Uh-oh, I've been thinking again.  Something Jay said
caused me to do it.  He said:

Without sufficient staffing, however, such programming
is not always possible.  So, before criticizing art
venues, find out what their staffing situation is like
. . . and try to remain sensitive to the hard work
that art educators do every day.


Could it be that the staffing is as it is because the
offerings have been as they have and that, if
innovation is used, the dollars will follow, and so
will the increase in staffing?  That staffing is as it
is because, for so many, the art as presented is
boring compared to other demands for their
discretionary income, so they don't go and, because
they don't go, the museums don't get the funding
(either by admission or by grant) to add the staff?

I've been thinking, too that, in circumstances like
out here in California, post Proposition 13, where the
property taxes were cut and with it the funding to the
schools, art instruction went by the wayside, and kids
aren't getting the exposure they once were.  Without a
museum(s) to inspire interest, the kids aren't going
to ever get it, and appreciation will die--RIP art
museums.

I've been thinking, in addition, that people don't
like to be made to feel they are stupid or, if they
are, for it to be exposed.  The way things are in most
institutions, there's no leap of faith knowledge. 
Nothing is obvious.  

Someone who has no background with no opportunity made
to give it to them, is going to be made to feel dumb
(not a nice feeling, just as my words are failing me
and David H is bound to zap me any minute because this
morning I wrote suttle when I KNEW it was subtle but
my too tired brain didn't catch the subtle/suttle
difference when it was that early and that tired). 
The feeling of being dumb is exacerbated when one
stands next to "Mr. or Mrs. I Have The Breeding,
Therefore I Know the Art, and What's the Matter with
You Because You Don't"?!?

So my challenge to you (as if you needed more) is to
get entrepreneurial in your ventures in order to grow
your business.  Your museum, after all, is a business,
and unless you grow your client base by making it
interesting and accessible, the business will die.

Ok.  I'm going to stop thinking for a few minutes and
have lunch.  It's temporarily stopped raining, so I
thank all of you for your sunshine thoughts, though
the clouds are gathering ominously.

Anybody wanna go surfing instead?

Indigo Nights
[log in to unmask]

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