In article <[log in to unmask]>, ReidArden
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>??>How important is the Visitor???
>
>Greetings everyone,
>I am not a museum worker but rather one of the visitors...(The FAQ of this
list
>offers inclusion to anyone interested in museums or the study thereof.)

The FAQ speaks the truth.  We (well, I) like to hear from visitors.
Sadly, it's been years since we (Buckinghamshire County Museum) has done
more than the standard visitors' books and customer comment forms.

Also, most (if not all) museum workers are museum visitors, too.  While
it's true that some times when we visit other museums, we are treated as
colleagues rather than visitors, most of us make a few visits a year to
other museums just like everyone else.
>
>For years I've been aware of the attitude that is projected to the public
about
>museums being for the professionals and their clubs.

This is extremely interesting: how museums tell their potential visitors
that only people who do certain jobs/earn at certain levels/know certain
things or people ... should be coming as visitors.

>This is why a lot of my friends don't go to museums.

Non-visitors are important.  The _only_ reason that visitors are more
important than non-visitors is that it's easier to extract extra income
from them (e.g. from repeat visits, shop sales).  But most of the people
we think about are currently non-visitors (we preserve things for people
who are at the moment the grand-children of people who are only twinkles
in non-visitors eyes).

>!!!! Please listen and Understand!!!! We are the people who pay entrance fees
>and membership fees. We are the ones who can offset a small ad budget with a
>lot of word of mouth advertising.
You are also the ones who volunteer, the ones who stand up in public
meetings when we are facing budget cuts, the ones who are experts in
things we can never have more than a nodding aquaintance with (there's a
saying which goes 'a lifetime to learn to plough, another to reap,
another to sow': so, it takes 3 lifetimes to learn the agrarian: add at
least another 3 to learn the animal husbandry, and we haven't yet got to
the town trades, the costume, domestic artifacts, the medical stuff
...).

>If we stop coming you won't have jobs anymore.....
Worse than that: if you stop coming, the objects we curate will
deteriorate, and if you stop coming, we won't be able to facilitate your
learning, or help you to enjoy yourselves.

OK, if my mortgage doesn't get paid, I'm going to be rather annoyed, but
honestly, if money/job was at the bottom of what I do, I'd not be doing
this.

>
>No you don't have to make it MTV. Just make it inviting. Let me know that I
and
>my opinion are welcome, even without donating a billion or two.
>I've done a lot of informal polling of co-workers, friends, etc and have found
>that most people who don't go to museums don't go because they feel
>uncomfortable, stupid, or poor. Where do these perceptions come from?

Good question.  Sometimes it comes from the objects on display: these
objects were made for those with power: they say 'hey, you out there,
you dross, you bow down before me and call me god'.  The whole point of
the object is to make those who look at it feel poor.  Some art is
designed to make the viewer feel uncomfortable.   Sometimes the building
itself is designed to make the visitor feel uncomfortable: some museums
look like Greek temples: not places where you are going to feel at home,
but places where you are going to meet some very dangerous gods: places
designed to make you feel edgy.

Sometimes it comes from the labels or words used by a guide which
interpret objects (objects of power or not, art designed to disturb or
not): they use words which assume knowlege.  Or they don't point out
that this object is associated with rituals of kingship, and intended to
make the viewer feel powerless, or that in this painting, the artist is
exploring incest.

Or it is a wider thing: a museum where the labels are more dimly lit
than the objects, or where the warding staff follow you around, avoiding
eye contact, or places where you really want to sit down and drink
something in, but you are hustled on, or there's no-where to sit.

Sometimes, there is little the museum can do: if you've got objects of
power, in something that looks like a Greek temple ...
>
>Please understand that my desire is to see fine art and historical
institutions
>flourish for many years to come. But it won't come from alienating all but the
>wine-and-cheese crowd. Yes have high level fund raisers, but also have plenty
>of accessibility for all patrons.

And non-patrons.  We are (at least at Buckinghamshire County Museum)
funded by all tax-payers.  But we realise that we also have a
responsibility to those who don't pay tax because they are too poor, and
those who don't pay tax because they are too young/unborn.

From my experience, the 'high level fund raisers' are often concerned
with increasing the learning and enjoyment of 'average' visitors.

>
>I hope this helps and is received as intended.
It certainly does help to hear from visitors (and non-visitors).  It's
been a _particularly_ bad day at work today.   I am _not_ good at
cutting out things with four right-angles, or in spelling cami-knickers
or brassiere consistantly.  Accessible, but mis-spelled and trapezoid,
that's me.  Being reminded that there are people who are actually going
to read those (re-typed, re-cut) labels is exactly what I needed!

Best wishes (and if anytime you are this side of the pond, do drop by)
--
Pat Reynolds
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   "It might look a bit messy now, but just you come back in 500 years time"
   (T. Pratchett)