Museums exhibit little attendance growth

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Museum of Science and Industry . File photo. | Rich Hein~Sun-Times

Updated: February 28, 2012 8:16AM

Despite the sluggish economy, several of the Chicago area’s largest museums and zoos saw a bump in attendance in 2011 over the previous year — the biggest increases coming at the Museum of Science and Industry and the Peggy Notebaert Museum.

Both of those museums saw a 6 percent increase over 2010, according to the umbrella organization, Museums in the Park.

New exhibits helped boost the numbers, officials said. Overall, though, the combined attendance numbers remained flat, with a total attendance of 14.4 million at the 14 institutions, officials said.

Other institutions that saw an increase in visitors: the Field Museum, Chicago Children’s Museum, Chicago Botanic Garden (5 percent); Adler Planetarium (4 percent); John G. Shedd Aquarium (3 percent).

Both the city’s and the Midwest’s top attraction remains Navy Pier, with some 8 million visitors annually, according to the city’s official website.

Below is the 2011 attendance for each of the 14 Museums in the Park institutions:

Lincoln Park Zoo — 3,000,000 (estimated)

Brookfield Zoo — 2,158,185

John G. Shedd Aquarium — 2,120,900

Museum of Science and Industry — 1,568,700

The Art Institute of Chicago — 1,440,599

The Field Museum — 1,282,817

Chicago Botanic Garden — 953,865

Chicago Children’s Museum — 417,440

Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum — 271,928

DuSable Museum of African American History — 161,347

National Museum of Mexican Art — 156,749