Friday, August 21, 2015
Thinking About Museums: Your Personal Perspective
Based on your personal experience with museums, what are they doing right? And what do you think they are doing not so well? Finally, what do you think is the biggest challenge museums face today? Please answer in at least four sentences, and upload no later than Monday, September 7, 5pm.
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In my rather limited experience with museums, I would say something they're doing right is their ability to reach out to the community and make it easier for people to be involved. The Smithsonian, as well as many others, is free to enter. The VMFA also does a great job of involving local students in the goings-on within the museum. Conversely, I think they may also need to do a better job of convincing the public of their importance. To the rising generation's digital minds, many old things simply lose their interest. This is also related to what may be a challenge to the museums, which is the shortened attention span of younger kids and difficulty to relate to youth.
ReplyDeleteWith the museums I have visited in the past, I have found that what they are doing well with is being able to connect with their viewers. By offering small tours and activities, they are able to entertain and inform them. What museums are doing wrong is the marketing and advertising. In this fast-paced and technological world, many people are not taking the time to visit museums anymore. Anyone could easily look up a piece of artwork online. The viewer would not experience the same appreciation for any artwork and would not be able to take in every brushstroke or carving on the piece from the internet. Museums need to find a way to draw more of the public in to reestablish their place in society.
ReplyDeleteIn my personal experiences with going to museums, I feel very at peace with myself. I enjoy the fact that I have the pleasure to walk around and gaze upon the beauty of paintings for hours. One aspect I really think museums are doing well is that there are people working there such as the curators, for the most part, truly enjoy teaching and showing artworks to tourist and such. This lets me know that the curators are truly passionate about what they are doing. One challenge that I know and have seen as a problem is that sometimes curators cannot, or rather, sometimes connect with people who are not familiar with art background. I have either seen curators completely neglect a person with not art background and focus all their attention on people who know about art or, which I consider the worst, treat them as if they have seen art in their entire life. Speaking to them as if they are incapable of ever retaining information. This really angers me. Regarding to the question, “the biggest challenge museums face today?” I think one challenge that comes into mind is on how the museum will compete with technology in the future. Even though some museums have learned to incorporate technology into their museums, a few are still struggling to handle this situation.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience with museums, some are doing better than others. First, museums tend to fulfill their general purpose fairly well, in the sense that they provide the public with valuable knowledge. On the other hand, museums could do better with delivery where they could include interaction with exhibits, especially in order to appeal to the younger generation of audiences. I have been to a few museums where the only information is provided by a tour guide going on and on with little interaction with the visitors or only exhibits behind glass with plaques explaining its significance. I think one of the biggest challenges facing museums today is the balancing of an educational setting while keeping it fresh, light and appealing to all ages.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in my family, going to museums was a fun activity we would do together. If we were to travel to a different part of the world then we would research the top museums to visit. In a way, I think that’s what got me interested in art in the first place. In my personal experience, the museums that are the most successful are the ones that make their museum exciting. By exciting I mean that the museum really thinks about the placement of the objects and the viewers experience. They wish for the relationship between the objects and the viewers is an interactive one. Rather than just placing an object on a pedestal or a wall they also incorporate the story of the object, why it is important. They are creating a communication within the community by doing so. They are educating the viewers. Something that museums are not doing so well is getting out the word. I believe that certain museums feel that they do not have to advertise themselves. Whether the museum is old or new they need to let the community know that they are there. How do can they expect for more and more people to come if they do not let the word out. The biggest challenge that museums face today has to do with finance. People want to be educated and have these interactive experiences but they want it for free. It must be difficult to fund themselves without having any money coming in. If money isn’t coming in then how are they expected to have new exhibits, etc.
ReplyDeleteIn my own personal experience from having been granted the opportunity to intern at a museum over the last eight months, I think the most important thing a museum can and has been doing right is staying relevant. What I mean by that is the use of social media, getting their name out there, and most importantly programs for children! One of the greatest joys I get to experience when I'm at Appomattox Court House is administering the Junior Ranger Program to young kids who come into the park. It puts things into a perspective they can understand and they like to do it because of the promise of getting goodies (a badge typically, trading cards if you're at a Civil War site, etc.) and I think that gets the kids excited! As far as the Social Media thing, I think it's very important when places like my park, Arlington House, and other national sites post daily trivia and fun facts. I've been very impressed with Arlington house for example because they post almost daily random little facts about the Lee family or facts about the home when it was under control of the Federal Army during the war. I just think it's helpful for the parks/museums, etc to connect with the media in that sense.
