Investigating people’s understandings of, and attitudes to, the purposes of museums sounds simple enough. The Museums Association’s (MA) mission says that museums: “…enable people to explore collections for inspiration, learning and enjoyment.
They are institutions that collect, safeguard and make accessible artefacts and specimens, which they hold in trust for society.” It follows that their role is to contribute to people’s inspiration, learning and enjoyment. So, what’s the issue?
As part of its Museums 2020 consultation, the MA is battling with a host of potentially conflicting views from museums about the future of the sector. Why make things even more difficult by asking the public? Articulating public policy is one thing, but interrogating how it works in practice is something else.
The recession has focused the sector’s attention on the importance of what visitors think and want. Understanding how museums are publicly perceived could be a new kind of resource for the sector. It might impact on how museums decide their priorities.
The MA hopes that its public attitudes research will increase the sector’s understanding of different points of view. More pointedly, the findings from the research could help to shape its strategies in anticipation of the next spending review.
However, it’s has been argued that museums are unique; that you can’t compare one with the other let alone make generalised observations. Maybe. But there are a number of common truths about the nature and experience of museum visiting that apply across historic periods, types of museums and visitors.
Exploring attitudes towards these might help individual museums’ relationships with their constituencies, as well as the promotion of their own ideas. The pragmatics of actually finding out what the public thinks are challenging. Hopefully, we’ll know more about that as a result of this research.
Sara Selwood is project managing the Museums Association’s public attitudes research and is an independent consultant
They are institutions that collect, safeguard and make accessible artefacts and specimens, which they hold in trust for society.” It follows that their role is to contribute to people’s inspiration, learning and enjoyment. So, what’s the issue?
As part of its Museums 2020 consultation, the MA is battling with a host of potentially conflicting views from museums about the future of the sector. Why make things even more difficult by asking the public? Articulating public policy is one thing, but interrogating how it works in practice is something else.
The recession has focused the sector’s attention on the importance of what visitors think and want. Understanding how museums are publicly perceived could be a new kind of resource for the sector. It might impact on how museums decide their priorities.
The MA hopes that its public attitudes research will increase the sector’s understanding of different points of view. More pointedly, the findings from the research could help to shape its strategies in anticipation of the next spending review.
However, it’s has been argued that museums are unique; that you can’t compare one with the other let alone make generalised observations. Maybe. But there are a number of common truths about the nature and experience of museum visiting that apply across historic periods, types of museums and visitors.
Exploring attitudes towards these might help individual museums’ relationships with their constituencies, as well as the promotion of their own ideas. The pragmatics of actually finding out what the public thinks are challenging. Hopefully, we’ll know more about that as a result of this research.
Sara Selwood is project managing the Museums Association’s public attitudes research and is an independent consultant
