I am compiling a critical literature review of "Art Museums and Their
 Publics" to support a research project for the Ontario Association of Art
 Galleries. Shelly Falconer, a graduate student in our Museum Studies
 Program, and I are advising the Association in their research design
 for the project and would like to be able to assess the existing
 research accurately. Shelly will be involved in a qualitative
 evaluation of visitors to a local city art gallery and the work will
 assist her final paper. As for me, I am interested in pursuing some
 questions that have arisen and possibly publishing the results of the
 literature and research analysis.
 
 From the first stages of the literature analyses, we realized that
 Visitor Studies literature is not usually broken up by type of
 institution but by type of research or issue. Nevertheless, for th
 purposes of this research project the isolation of public attitudes to
 and involvements with art galleries would be an important perspective
 to provide comparison of results etc..
 
 Our hypothesis:
 It would appear that Visitor Studies literature related to evaluation
 of evaluation of programs, exhibits and so on most often relates to
 non-art institutions, ie. science museums/centres,historical sites/
 museums, with some important exceptions such as Denver Art Museum, the
 Art Gallery of Ontario to name only a few institutions. Indeed, much
 of the visitor involvement with art and the art institution remains unstudied.
 
 On the other hand, public survey literature more often than not
 relates to art institutions particularly concerning the attitudes of
 the publics to participation in, funding for or government roles in
 cultural institutions which the arts issues hold preminence. Many of
 the findings of these studies echo one another in findings and in
 methodology and are of limited use.
 
 In the end, any literature analyses is limited by one's ability to tap
 into the field and their are many barriers to our sharing such work
 with one another. Do you have any recommendations for research or
 writings of any aspect of the publics involement or lack of it with art
 museums/centres/galleries either published or unpublished, which you
 could draw to our attention?
 
 We have great hopes for the OAAG study and hope to be able to develop
 a methodology which will go beyond the usual findings. The results may
 be interesting to all art instituions while the methodology has
 potential for all museums.
 
 We would appreciate any comments. You can reach me at the addresses
 listed below:
 
 
 Professor Lynne Teather,
 Museum Studies Program,
 University of Toronto,
 Toronto, Ontario,
 Canada. M5S 1A1
 
 Phone: 416-978-8822 Fax:416-978-8821
 
 E-Mail Address:
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