Museums and Impact

Since the 1980s, governments throughout the western industrialized world have required greater emphasis on fiscal and public accountability within the public sector. As a result, museum value has been constructed in response to economic rationalism and government policies without sufficient input from the museum sector itself. This paper asserts that any discussion of the role of museums, the contribution they make to societies and appropriate ways of evaluating their impact requires the perspectives and contributions of all stakeholders. It examines preliminary findings from a study that asked about the impact of museums from the perspective of museum professionals and end‐users. It reports significant areas of agreement between public and professional cohorts regarding the role museums play and the contribution they make both to individuals and to the social and economic development.     

Museum Evaluation without Borders: Four Imperatives for Making Museum Evaluation More Relevant,Credible, and Useful

Abstract In this article, I invite readers to think outside of evaluation’s current boundaries and to see the deep connectedness between what museums hope to achieve and how we evaluate the extent to which these aspirations may be realized. To do this, I present four imperatives for making museum evaluation more relevant, credible, and useful: 1) Link program activities with intended outcomes and hoped‐for impact. 2) Take a systems‐oriented evaluation approach. 3) Use affirmative data collection approaches based on assets and strengths. 4) Engage in courageous conversations.     

Museums,Corporatism and the Civil Society

Abstract The prevailing worldview in North America is grounded in the belief that continuous economic growth is essential to individual and societal well‐being. One result of the dominance of this worldview is the rise of museum corporatism, characterized by the primacy of economic interests in institutional decision making. This paper provides a critical overview of the growing dominance of marketplace thinking in museum affairs, and argues that this market‐oriented viewpoint is enfeebling or diverting otherwise competent museums from realizing their unique strengths and opportunities as social institutions in civil society. The meaning and implications of the “civil society” are discussed with particular reference to museums, along with several examples of museums and galleries that are currently playing key roles as agents of the civil society. This paper contends that departing from the status quo of marketplace imperatives opens the door to more creative definitions of museums as social institutions. Rather than becoming more like businesses, museums must exploit their uniqueness, resisting the domination of marketplace thinking, and testing alternative means of achieving meaning and sustainability within their communities.     

White Collar Crime In Museums

White Collar Crime (WCC) can be defined as crimes committed by employees against their employers. Little empirical research has been conducted into WCC in the museum sector. The majority of a museums collection is held in back‐of‐house storage facilities with only a relatively small number of objects actually on public display. The true extent of WCC is unknown and it is a difficult area because of its complexity and invisibility. The article gives an overview of white‐collar crime, outlines the characteristics and techniques of this type of crime and seeks to identify the problems of controlling white‐collar crime with particular reference to the UK museum sector.     

Mutualizing Museum Knowledge: Folksonomies and the Changing Shape of Expertise

The networking of knowledge in the Internet age is calling into question the relationship between experts and non‐experts in the development, preservation, and communication of knowledge. There is a growing movement towards knowledge co‐creation and “mutualization.” These changes in the roles of expertise will have implications for museums as traditional gatekeepers of knowledge. This paper will explore social tagging as one tactic for broaching the divide between experts and non‐experts in the online museum. Although tagging cannot mutualize museum knowledge itself, it can increase access to online collections, provide insight into users and their frameworks of perception, and begin to turn the online collection catalogue into a living historical document in its own right.     

Looking Back and Looking Forward: The Rise of the Visitor‐centered Museum

Abstract This paper presents some personal perceptions about “drivers of change,” which have impacted the role and nature of museums since the 1980s, leading to the rise of the visitor‐centered museum. Such changes mirror developments occurring in society. In the case of museums, a decline in public funding has occurred at a time when increased resources are required to enable museums to successfully compete for the visitor dollar in the expanding “experience economy.” The authors suggest that the role and nature of museums in the future will be shaped by their responses to many challenges, the most important being: how to increase visitor numbers without negatively impacting on visitor satisfaction; how to adjust policy and practice as museums approach the limits of visitor growth; how to start to reverse the trend of declining public funding by demonstrating museums’ value to society through the adoption of community‐centered policies and practice; and perhaps the most unpredictable, how museums will adjust their policies and practices in the face of possible climate change.     

