In its opening year, the $100 million museum saw 187,657 visitors.
Charleston, South Carolina’s International African American Museum is celebrating one year in operation following 20 years of planning and development. In its opening year, the $100 million museum saw 187,657 visitors, five exhibits, and 7,148 yearly memberships.
As Live 5 News reports, the museum’s performance thus far has exceeded the expectations of Dr. Tanya Matthews, president and CEO of the museum. “I think our engagement levels were far beyond what we expected. Of course, we wanted to open the doors and we really knew that folks were excited.” Matthews told the outlet.
Matthews continued, “I think as we go into the next year, we have a bit more confidence about how we can activate our space and how creative we can be in our space. We’ve learned how to activate our east and west yard with everything from upscale cocktail parties, to young designer fashion shows have been in the space with us. We use our classroom space, of which we now know we need more because apparently the grownups want to take the same classes that the young folks want to do. I think both our visitors and our members and our donors have figured out: ‘Oh my goodness, tomorrow there’s going to be something new.’