutions. He agrees with Grinell that cutting back only ensures more problems ahead.
"You have to grow yourselves out of these problems," Otto said. "In the short term, we may have to do some cost cutting -- but we're going to be doing it in a way that we'll be looking to the future."
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