Reinventing a State Funding Program for Museums

While state funding represents a primary source of support for museums, its characteristics and significance have eluded recognition and analysis. Programs and funding mechanisms vary considerably among states, ranging from support for specific projects in museums by agencies that fund multiple types of cultural institutions to state agencies exclusively devoted to museums. The Museum Program of the New York State Council on the Arts, which supports all disciplines of museums, faced critical challenges to its leadership role as funding was restored following a period of severe retrenchment. It engaged in open dialogue with the museum community as it developed new initiatives and services to the field. The Program worked with service organizations to create new approaches for professional learning about museum practices, made revisioning permanent collections an overarching guidelines theme and challenged exhibition applicants to explore neglected topics. It also emphasized multiple interpretive perspectives, mutual engagement with communities and sequential educational activities that provide in‐depth learning experiences.     

Improving the Museum Experiences of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Their Families: An Exploratory Examination of Their Motivations and Needs and Using Web‐based Resources to Meet Them

Through a partnership with a local school, the Smithsonian Institution and the Information Policy and Access Center at the University of Maryland conducted an exploratory study to examine the motivations and needs of families visiting museums with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). This study represents one of the first undertakings to study visitors with ASDs, especially children, through a primarily qualitative data collection. Interest‐driven enjoyment emerged as a primary motivation, though to relax and to socialize outside of the family boundaries were not ranked as important motives for visiting museums. Children, who were directly interviewed, gave positive assessments of their museum experiences, while parents commented that challenges, both museum‐ and family‐related (crowds, loud noise, not feeling welcome, and a child's unpredictable behavior) surfaced in public settings like museums. Parents desired a “typical family outing” with their ASDs child, stating that manageable and safe environments helped families experience a museum.     

Spectacular Design in Museum Exhibitions

Abstract Intrigued by the crowd‐pleasing effects of “the spectacle,” some museums and exhibition designers have begun to enlist the principles used by theaters, theme parks, and public attractions in order to turn museum venues into awe‐inspiring experiences — thereby elevating this inclination into a principle we call Spectacular Design. This article summarizes the results of a year‐long study that compared and contrasted two categories of spectacle: museum and non‐museum. The concept of spectacle is here examined, and a formula is identified, so we can see the commonalities present in Spectacular Design both in public attractions and in museum exhibitions. The hope is to redefine the model for the museum field.     

Museums,Public Service,and Funding: Today's Conundrum,Tomorrow's Partnership?

Abstract Museums have become adept at working with giving allies in foundations, corporations and government agencies who prefer to make grants for specific projects. This works well for discreet activities such as planning an exhibition, cataloguing a collection, or setting up a new store designed to eventually strengthen earned income. It even worked well as museums began to experiment with creating new products such as curriculum kits that would “reach out” to specialized audiences. However, truly providing museum‐wide public service for a broad audience and creating social capital in our communities is not a discreet project, therefore the project‐funding model can thwart the mutual goals museums and institutional funders are trying to achieve. This article explores the problem and suggests that museums work with philanthropic allies to find better ways to create and sustain true public service.     

Using 3D Printing to Enhance Understanding and Engagement with Young Audiences: Lessons from Workshops in a Museum

This paper details findings from a collaborative research project that studied children learning to 3D print in a museum, and provides an overview of the study design to improve related future programs. We assessed young visitors’ capacity to grasp the technical specificities of 3D printing, as well as their engagement with the cultural history of shoemaking through the museum's collection. Combining the museum's existing pedagogical resources with hands‐on technology experiences designed by Semaphore researchers, this study enabled both researchers and museum education staff to evaluate the use of 3D‐driven curriculum and engagement materials designed for children visiting cultural heritage museums. This study raises critical questions regarding the practicality of deploying 3D media to engage young learners in museums, and this paper illuminates the challenges in developing models for children to put historical and contextual information into practice.     

