Robert,
It sounds like the symptom has already been clearly defined, and I suspect
the cause is part of the "problem". We all work very hard to attract the
general public with programs, advertisement, and quality exhibitions, yet
we all have the same symptom. The wealthy and educated are by far the
majority of our non-student group visitorship, and those visitors who do
not fall into those categories do not return on any regular basis.
In my personal opinion, the reason the general public does not come into
art museums at the same rate as other museum forms is not because the art
museums are doing anything wrong. It is because the general public does not
understand/value what we do in the same way. It is a cultural bias/failure
that is not going to be easily overcome, not an exclusion of any particular
group from participation.
That was the point of my previous post. Even when we get members of the
general public interested enough to come in once, the vast majority do not
come back. It is not because they did not learn/enjoy/get something out of
it, nor does it have anything to do with their wealth. It is because of
their education. It is because the general perception of art does not
include the understanding that it is more than colors on a canvas(or
whatever media), and most still feel ovewhelmed by art theory or that the
art is over their heads. People "get" history and science at a much higher
level because of pre-existing education as well as interest and exposure.
History and science are perceived as "factual" where art is rather nebulous
in its interpretation. People do not get art without that advance
understanding, which they lack from early on. I am certain that is a
massive oversimplification of the issue, but it is the way I tend to look
at it.
Throwing more money at programs will not help significantly, because the
problem is not within the museum or the art. Blockbuster exhibits bring
lots of the general public in, but only for that exhibit and most will not
return until the next blockbuster. Such a theme-park approach only supports
the problem, and does nothing to undermine the failure at the basic
educational level. Most people are neither stupid nor incapable of getting
it, but they definitely do not like to be put into situations where they
perceive themselves as such, they therefore avoid such situations. Perhaps
we can find a way to get that education out to the public in such a way
that they are both informed and interested before they come into the
museum.
I would be very intrested to see if the many studies indicate whether the
wealthy and educated also attend/fail to attend history, science, and
natural history museums at disproportionate rates, or whether the cultural
bias is more focused on art.
Mark Janzen
Registrar/Collections Manager
Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art
Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection
Wichita State University
(316)978-5850
Robert Steven
<robertsteven@GMA
IL.COM> To
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Re: Art Gallery Problem
03/01/2005 10:25
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<[log in to unmask]
SE.LSOFT.COM>
I apologize for my lack of precision in my earlier post. When I
mentionned attendance levels, what I should have said was
participation levels, but in many cases these go hand in hand. There
have been numerous studies in Europe, North America, and Australia
since Bourdieu and Darbel in 1969 that have all confirmed that art
galleries almost always draw a smaller audience than other types of
museums, and that the art gallery audience is almost always far
wealthier and more educated than that of other types of museums.
Approximately 75 percent of the population in these areas does not
attend a public art gallery at all in any given year. In effect, art
galleries are less "public" because virtually none of the "general
public" attend. Some authors who have described this are J. Mark
Davidson Schuster, David Halle, and Tony Bennett. The remarkable point
is that over the past 35 years art galleries have been aware of the
large and recognizable group who have been historically excluded, and
they have tried to become more inclusive with no recognizable success.
Does that help to clarify why I'm researching what the problem is? Why
do only unusually wealthy and educated people attend public art
galleries? Should institutions that somehow exclude the large majority
of the population from participating receive public funds?
Thanks for all of the comments so far, I would love to receive more,
Robert Steven
On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 09:45:04 -0500, Diane Gutenkauf
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Why do you believe "public art galleries" receive lower attendence than
> other types of museums? What evidence do you cite for this assumption?
> Aren't you generalizing a tad? As my college philosophy professor used to
> say "Define your terms."
>
> Many factors determine a museum's attendence level, I would not attribute
> a low attendence simply to the museum's "type."
>
> Diane Gutenkauf
>
> On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 00:01:03 -0500, Robert Steven <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> >Do you think there is an intrinsic problem with the insitution of the
> public art gallery that causes it
> >to receive lower attendence in general than other types of museums? What
> do you think that
> >problem is? Is there a solution? Your advice will inform my research on
> this subject.
> >Thanks very much,
> >Robert Steven
> >
>
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