ReplyDeleteSome things that I think some museums may not be doing right is accessibility. This I think goes back to our conversation in Thursday's class, because often times high ticketed locations can turn people off. While I understand the need to make money in order to maintain collections, research, and maintain the property and staff, but the average family of five more than likely does not want to pay out big bucks to go to a museum. It can be a hard decision sometimes for a family to make that kind of a choice.
All of that being said, I think some of the things I've mentioned can be an issue for museums. With constant cutting of aid to parks from the federal government, it can be hard to maintain staff, programming, etc. Every person that I have talked to when I say I would like to work for the National Park service kind of regards me with a cautioned expression. It's pretty common knowledge that it's hard to get a job for the NPS, and if there are continued cuts from the Federal Government, it can become an even dicier field. So many museums and parks rely on public donations to help with the upkeep of the grounds and over the last few years I've had to watch the park I grew up at (where my father works) slowly deteriorate since Hurricane Sandy, and it seems that the government doesn't care and the people care but don't understand that they are vital to this parks (and so many others) survival.
There are foundations out there that support individual parks but I don't think some parks are very good about advertising those "friends groups" that help fund the upkeep of the grounds.
I think there needs to be some kind of middle ground where the public can meet with the museums and historical sites in order to save them, but in the world of social media (with those online collections that can be viewed) so many are simply neglecting our history, and not understanding their roles in a museums survival.
Meagan Stuck:
ReplyDeleteI love going to museums, and I would say that my experience with them has been mostly positive throughout my life. Personally, I like the quietness of the museums, and the (often times) simplicity of the layout. I think that museums are doing a good job with keeping simplicity while also showcasing their works, and also I believe that many museums do a very good job of advertising their new exhibits. I live near Washington D.C., and most of the exhibits have signs for them everywhere, so you always know what is new, and what you can go see. However I have found that in the museums I have attended, particularly recently, most of the guards and staff are placed in the special exhibits, and the rest of the artworks have simply just been left, where people can treat them any way they wish, unsupervised. The past two times that I have visited the National Gallery, I have seen people touching paintings in the Italian Renaissance section. I think that museums need to be just as concerned with their more concrete collection, as they are with the new exciting exhibits that may be circulating through their doors.
I believe that the biggest challenge museums face today is simply getting people through the doors. With such a large internet presence all over the world now, people can simply look up mostly any work of art that they wish to see, and a google image will appear for them to look at. The museums have the hard job of selling the experience, and convincing visitors that their collections and exhibits need to be seen in person, to be fully appreciated.
In my opinion, one successful aspect of museums is education. Through utilizing educational programs for schools or providing brochures and labels with helpful information with exhibits, the average visitor can get a more informative and fulfilling experience during their museum visit even without an art history background. One aspect of museums that could use some help is marketing. Right now, I feel that the people visiting museums are all roughly the same type of person- artists, art historians, art enthusiasts, etc.- whereas the general public still views museums as stiff and boring. I know that I have been to museums with friends who have admitted that, while they had a pretty pleasant experience visiting the museum, they never would have thought to go themselves if it were not for me dragging them there with me. The biggest challenge faced by museums today is striking a balance between making themselves free and accessible to everyone and not becoming bankrupt. Museums are expensive to support and maintain, but with waning donor support, it is getting harder to find that money.
ReplyDeleteThroughout my life museum outings were a very regular occurrence in my family. My parents found it was very important to be engage with history and learn as much as we could at a young age. Truthfully, as a child I dreaded our museum trips; but with the help of museum programs my opinions changed quickly. Museum programs and activities for families and individuals is something that museums are doing right. Especially for children at a young age who need constant stimulation, staring at art work is not going to satisfy their curiosity. Educational workshops for visitors furthers education, communication and overall enjoyment in the museum space. From being apart of said activities I feel as if it helped shape me artistically and made me fall in love with museums. As an adult I treasure museums and I appreciate the people that create such a beautiful space for thoughts, reflection and learning. Something that museums could probably improve upon is their social media presence. I feel as if people are not as aware of new exhibits and what is new because museums are not as present on the internet as well as social media.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, what I see is going to be a challenge for museums is this technological age that we are in. People are glued to social media and their devices. With that said museums are having to think of new ways of creating a buzz that will cut people loose from their devices. The solution could be by incorporating social media into exhibits so that way people can be engaged on multiple ways and still have a meaningful experience in a museum.
What are museums doing right? Museums today are in a unique place, where alongside universities and government organizations, they provide one of the heftiest sources of scholarly involvement in cultural policy. The evolving discussion surrounding cultural patrimony in this day and age is done well by the museums who unabashedly advocate for the continued preservation of these objects, of our history. Museums have taken to this discussion with a passion that one would never have expected from such typically conservative institutions.