How Popular Music is Exhibited by Museums in Portugal at the Beginning of the Twenty‐First Century: A Case Study

Popular music is deeply embedded in the dynamics of the contemporary world by means of its capacity to engender modes of privacy and publicness, to communicate emotion, and to enable us to create connections—and so to work within communities. Museums have traditionally addressed art‐music through the exhibition of musical instruments. But now that the exhibition of popular music has presented new challenges and opportunities worldwide for museum professionals, examining popular music discourses in museums is of the utmost importance in order for it to be meaningfully celebrated as instances of heritage. This paper expands on the representation of Popular Music in museums in Portugal at the beginning of the twenty‐first century by discussing a case study: the exhibition No Tempo do Gira‐Discos: Um Percurso Pela Produção Fonográfica Portuguesa at Museu Nacional da Música, Lisbon, Portugal, in 2007. Two methods of analysis are deployed: interviews with the curators, which revealed insights on their understanding of popular music, and analysis of the exhibition through discourse analysis, specifically through the lens of the analytical concepts genre and register. Although the curators had themselves previously developed insightful and innovative concepts with regard to popular music, discourse analysis reveals how, in this instance, the museum practices were primarily inherited from past traditions, and so failed to convey the meanings previously envisioned by the curators. In order for genuine public engagement with museum exhibitions about music, a collaboration is required between the music studies and museum studies professionals. Only through such a collaboration can it be ensured that those contemporary dynamics are present and meaningful.     

Museum as Soup Kitchen

In this paper, I suggest that museums have not explored their potential opportunities enough when dealing with their communities under stressful conditions. Each reader, however, should decide when what I am talking about is no longer appropriate for museums in general or your museum in particular. While some museums have moved more in the direction of serving their communities, I am struck by how little philosophical change has actually taken place in most museums after a year into this universal economic downturn. I argue that incorporating a broader palette of social services may make institutions more useful, but at some point these institutions might cease to be traditional museums. My question would be: “Should you care?” I do not suggest that all museums become full‐service community centers, though some might explore that option. Perhaps the question might become: How do we expand our services so that we make museums’ important physical assets of safe civic space and objects useful for tangible three‐dimensional learning into more relevant programs that reach all levels of community, and are rated by many more as essential to their needs and their aspirations for their children?     

NAGPRA: Effective Repatriation Programs and Cultural Change in Museums

A survey of museums in the United States sought to identify evidence of broad impact on the organisational culture and practices of museums in their relatioships with indiginous peoples as a result of the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act 1990 (NAGPRA). NAGPRA establishes a process for the repatriation of human remains and other specified items held in museum collections to Native Americans who can prove they are lineal descendants or members of tribes which are culturally affiliated with identified items covered by the legislation. Effective repatriation programs are characterised by: * a genuine belief in the primary rights of indigenous people in the management of their cultural material presently held in museum collections; * a commitment to greater collaboration between the museum and indigenous people in the management of scientific research and public programs pertaining to items of indigenous cultural heritage; * practices which are indicative of an organisational culture which acts in ways which go beyond the minimum requirements of the legislation. Our research shows that museums are engaging in consultation with indigenous people in the management of collections of indigenous cultural heritage, and that this engagement is influencing conservation strategies. Museums espouse goals which promote external consultation, the involvement of indigenous people in their activities, respect for the cultural goals of indigenous people and a commitment to increasing public awareness of indigenous cultural heritage and social issues. However, only in the areas where NAGPRA has mandated it should happen—collections of human remains and secret/sacred material—is there evidence of communication and consultation, commitment of resources and sharing of authority with indigenous people consistent with the outcomes intended under NAGPRA.     

Coming Together to Address Systemic Racism in Museums

A group of 25 multi‐generational, multi‐racial museum professionals met in January 2016 for a 3‐day dialogue about museums and race. They concurred that forming alliances among museum practitioners of all races and ethnic backgrounds is a critical step in dismantling the persistent and pervasive presence of structural racism in museums. This article asserts that there are both demographic and ethical imperatives for close examination of all aspects of museums’ programs, their staffs and boards, the publics they serve, and the organizations that exist because of them. It provides an introduction to the vocabulary and attendant systems of white privilege, oppression, and intersectionality, offers concrete suggestions for people of all backgrounds to join forces, and ends with a call to action to bring racial awareness and action to the forefront in our institutions, our communities, and our nation.     

