Seattle shows little love for Lucy fossil exhibit.

[HeresyLives]

January 24, 2009

Seattle shows little love for Lucy fossil exhibit
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


SEATTLE - Who loves Lucy? Far fewer people than a Seattle science centre hoped when officials paid millions to show the fossil remains of one of the earliest known human ancestors.

Halfway through the five-month exhibit, the Pacific Science Center faces a half-million-dollar loss resulting in layoffs of eight per cent of the staff, furloughs and a wage freeze, President Bryce Seidl said Friday.


http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2009/01/24/8136541-ap...

[Maru Kitteh]

1. Are you kiddnig me? How dissapointing. n/t

[Trajan]

2. Oh hell ...

I was just there in late December, and I neglected to remember Lucy was there ....

I would have loved to see her ....

[earth mom]

3. Wow this is sad....but

We were there the summer before last and had a helluva time finding parking. We had to walk blocks to get there and once inside, we found that the place is soooo spread out that we were there much longer than we had planned just so we could see everything.

[spindrifter]

4. The weather killed the exhibit.

Lots of people who would have seen Lucy during the holiday break didn't go anywhere due to the snow situation. The paralysis people have felt due to the economy has not been helping, either.

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. Yes, I'm thinking the economy isn't helping. Special exhibits have additional entry fees over the

regular cost of entering a museum.

[AZBlue]

5. Wow. Too bad intellectual and historical interests have died in this country.

How sad.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

7. Yep.

We're just happy that we have fire here in Seattle.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

18. No, we don't even have fire. There's been a burn ban since the early part of the month.

Too many people trying to keep fuel costs down burning wood.

[AZBlue]

19. Oh, and that wasn't aimed at Seattle alone - I hope it didn't come across that way.

I think it's a problem shared by every city in this nation.

[Adsos Letter]

8. I have been heartened somewhat by the response to archaeological news...

that I post on DU from time to time.

We do, however, represent a pretty well-read and intellectually curious slice of the demographic...

[AlCzervik]

9. one of the best things in England are the museums which are free.

we left donations of course but it's open and available to anyone no matter how money you do or do not have.

i really wish we had that here, i don;t ever mind paying an entrance fee but it can be costly for those who don't have much money.

[Bandit]

16. Sixty bucks to go and see it

too bad so many in America don't have that much money to spend for curiosity.

[AZBlue]

20. That is pretty high. But usually musuems offer great discount programs when they charge like that.

If not, perhaps we're seeing some of the museum's problems laid out right there?

[Zhade]

21. OUCH. I love science, and I wouldn't have paid that much.

Couldn't, really.

[ColbertWatcher]

22. True.

When it comes to being forced to choose between food, rent/mortgage, medicine and museums, guess who loses out.

[yewberry]

23. It's $20.75 for adults.

Same principle, though--right now I don't have the extra cash for two of us to go.

[xchrom]

6. sad -- but in some ways predictable -- now jesus riding a dinosaur? nt

[LeftyMom]

11. Oh wow, I had no idea she was on display in the states.

Now I have to look at the budget and see if I can take the kid up to take a look.

[Book Lover]

12. Thus is exposed the *real* problem the Lucy exhibit is having

This event has had zero advertising outside of some special museum-related e-newsletters I get. I can't say how widely it's been advertised in Seattle, but this show has had zero press. How can people go see an exhibit if they don't know it's here!

[old mark]

15. I live on the East Coast-at least as close to it as I care to - but I would

very interested in seeing this, and yes, this post is the first I have heard of it.


mark

[Angleae]

13. Maybe if the told people it was here.

It's been here for five months? This is the first I've heard about it.

[KharmaTrain]

14. Museums & Endowments Are Getting Destroyed...

There was a report about the problems facing our fine Chicago museums...they've been hit in many ways over the past year. Most important was the hit many of their endowments took...funds that used to generate the basic operating revenues took these places by surprise as once "sure" money was gone.

Next there was the drop off in donations as corporations and individuals began to hunker down and at the top of the list was "charitable" donations to non-profits. In the past many used these donations as tax deductions, but with all the losses over the last year, many are lucky to have any gains yet have to find ways to offset them.

Lastly, there's a drop off in tourism and admissions...travel is down 20% from a year ago and that's not only big money at the box office but for the special attractions, food court and gift shop. The hope is that lower oil costs will open up travel this spring and summer...if not, it could mean some drastic cuts throughout the year.

I wish there was an easy fix here, but we have so many fires in so many places, I don't see this being a high priority compared to job creation and other government spending. Hopefully the economy recovers quickly and the pipeline of donations will pick up.

[mrs_p]

17. we didn't know she was there either

and would have gone when we were home for the holidays if we had known. there wasn't one advertisement of any kind i saw while there or anyone who told us.

[csziggy]

24. Ican't find which other cities Lucy will be visiting

Maybe New York, Washington and Los Angeles. If I had known, I might have tried to make to Houston while Lucy was there since that would have been the closest that is mentioned.

But the exhibit is much more than just the Lucy fossil. The entire exhibit as shown at Houston's Museum of Natural Science is a history of Ethiopia from Lucy to the present with artifacts from thousands of years of the country's history and prehistory.
http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-08/2007-08-...

And Ethiopia which has not had the proper facilities to exhibit Lucy's fossilized bones will get all the items used in the traveling displays: "At the end of the U.S. tour, all the items associated with the exhibit – any computer programs, display cases, background information and lighting – will go to Ethiopia, so people there can finally see the fossil, Van Tuerenhout said." http://articles.latimes.com/2004/aug/20/entertainment/e...

With a proper place to display the artifacts in Ethiopia they can use it as a tourist destination and to educate their own people about their past.