So, on my very long commute this morning in rain
flooded Southern California, where the hills are
sliding and the streets are full of potholes, I had
much time to reflect upon this dialogue once more
trying to find solutions/suggestions. Here's what I
came up with.
o Solicit your local big businesses for their
recycled (left over paper--you'll have to be mindful
of something called information protection in that
they're not donating as much scrap paper as before
lest company secrets be revealed). Have them give it
to you and their nubbed pencils. Have it available
for your patrons to draw on the backsides some of the
things they see (cutting cost, inspiring artwork).
o Powerpoint presentations, changed monthly, in a
room (or closet even) not far from the gallery that
talk about the artist of the month. Change it each
month. Powerpoint slides are cheap to do, and a good
art educator/historian can readily put something
together. Have it available for view and let folks
know it is there and recycling. Tell about the art
work, the artist, the history of the times. Make it
the Star Magazine of Michelangelo, and you'll draw
them in.
o Interactive tours with headsets, targeted at kids
and at adults (separate tours) that they can punch in
a number and learn more about the art and artist.
Don't forget to have some that are bilingual.
o Scavenger hunt for the kids when they first get
there. A xeroxed copy of a challenge to the kids to
find the work of art that has such and such or who was
painted by or was made of and is colored or was
created in the 17th century. Numerous questions (20?)
with a series of simple prizes at the end of the visit
including things like a postcard or poster of the work
for all questions answered correctly.
o Docents, docents, docents. Docents that can talk
to various age groups and relate to where they were.
No underwear in a bunch, get the vapors type, but real
people talking to real people. Got teenagers? Talk
teenager.
o Dammit, make those signs beside the pictures in
bigger print and place them where someone can read
them. Make them say something beside two sentences of
unintelligible nonsense. Test what they say on random
samplings of your visitor base. If you're too close
to your own work product, have someone else test them.
If they can't remember them, change them.
o Magnifying sheets or magifying glasses, plastic
ones, in buckets folks pick up at the door of any
gallery and presumably return when they leave. Sell
the same ones in the gallery to encourage less swiping
them. Encourage folks to look at things more closely.
Check out http://www.orientaltrading.com and see if
they have what you need.
o Regular lectures (where is Sister Wendy when you
need her?) offered on the weekends, targeted to
various age groups.
o Computer room, with something like Adobe, Corel,
KidPix, or PowerPoint with the same scrap paper noted
above. Encourage participants to sketch something on
the paper then draw it on the computer. Show the
practical applications of this skill.
o Computer(s) inside each gallery where the patrons
can click to learn more about a work of art. Make it
so they can drill down to their heart's content if
need be. Contact Gates for the educational aspects of
this.
o Hands' on art classes for young people in the
summer time or holiday breaks. Playdough for
sculpture and water colors.
o Poor folks draw. Sometimes they're very profound.
Engage more of them. If you grow your population
base, you can reduce your fees.
o Loosen up and be accessible. That PhD didn't earn
you a crown. It just made you smarter in a particular
subject area. With that education comes the
responsibility to share the knowledge, and, in order
to share, you need to be customer focused. As I write
these words, that's the problem in a nutshell. Too
many art museums are not customer focused.
Now the other side of this, I suppose, is that elitist
richey folks probably won't want the "lower classes"
in their museums and may be less inclined to give.
But you just find a new market base.
o Collaborate with history museums. Combine the
history of the area and the art.
Ok, I'm sure I will come up with more, but that's what
came to me this morning on the very long ride into LA
hoping the hill wasn't going to fall onto my track.
Hope this helps.
--- Jay Heuman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Most people, generally, are as Indigo describes.
> But I'll go further. Most
> people suffer a deficit of attention, of patience,
> of education, of
> tolerance, of curiosity, of abstract thought, of
> concrete action, of time,
> of money. These are people seeking practical
> solutions to their very real
> -- totally unavoidable, time-consuming,
> "un-abstract" -- situations.
> Frankly, visiting art museums is likely not an
> option for a number of
> reasons . . . regardless of what and how museums
> teach (or don't teach as
> Indigo accuses).
Indigo Nights
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