Southern Nevada cultural institutions are reopening after the pandemic shutdown, but things are different.
The Discovery Children’s Museum in downtown Las Vegas opened its doors for the first time in three months in early July. With it came a long list of safety precautions, including a self-imposed occupancy limit of 175 that’s a fraction of 1,750 occupancy limit.
“Visitors will really feel like they have a lot of space for physical distancing, a lot of opportunity to be in the galleries, and for the cleaning to happen,” Museum CEO Melissa Kaiser told State of Nevada.
The Neon Museum on Las Vegas Boulevard North has been opened since late May, also with new safety protocols. Over that time it has done about half the business that’s typical for this time, according to museum CEO Rob McCoy.
“We’re a museum that depends overwhelmingly on tourism; only about 10 percent of our attendance is locals,” McCoy said. “So when the hotels are shut down, we are in effect shut down.”
From its reopening and through June, the Neon Museum reached out to the locals market by offering $10 tickets, and Southern Nevadans responded.
“We sold about 18,000 tickets. And almost half of those were locals. A lot of people were exposed to our collection and the history of Las Vegas who have never seen it before. A lot of these folks were first-time visitors.”
Both museums require visitors to wear masks and recommend booking tours online.
Melissa Kaiser, CEO, Discovery Children’s Museum; Rob McCoy, CEO, Neon Museum