Botanical Gardens in a Time of Crisis: Targeted Results from a National Study of Attenders and the Public

Presented on September 30, 2020, Slover Linett’s Jen Benoit-Bryan and Madeline Smith joined The Morton Arboretum’s Alicia LaVire to share national findings from the general public with responses from recent visitors to botanical gardens to provide tailored insights into the attitudes, behaviors, and needs of Americans at this time.

Soon after coronavirus started spreading in the United States, Slover Linett and LaPlaca Cohen collaborated to launch a large-scale audience research study to help inform decision making in arts and culture organizations, including public gardens. The need and demand for this type of insight was made abundantly clear by the overwhelming interest from organizations willing to participate in the survey—more than 650 arts and culture organizations in the United States provided their audiences lists to include in the survey resulting in a sample size of more than 120,000. Eighteen arboreta or botanical gardens participated in the research with a total sample size of more than 8,000 respondents.