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BENEFITS FOR BOSTON AND BEYOND

Economic Development: Tourism is Massachusetts' third largest industry; 27 million people visited Massachusetts in fiscal year 2004. Boston is a mecca for historic tourism, but its performance is slack. For ten years, the length of stay has been flat, at 1.9 days, while Philadelphia's has shot up to 3.9 days because city leaders have invested in making the tourism industry grow.

The city and state are acutely conscious that increased tourist time adds immediately to the hotel, restaurant and sales tax receipts. With high incremental rates, each of these revenue streams move quickly to the treasury, especially to the state treasury.

The Volpe National Transportation Center conducted a study in 2003 that analyzed the economic impact of The Boston Museum. When adjusted for inflation, the study forecasts a $45+ million dollar annual economic impact for the Boston region, with a projected 500,000 visitors per year.

Community Building: The development team of The Boston Museum hopes that a historical enterprise can lure contemporary Boston into a conversation, and provide opportunities for important civic dialogue.

"The Boston Museum represents a historic opportunity for Boston to build upon its rich legacy of sites and stories," said Henry Louis Gates, Director, W.E.B. DuBois Institute, Harvard University. "It will help all of us, residents and visitors deepen our understanding of the foundations of freedom and the urban American experience. This new institution will also allow a city of diverse neighborhoods to find cultural common ground. That's a powerful - and essential - concept for this city."

The Board intends to design the building as an attractive venue for public and private events. It sits close by the Convention Center and can be part of convention planning. The Boston Museum is well positioned to generate a significant revenue stream and add an excellent civic locale for Boston.

Education: The Boston Museum will broaden and deepen the appreciation of Boston as a "living classroom" and campus for thematic learning through partnerships with other historic sites and cultural institutions, sharing best practices and working in concert to create new programming and enrichment activities for educators and students throughout the region.

We will also reach out to national audiences through extensive use of electronic links and new media technology. Text book publishers predict the disappearance of the printed text, perhaps within a decade. Our project will develop new ways of teaching about America's heritage through web-based curricula, virtual field trips, and other means.

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