Broad Museum Celebrates First Year Marked by Attendance Records

LOS ANGELES, CA -- Exactly one year after The Broad opened its doors, the museum of contemporary art in downtown Los Angeles announced today that first-year attendance totaled 823,216.

The number of visitors is nearly triple pre-opening projections and the largest first-year attendance of a new art institution in the United States, according to the museum.

"The Broad's visitors also reflected unprecedented diversity for an art museum, attracting a dramatically younger, more ethnically diverse audience than the national average," according to museum officials, who cited free general admission and having one of the world's leading collections of postwar and contemporary art as draws.

"Edye and I could not be more delighted with the public reception to the museum," said Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist who, with his wife, paid for the construction of the $140 million museum on Grand Avenue and filled it with their 2,000-work art collection.

"Our goal has always been to share our art with the broadest possible public, and our first year has exceeded all of our expectations," he said.

The Broad's first-year attendance puts it in the top 80 art museums worldwide in terms of annual attendance and in the top 15 U.S. art museums.

The average visitor to The Broad is 33 years old -- more than 12 years younger than the national art museum average, according to the museum, and more than 80 percent of The Broad's visitors said they had very little knowledge of contemporary art.

Sixty percent of visitors came from Los Angeles County, 22 percent from other areas of California, 9 percent from other states, and 13 percent from abroad.

The Broad's economic impact on the region in its first year has been significant, according to a statement issued by the museum, which said it has generated more than $54 million in economic benefit to Los Angeles County, creating 490 jobs and labor income of $24 million.

The museum also generated $8.2 million in local, state and federal tax revenue, according to a study by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.

"The Broad has been an outstanding addition to downtown Los Angeles -- it's an incredible museum that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to the heart of our city, and has strengthened L.A.'s place as a world capital of contemporary art," said Mayor Eric Garcetti.

City News Service; Photo by Sharon VanderKaay via flickr.com