OK, I will take the bait...

If it suits your marketing purposes to call yourself a gallery instead of a
museum, that's fine. Good for you.

But please don't perpetuate the old notion that museums are just full of
"dead things" (your words) when there are many thousands of museums around
the world that are working very hard to change that very preconception.

I work in a combined art and history museum and visitors comment that they
really enjoy the juxtaposition of contemporary and historical art with
galleries of history and culture. We call our art galleries just that, art
galleries. Nobody seems to be confused that they are in a building which is
branded as a "museum."

Finally, I agree with you when you ask "what's in a name"? Not a lot really
other than brand recognition, but I can assure you that many museums also
attract and satisfy "many thousands of excited visitors". The word "museum"
is no longer the turnoff you appear to be worried about - afterall, our
museum hosted some 20,000 Australian visitors last year alone (about a sixth
of our total visitor numbers), and more than any art gallery in the country
I would suspect. None appeared confused, most left satisfied and some even
became excited!

Greg McManus
Director
Rotorua Museum of Art & History
Te Whare Taonga O Te Arawa
Government Gardens
Rotorua
NEW ZEALAND
Tel.  64 7 349 4350
Fax. 64 7 349 2819
Mobile 025-2714328
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-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Sisley [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, 21 December 2000 11:27
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Gallery vs Museum


The contents of a public contemporary art gallery are very different to that
of a museum, and I for one do not want my potential visitors confused
thinking they may find "dead things" of the past, when we specialise only in
the vibrant art of contemporary and recent human culture. It would be false
advertising to do so.

Whilst it is clear that there are many similarities between us, and that is
why I subscribe to this list, there are also many differences.

I do not understand the need to classify Galleries with Museums,
particularly since those that  most ardently support the conflation of the
two categories are often Museum professionals skilled in the nuances of
classification.

There are huge differences in intent, in methodology and in contents of a
Museum and an Art Gallery, and our visitors know the difference even if ICOM
does not.

I always thought that Museum people were keen to incorporate Galleries under
the Museum umbrella so they could finally get some access to the funding
that was, and still is, directed to Galleries .

This debate is an old one, but most are still called Galleries in
Australia...what's in a name? Many thousands of excited visitors .


Alan Sisley
Director
Orange Regional Gallery
PO Box 35, Orange, NSW, 2800
02 63615136 phone
02 63615100 fax
http://www.org.nsw.gov.au
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