高校博物馆藏品征集策略完善路径研究——以陕西省高校博物馆为例

近代博物馆源起于高校,并逐渐形成了一套较为完备的藏品管理体系。我国高校博物馆是博物馆体系的重要组成部分,但在藏品征集方面的受关注度远低于社会公共博物馆,高校博物馆藏品征集工作出现了藏品来源渠道少、监管松、经费不足等问题。本文拟以陕西省高校博物馆为例,通过分析其藏品征集现状,针对藏品征集中存在的问题,尝试对高校博物馆的藏品征集策略进行完善,为新时期中国高校博物馆的藏品征集工作提供一些思考。     

Museums and Virtuality

Abstract This paper investigates issues of museums and virtuality. In considering the diverse ways that museums are approaching virtuality, the focus here is on the common ground and shared objectives, rather than the differences between museums and their virtual re‐creations. Put simply, on‐site museums and their online counterparts are merely two ways of exhibiting cultures. In this sense, “virtuality” is a fundamental exhibition practice. The World Wide Web has become increasingly relevant to such core museum tasks as collecting, preserving, and exhibiting. Digitization of objects in digital heritage programs has led to new forms of collection management and unparalleled access to virtual replicas of museum artifacts. This transformation is inspiring new forms of preserving and displaying cultures both on‐ and off‐line. A successful digital expansion will largely influence whether museums can sustain their cultural authority and position in the 21st century.     

我国专业科技博物馆发展现状与对策研究

本文在课题调研和数据分析的基础上,提出了当前我国专业科技博物馆在场馆和观众数量快速增长的同时,在发展质量上存在诸多问题,制约着专业科技博物馆科普教育功能的发挥,提出了我国专业科技博物馆“十三五”期间的五个战略重点:全面免费开放;开展监测评估,进行分类指导;专业科技博物馆充分利用新媒体;强化专业科技博物馆科普职能;推动专业科技博物馆校结合。并针对存在问题提出了六项对策与建议。     

中加场馆开展家庭教育的比较研究——基于场馆教育者的视角

场馆是家庭开展教育活动的重要场域,而家庭也被列为场馆教育的核心面向。针对场馆究竟如何开展家庭教育的问题,本研究从场馆教育者的专业视角出发,考察中国和加拿大场馆开展家庭教育的情况,寻求跨文化的经验借鉴。通过对场馆的教育理解和期待、家庭与场馆的教育动机以及家庭行为与场馆支持三个方面的深度比较,研究显示中加场馆开展家庭教育的特点各有侧重。无论优势,还是缺陷,都有共识和差异。在取长补短的意义上,我国场馆和家庭分别获得三点启示。     

From Period Rooms to Public Trust: The Authority Debate and Art Museum Leadership in America

A recent lecture series at the Harvard University Art Museums titled “Art Museums and the Public Trust” marked the eightieth anniversary of the founding of Harvard's famed Museum Course. A graduate seminar begun in 1921 by the Fogg Art Museum's associate director, Paul J. Sachs, the Museum Course became the primary training ground for art museum leadership in the first half of the twentieth century. The 2001 commemorative lecture series was intended to foster a healthy debate on the place of the art museum in Anglo‐American culture. Instead, the speakers, veteran directors of America's and England's most prestigious art museums, invariably returned to one concern: authority—theirs and that of the art museum itself in contemporary society. Authority was at the heart of the Museum Course decades earlier, tellingly explored in annual debates around two significant topics. The first debate involved the pros and cons of including period rooms in American museums. In the second, students argued about whether America's established art institutions should collect the work of living artists. Questions of how museums should respond to the interests of audiences and communities, their responsibility to contemporary artists, and the meaning of a public trust trouble America's museum leadership now as then. This article explores the common ground between the Museum Course debates of the 1930s and Harvard's recent commemorative “debates” by America's contemporary museum leaders and comments on its significance for today's museums.