In the second week of April, Tom Crouch, a senior curator at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, came to Albuquerque.

Crouch was invited to visit the Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum, the freshly minted shrine to ballooning that is already meeting criticism for under-performance.

He came away impressed.

Francis White leans over the shoulder of his wife, Ellen, as the two try a flight simulation exhibit called "Now You're the Pilot" at the Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum. City officials hope marketing efforts will draw more visitors to the museum. (Michael J. Gallegos/Tribune)

"Open for only six months, with the exhibition development program still under way, the balloon museum already offers a fuller and more complete coverage of its subject than any other American museum," Crouch wrote in an April 16 report sent to balloon museum officials.

But Crouch's words have done little to allay concerns of city leaders worried that they're paying for a museum nobody wants to visit.

"Sometimes you have something that's world class but you still don't go," Councilor Don Harris said Thursday, as the museum was discussed during a budget hearing. "I think the big disappointment from the council and the public is you have something that's a gorgeous facility but people aren't showing up."

The city's $437 million general fund budget proposal cuts funding for the museum from $1 million to $605,000. The city will focus on making the venue and its surrounding area next to Balloon Fiesta Park a general events center, while maintaining the museum and its name.

"We have taken a different tack," Gail Reese, the city's chief financial officer, told the council.

The museum opened during October's Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta with an expectation of generating $400,000 in annual revenue.

Projections have since dropped to $65,000 for each of the next two years, with each year expected to draw 30,000 people.

Double Eagle Elementary School students Carla Villareal and Corey Price watch a model hot-air balloon lift off at the Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum during a school field trip. Museum officials hope to make it an all-day destination to help draw more visitors. (Michael J. Gallegos/Tribune)

While early estimates might have been optimistic, museum leaders say the real problem was in marketing.

Namely, there was none.

"In terms of marketing, there should have been a plan in place that really accounted for the fact that this museum is in a destination area," said Tom Levine, head of the Balloon Museum Foundation, the private organization that raised money for the museum's exhibits.

The foundation has set a goal of raising $150,000 to promote the museum during the next year.

Only in recent weeks have the first museum brochures made their way across the state and the city, Levine said.

"There weren't even brochures in hotels that people could access to know it's there," Levine said. "It is upon us to, collaboratively with the city, promote this thing in a way that recognizes that it is 8 or 10 miles away from the mainstream.

"We want to find a way to get people out there."

Levine and other museum backers outlined a series of hurdles the museum needs to overcome:

The museum's location next to Balloon Fiesta Park, while appropriate, is isolated from the majority of Albuquerque's museums in Old Town.

A successful opening in October was followed by a typical down time for museums that runs from November to May, Levine said.

The museum must battle perceptions that it is an attraction only accessible during the balloon fiesta.

"I've talked to people that drive back and forth on Alameda that don't know it's there," Levine said. "There are so many misconceptions about this museum."

The city is trying to change that, in part by providing reasons for people to spend more time there and more than once a year.

Velia Silva, the head of the city's Cultural Affairs Department, said a visit to the museum now takes two hours at most.

"We're trying to extend it so it can become a family outing," Silva said. "If they drive all the way out to Alameda, they know they can spend four or five hours for a family outing."

To help that effort, the city - using money allocated this year by the Legislature - is on the verge of buying a $1 million flight simulator.

The simulator is expected to feature a locally produced film showing a balloon ride throughout New Mexico.

Filmed by area balloonists, the show will be "four-dimensional," so viewers can feel the same wind and mist sensations as actual balloonists, Silva said.

The plan is to have the simulator operating by the next balloon fiesta in October, Levine said.

Levine said a balloonist hall of fame exhibit from Germany is also expected to arrive by October.

And plans could include improvements outside the facility - such as an outdoor amphitheater, a reflecting pond or an exterior tethered balloon ride, Levine said.

The city is also upping its efforts to provide year-round programming at the area around the museum.

On Mother's Day weekend - May 13 and 14 - the city is hosting the Balloon Museum Air, Wind & Wheels Fair. The event will feature balloon launches, bicycle races and a kite flying show.

By hosting other events, the city hopes to draw more attention to the museum.

Because if there's one point they want to make clear, it's this:

"The balloon museum will always be here," Silva said.

While the Albuquerque International Balloon Museum goes through growing pains, other museums in the city have done well. Here's a sampling:

2000 Mountain Road N.W.

The popular art museum has seen attendance rise with high-profile exhibits. Fiscal year 2004 brought in more than 170,000 people thanks to an exhibit featuring French Impressionists, according to city figures. A year later, the numbers dropped under 100,000, thanks largely to construction work.

About 150,000 people are expected during this budget year, and 125,000 visitors are projected for next year.

The museum recently concluded an exhibit featuring the work of Spanish masters, including Pablo Picasso.

1701 Mountain Road N.W.

Explora opened at its present location Dec. 13, 2003. This year, on Jan. 17, it saw its half-millionth visitor, said Ellen Welker, the museum's marketing manager.

"Quite frankly, we're doing very well," she said.

Those numbers show Explora has bucked the trend of new facilities that slump after opening, she said.

Part of the success has been in convincing adults that the museum is more than a children's science museum, she said.

"It's totally interactive. That's the other key," Welker said. "It's not a typical museum in that you walk through and look at things."

1776 Montano Road N.W.

Opened by the legendary Unser racing family on Sept. 19, the museum has welcomed 6,500 visitors - more than 800 a month. Museum board member Susan Unser said that beats her expectation of 700 a month.

About half of those visitors, she said, are from out of state. But she said the museum is hoping to attract more locals, possibly with the help of big names.

International Motorsports Hall of Fame member Johnny Rutherford is expected to appear in September. And the museum is negotiating with racing legends A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti with the hopes of having them in town before the next racing season starts in March or April 2007, Unser said.

1801 Mountain Road N.W., Old Town

The natural history museum continues to be the most visited museum in the state, said Stuart Ashman, state secretary of cultural affairs.

Over the last three years, the museum has averaged nearly 244,000 visitors a year interested in seeing the state's natural history.

Or maybe it's just the dinosaurs.

About 120,000 of those annual visitors have been students, Ashman said.

"This is really a museum that services New Mexicans," Ashman said. "It's not about the tourist industry."

1701 Fourth Street S.W.

The National Hispanic Cultural Center has been around since 2000, but in the past three years it has seen a big rise in attendance.

Fiscal year 2004 brought in 30,251 visitors. That more than doubled a year later to 67,445, according to state figures.

This year, the cultural center is expected to draw nearly 94,000 visitors to its Barelas location, Ashman said.

"It's a whole center of Hispanic culture including performance, literature, genealogy and, of course, the museum program," Ashman said. "It really says a lot about our state and its commitment to arts and culture."