Hi Bill and the rest

I have followed the debate about fee paying with interest-what to do in a
country where the vasr majority of people have never been into a
museum, could not afford to pay and yet still put a low value on
something that doesn't charge.?

More relevant to your last point, what do you do when one of the biggest
museums in the country decides that because their research amongst
black middle class families shows that that they perceive museums to be
about education and do not value that (a point other research in SA and
in the UK and USA could already have told them), decides that their job is
to become more entertaining? (Excuse ghastly sentence) Its back to the
issue of making a 'profit' as well-something we all have to do to survive,
but it does concern me when museologists here start talking about
clients and products to the exclusion of what museums should be about.
They are aiming to compete against visitor attractions like the "Lost City"
or shopping malls and movies and losing touch with what museums are
about.

Just letting off a bit of steam about the direction of museums in SA-my
two Rands worth, which wit hthe exchange rate these days is barely 50
cents.

Kathryn Mathers
Freelance museum audience researcher
Pretoria
South Africa