The Art Institute of Chicago said Thursday that errors it made communicating monthly attendance figures led to a miscount for all of 2003, and that its decline in attendance last year was 2 percent, not 22 percent as previously reported.
“It was our fault, not Museums in the Park,” said Art Institute spokeswoman Eileen Harakal, referring to the umbrella group for her institution and the eight others on Chicago Park District land.
The group on Wednesday released a 2003 attendance report based on figures supplied by members. It showed Art Institute attendance falling by 22 percent, to 1.13 million, from 1.45 million in 2002. Harakal said that results for the last six months of the year were undercounted and that the actual 2003 total was nearly 1.42 million.
Using the revised figures, the nine museum’s total attendance was 7.35 million, a decline of 2 percent from 2002, not the 6 percent previously reported.