Date sent: 30-JAN-1994
Regarding the topic of tourism and museums, I have a questions to kick-start
discussion:
In a time when museums are increasingly turning their eyes towards "community,"
which often includes populations in the immediate area, what kinds of
adjustments in outreach, funding language, and even the mission of the
institution can be made to increase local involvement while still taking into
account the fiscal reality of tourist dollars and exposure?
At BCM, 80% of museum attendance (approx. 200,000) is local; tourism has never
been a major source of audience. Having a strictly local base has it's own
problems, but I am concerned that many museums that want to embrace local
audiences more fully will be unable to due to very real fears of a drop in
their overall numbers. Conversely, museums that represent themselves as having
a new community awareness may effect cosmetic changes that despite good
intentions (and funder approval) fail to increase local access to the museum.
I fully understand that not every museum has to be a community center, and that
many legitimate places find their subsistence from tourists; that is not my
concern. I just think that the C-word is getting bandied about a wee bit too
comfortably in grant proposals, papers, and AAM literature without
understanding the full dimensions of such a paradigm shift. Can one find a
balance? How are other institutions dealing with pressures or desires for
increased (and I suppose even decreased) "community" involvement, in all of its
multifarious forms?
Any and all non-flame answers welcome. :)
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Craig M. Rosa Home Phone: (718) 834-6894
Email: [log in to unmask] BCM Phone: (718) 735-4432
M.A. student, Performance Studies/Museum Studies, NYU ,^^^^^^^^
PT Greenhouse Instructor, The Brooklyn Children's Museum ,^^^^^^^^
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