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Let's make it a 100% volunteers, and Use Skip as marketing director, he is so smart!

The problem is that Greensboro is not really a tourist destination. The museum would do better in places like Washington, DC or Atlanta. The museum is nice but I wouldn't drive 4 or 5 hours to Greensboro just to see that. Greensboro needs other things to attract tourists who will then go to the museum in addition to the main reason they visit. Good luck to the museum.

Once the new hotel is built across the street, that will make all the difference in the world! Isn't it obvious that visitors to the museum are holding back until they have a posh place to stay?

What they are conveniently not telling you is how many of the 40,000 visitors were county students who were bussed in at Taxpayer expense. This so called Museum will never in a million years see 250k visitors annually regardless of thier marketing strategy. There are simply not enough people who want to see or hear about the plight of the Blacks anymore, most people are extremely tired of hearing that same story.

Skip 'doesn't want people to think we're having a shortfall by any means' ? Well, the truth is, you ARE having shortfalls. I see nothing wrong w/using a strong volunteer base, but having to cut staff & not meeting the anticipated visitor quota that was so boldly bragged about....that says shortfall to most.

I would love to know how many of the 40K visitors were actually out of towners who spent a night in a hotel. And, how much was their room rate? ANYONE who thinks this museum will support the posh new digs across the street are crazy. The museum, just like the future finanicially struggling hotel, will only survive on taxpayer support.

When it becomes fully taxpayer funded, they can hire a much bigger staff.
As I see it, that will be just a matter of time. We must at all cost, keep victimology, front and center.

Ah, sad. There is not anything for tourists to do, and Greensboro is a stay-at-home town. The locals don't have anything to do either, and museums already have a reputation for being booooring, This one is no different. It is a museum. It has nothing to do with heritage or taxpayers or Skip as marketing person.
People in this town in power do things for their curb appeal, period. It is a country town run by pathetic social climbers who are more interested in form than function. That goes for white and black in this town.

100% volunteers or a substantial portion. Let's see who is really interested in making this a success. My experience has been that projects like this often draw some parasites who want to have a cushy job.

Volunteers are a wonderful idea and this would be an excellent time to use our college students. We have many colleges in our area and to make it even more attractive to the students, maybe they could earn college credits by volunteering hours at the museum. There is so much that these young people could do to help and the museum needs to take advantage of this situation.

I'd calling this growing pains. We know that Skip and Earl had big expectations; but neither had museum experience. Now that it has some professional guidance, it will be OK. It'll never be the Smithsonian; but, this is Greensboro. Hopefully, they will partner with other museums and site-seeing opportunities in Greensboro to create mini-tours of Greensboro that are enjoyable and affordable.

It will be interesting to see how they handle the crowds downtown this Christmas. An Open House (free) would be a unique way to peek local interest.

I would love to take my four quests to the museum. The $50 price-tag stops me from footing the bill.

I was one of the five laid off and I have plenty to tell and say about this. This article doesn't even scratch the surface, but that will change with a follow up article. Nancy was gracious and kind to interview some of us after we read this article this morning. She reported what she was told from only a select few from their side who gave limited information. Thanks for speaking with me this morning.

I would like to address their membership prices. I took myself and 3 college students ($34). I may or may not go back with my younger daughter. This would cost $18.00. That is $52.00. The price for a family membership is $100.00. Why would I really want to purchase the membership? Once you go, you've kind of seen it all. If the membership price were more like $60.00 for a family, then I would most likely have purchased it on my first visit. I would have figured that I could go back with my younger daughter, and perhaps again with my husband (He is gone working out of state much of the time), and since I was going with a new person each time, this would make for an interesting visit for me as well. I would have figured that at 3 visits I would pretty much have "broken even" on my membership outlay. And the museum would have had my $60.00 right up front (plus the admission fees for our 2 guests). But at $100, I just said, "I don't think I want to return that much." Contrast this with the Zoo. I was able to get a Family Plus membership for $59.00 (using a $10 promotion). We can go to the zoo and take one guest for free. And this is the Zoo. You can go and spend the better part of a day. You can bring a picnic. You can go in the winter and in the summer, and you can see completely different things. You can walk for hours. I just really think that the Civil Rights Museum has an unrealistic membership structure.

Also, it is LONG overdue to let guests walk about on their own. After we finished with our guided tour, we wanted to go back around because we did not have enough time to look at all of the exhibits, and we were told that we could not. What kind of a museum is that?

Then wait until the newness wears off...then maybe 10-15 a month might stop in...sort of like the Palmer Institute that gets maybe 1 person a day for the Millions that has been spent there as well. Maybe Skip will write a check from the NAACP to cover the costs, but I bet he will come begging for money from us tax payers...will not share the financial books with the BOC or Council...then cry racism when they tell him no!

Same broken record...it will be a new day soon!