El Museo del Barrio was founded in 1969 by a group of Puerto Rican educators, artists, parents and community activists in East Harlem's Spanish-speaking El Barrio. Since then, El Museo del Barrio has evolved into New York's leading Latino cultural institution, having expanded its mission to represent the diversity of art and culture in all of the Caribbean and Latin America. El Museo engaged Audience Insight (AMS's market research division) to undertake market research to enhance understanding of existing and potential audiences, increase visitation, clarify the museum's market potential and audience-development goals, and to create a consistent marketing and branding campaign.

Our work plan included a data file analysis of El Museo del Barrio members, donors and visitors, providing detailed demographic and lifestyle information about current attendees and analyzing current market penetration and potential. Individual customer records were analyzed, using the Nielsen Claritas household segmentation system. In addition, intercept surveys were conducted with visitors at gallery exhibitions and El Museo programs. The intercept survey covered topics such as history of visitation, usage of the museum's web site, program and exhibition satisfaction, fulfillment of visit expectations, attendance factors and decision making, and respondent demographics. Among the survey's key findings was that "Interest in Latino Art/Culture/Heritage" was among the most important attendance factors