Thinktank executives are putting a brave face on the future of the science centre in Birmingham. With low visitor figures and criticisms that it is too child-centred, it is embarking on a revised marketing strategy and refreshing some of its displays.
Thinktank, which opened in the autumn of 2001, never reached its projected visitor figures which have declined from 230,000 in the first year to 137,500 for 2003/4.
The science centre is at Millennium Point, also home to an Imax cinema, which closed at the beginning of this year because the private company running it went bust (it has now reopened). The complex is on the Eastside of Birmingham, away from the city's centre, and outlets that were expected to be sold or rented are still empty.
Stewart Dobson, the chief executive of Millennium Point and Thinktank, said: 'Given what Thinktank has to offer, it should be capable of 250,000 visitors a year.' But even that figure is below those of the Birmingham Museum of Science and Industry, a free attraction that closed in 1997 and whose objects are now part of the entrance-charging Thinktank.
In the year it closed it welcomed 303,000 visitors. Thinktank's target for 2004/5 is 175,000. Birmingham City Council gives it a £2.5m grant each year.
Dobson said until 2003 Thinktank and Millennium Point had two separate chief executives. He said the result was a 'confused picture' as to what was on offer. 'The number one interest to the public is Thinktank. We should ensure that we concentrate on marketing it. If Thinktank attracts the public the whole complex will be successful,' Dobson said.
The new marketing plan includes Thinktank's first temporary exhibition, the BBC's Walking With Beasts, which opened in July. With the help of extra funding from Birmingham City Council and the Birmingham Children's Fund it will offer free or discounted school visits.
Its intention is to increase school visits from 35,000 to 50,000. Plans to update the Futures gallery are awaiting the result of a £900,000 bid to the Rediscover Fund.
But Terry Grimley, the arts editor of the Birmingham Post, is unconvinced by the plans. 'The old museum was aimed at a general audience. This one has been repackaged and aimed at children. It's a perverse thing to narrow the target audience,' he told Museum Journal.
Thinktank, which opened in the autumn of 2001, never reached its projected visitor figures which have declined from 230,000 in the first year to 137,500 for 2003/4.
The science centre is at Millennium Point, also home to an Imax cinema, which closed at the beginning of this year because the private company running it went bust (it has now reopened). The complex is on the Eastside of Birmingham, away from the city's centre, and outlets that were expected to be sold or rented are still empty.
Stewart Dobson, the chief executive of Millennium Point and Thinktank, said: 'Given what Thinktank has to offer, it should be capable of 250,000 visitors a year.' But even that figure is below those of the Birmingham Museum of Science and Industry, a free attraction that closed in 1997 and whose objects are now part of the entrance-charging Thinktank.
In the year it closed it welcomed 303,000 visitors. Thinktank's target for 2004/5 is 175,000. Birmingham City Council gives it a £2.5m grant each year.
Dobson said until 2003 Thinktank and Millennium Point had two separate chief executives. He said the result was a 'confused picture' as to what was on offer. 'The number one interest to the public is Thinktank. We should ensure that we concentrate on marketing it. If Thinktank attracts the public the whole complex will be successful,' Dobson said.
The new marketing plan includes Thinktank's first temporary exhibition, the BBC's Walking With Beasts, which opened in July. With the help of extra funding from Birmingham City Council and the Birmingham Children's Fund it will offer free or discounted school visits.
Its intention is to increase school visits from 35,000 to 50,000. Plans to update the Futures gallery are awaiting the result of a £900,000 bid to the Rediscover Fund.
But Terry Grimley, the arts editor of the Birmingham Post, is unconvinced by the plans. 'The old museum was aimed at a general audience. This one has been repackaged and aimed at children. It's a perverse thing to narrow the target audience,' he told Museum Journal.
