Renaissance revelations: hub museums and online documentation

This review reflects on the response made within the English regions to the national strategy adopted for museums development in the Renaissance in the Regions programme. It considers the national data collection expectations and the actuality of the reporting/evaluation of the programme's management in different regions. A survey of the available regional documentation suggests a lack of consistency in available information and approach, and that review of the programme is welcome in order to establish baseline information for performance measurement.     

New art museums in Central and Eastern Europe and the ideologies of urban space production

This article focuses on the processes of new museum constructions in Central and Eastern European capitals. We examine the processes related to three new building constructions for national, public museums in Estonia, Hungary and Croatia through Henry Lefebvre's theory of the production of space. The architecture of new museum buildings is seen as an outcome of historical, economic and social processes that have grown out of the recent past of the three countries. We examine these museums in the context of their multi-faceted locations, ranging from the suburbs to the new city centres, and the plans for their establishment in the context of privatization, urbanization and rapid internationalization of markets. The social space of the museum depends on the combination of the different actors involved in its production – public authorities, market actors and civil society and their relationship to one another. New museums in Central and Eastern Europe are, thus, regarded as monuments that also, inevitably, relate to the construction of new narratives of identities and statehood.     

The work of the audience: visual matrix methodology in museums

ABSTRACT

Visual matrix methodology has been designed for researching cultural imaginaries. It is an image-led, group-based method that creates a “third space” research setting to observe audience groups re-enacting lived experience of an event or process that takes place in the third space of a cultural setting. In this article, the method is described through its use in relation to an art-science exhibition, Human+ Future of the species, where three audience groups with investments in technology worked with exhibition material to achieve a complex ambivalent state of mind regarding technological futures. The visual matrix has been designed to capture the affective and aesthetic quality of audience engagement in third space by showing what audiences do with what is presented to them. We argue that such methodologies are useful for museums as they grapple with their role as sites where citizens not only engage in dialogue with one another but actively re-work their imaginaries of the future.     

Spatial equity and cultural participation: how access influences attendance at museums and galleries in London

ABSTRACT

This paper addresses how neighbourhoods operate as opportunity structures for cultural participation, and therefore how unequal access to cultural facilities might influence levels of participation and profiles of participants. The neighbourhood effects literature identifies how where people live shapes their lives, including their participation in various activities, but this has not been applied to cultural participation. Sociological theory explores the importance of social stratification of cultural consumption, but has largely ignored the role of place. In this paper sociological explanations of cultural participation are extended to incorporate the influence of access to cultural infrastructure. An innovative accessibility index for museums and galleries in London, using online searches to weight their attraction, is linked to the Taking Part Survey, and used to predict attendance. Alongside social stratification, significant neighbourhood characteristics are identified, including, importantly, access to museums and galleries. Improved access has a strong positive relationship with attendance, which varies according to qualifications and ethnic group: those with degrees are most likely to attend, but the relationship with access also operates for those with fewer qualifications, who according to traditional explanations have little disposition to attend. The implications of the substantial spatial inequity in investment in museums and galleries are discussed.     

Intersectionality and Student Outcomes: Sharpening the Struggle against Racism,Sexism, Classism,Ableism, Heterosexism,Nationalism, and Linguistic,Religious, and Geographical Discrimination in Teaching and Learning

In this article the authors consider NAME's focus on intersectionality as a tool for theorizing, researching, and employing in pre-K through college practice at preservice and inservice levels. A review of research using three or more identity axes to investigate student outcomes is included. The authors also discuss the benefits of analyzing educational questions intersectionally, noting cautions.