In good markets the criteria list reporters are more savvy and that criteria list may look beyond a single exhibition to include the broader number of important exhibitions conducted and the size of membership.
But there's much more to a museum's mission than even these simple statistics. Maxwell L. Anderson published an excellent essay for the Getty Leadership Institute back in 2004 called Metrics of Success in Art Museums in which he argues that there should be at least 11 primary measurements followed:
Quality of Leadership
Fulfillment of Education Mandate
Institutional Mandate
Management Priorities and Achievements
Caliber and Diversity of Staff
Standards of Governance
Scope and Quality of Collection
Contributions to Scholarship
Contributions to Art Conservation
Quality of Exhibitions
Facilities Contribution to Core Mission
Under each of these criteria he goes into greater depth to identify measurable elements of performance. From number of catalogs published to the number of permissions granted for sketching in the galleries. It's 20 pages and well worth the time if you haven't seen it before. Each of the measurable elements is clearly listed in an end-of-document appendix, so his proposed checklist is there for easy access.
It occurs to me that a list like this is not only a way for a museum to judge itself internally but could be used to redefine success in the public eye.
If you'd prefer not to be judged solely by admissions you must help the media (and through them the public) see these other measures of success. You'll have to define those other criteria if you want to be judged by them.
note: at the time of this posting I had intermittent trouble with the PDF link from the Getty Leadership Institute. Here is an additional link that provides an all text version of the document.
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