ReplyDeleteWhat are they doing wrong? Museums have in the past and continue to struggle with the bridging of the class divide. Museums are attended primarily by two groups of people: middle class folks who know of the museum already and have already been sold on the idea, so to speak, and school groups, who are taken to the museum as part of an already extant educational prerogative. Museums struggle to bring in working class people who otherwise would benefit greatly from attending the museum, and this is due to the remnants of 20th century arrogance in the museum world regarding the acquisition of new patrons.
As for challenges, this stems from the previous question. In today's world, we suffer from a plight of ignorance. It might seem that in the age of the internet, people would know more, and be more inclined to learn, when in truth the luxury of having access to the entire wealth of human knowledge at one's fingertips has created a laziness surrounding knowledge. People have a wide breadth of disparate, fractious knowledge in lieu of deeper understanding, which is exactly what the museum cultivates. When the average person attend the museum, they often are frustrated by the lack of obvious patterns in the exhibits, and miss the subtle nuances which are what curated exhibitions so special. This difficulty continues to drive a wedge between visitor and museum employee.
I think one of the best things museums are doing today involves their educational and outreach programs. These two crucial factors allow museums to connect with their audiences and draw more people into their museums. Many museums have educational programs for school groups of varying ages and even after school programs for kids to come and have a more hands-on learning experience. Their outreach programs allow to create a wider audience and help spread their knowledge across a larger platform, which is the most important aspect of museums today. Without spreading information and knowledge, they are not fulfilling their mission in today's museum world.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of challenges facing museums, I immediately think of whose story the museum is going to tell and whose story will be left out, specifically in the case of history museums. In the last 20 years, many history museums have struggled with trying to integrate African American and slave history into their exhibits and programs. These histories have largely been ignored and simply not told in many historic sites and museums although they are an integral part of the American story and without them, we are simply pushing aside incredibly important stories.
As for the biggest challenges to museums today, I would say it is trying to integrate new digital technologies into their space. Because we live in an age where technology runs everything and people basically can't live without it, museums need to begin using some of this technology in their exhibits in order to connect with their audiences. Whether it be some sort of virtual reality experience or simply an interactive game children can play, digital technologies have endless possibilities to enhance the museum experience. The difficult part is trying to pick and choose which technologies can most benefit the museum and how to make them work in their current space.
Going to museums are one of my earliest set of memories from my childhood. My parents believed that they provided a child with knowledge to aid in a growing perspective of not only their culture, but the world. Museums are great in that they provide different material so that everyone can find at least one museum that matches there interests. They usually know how to provide a learning experience for their visitors and continue raising museum attendance.
ReplyDeleteMuseums sometimes have trouble with knowing how to display their material so that the guests can properly interrupt or understand the piece before them. The text that supplements the art can be too few words or occasionally long paragraph that distracts or confuses the guest.
One of the largest challenges that a museum faces is getting enough money for a museum to run while keeping up with their mission statement and not upsetting the donors. They also need to observe proper maintenance and care and keep with new technology and advertisements.
I believe that museums do a wonderful job of catering to the elementary school age group. Most museums include interactive exhibits that appeal to all of a child's senses, which helps maintain their attention as well as appeal to a number of learning styles.
ReplyDeleteSomething that I believe museums could do better with is appealing to the younger adult. I know that VMFA has a happy hour, which I think is a great idea. Museums should include more activities such as this.
I believe that museums face the challenge of incorporating technology and social media.
Growing up in the heart of Pittsburgh, PA, my entire life I have been surrounded by museums. I have many positive memories revolving around the Andy Warhol Museum, and all of the Carnegie’s. As I’ve gotten older and branched away from Pittsburgh, I’ve noticed both positive and negative aspects of museums and they way which they function. Based on my personal experiences, I feel that most museums have a good grasp on the need/importance of keeping the audiences engaged. At every stage of my life, the museums of Pittsburgh have provided opportunities to walk through the doors no matter what my age is. From days spent with my siblings and parents, field trips all throughout grade school, and even my Senior Prom, I’ve found myself entering a museum multiples times per year.
ReplyDeleteContrary to my positive experiences, I have had some negative visits. My biggest critique of today’s museums would be that the staff and visitors rarely engage in conversation. I feel that museums would better society even more so than they do if there were more staff members who were well educated on the exhibits and could strike up a conversation about the piece with whomever may be viewing it. Learning about a work of art through someone who truly appreciates it would make the experience a lot more personal than reading the facts off of a plaque hanging on the wall.
Finally, I feel that the biggest challenge that museums face today is competing with technology. The Internet makes accessing images and information about pieces extremely easy, but museums need to figure out how to convince society that viewing something in person is a completely different experience that seeing on a screen.