Author: Nash, George

Publication Year: 1973

Media Type: Report

Summary:

The objective of this research is to try to better understand the museum going experience from the point of the visitor. We explored what visitors like and dislike about their visits in areas other than the actual experience with the art. Once we understand the attitudinal difference between the frequent and occasional visitors we will be able to understand the barriers to more frequent attendance.

Abstract:

The objective of this research is to try to better understand the museum going experience from the point of the visitor. We explored what visitors like and dislike about their visits in areas other than the actual experience with the art. Once we understand the attitudinal difference between the frequent and occasional visitors we will be able to understand the barriers to more frequent attendance. The aim of the study is to increase the flow of information about the museum going experience to museum administrators and government and foundation funders. The ultimate goal, of course, is to increase the attendance at museums and to make museum going more satisfying.

The study was composed of three discrete parts, each of which will constitute one of the succeeding chapters. It should be emphasized that the study is a small scale, modestly budgeted, pilot study rather than a definitive one such as Arts and the People. Because of the relatively small numbers of people interviewed and the fact that the samples were not necessarily random representative ones, our statistics would not necessarily be replicated exactly by a larger, more thorough study. We feel, however, that the trends and tendencies we will report can safely be generalized from and that we have raised many new questions for further research.

Chapter 2 reports on studies we did with potential museum goers in Manhattan Borough of New ork City and Rochester, New York. We conducted personal interviews with 213 people in a downtown Rochester office complex and with 224 people on the East Side of Manhattan. These interviews were conducted in the Spring of 1974, and we sought to determine what images people held of museums, what proportion of them would go if they were given free admission, and what they liked and didn't like about art museums.

Chapter 3 is the result of a study we did at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. We interviewed 187 people who had completed their visits to the museum. Eighty-seven of these were first timers. We attempted to determine what problems the first timers had and how they perceived the museum differently than those who had been there before. We also conducted depth interviews with a number of first time visitors in an attempt to determine what anxieties and frustrations they experienced. We asked the visitors how much they had enjoyed their experience and about their images of the museum. We asked the visitors of the utility of potential additional services that the museum might provide.

One of the hypotheses of this study is that an art museum can increase its attendance by making an effort to reach all segments of the population, by having exhibits that people from the museum's community consider relevant, and by working purposely to make a visit to the museum understandable and rewarding. The Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester has attempted such a program. The story of how it has reached out into its community and increased its support and attendance from all segments of the community is the subject of Chapter 4.

CONTENTS
Chapter 1. Introduction.
Chapter 2. Why don't more people go more often? - outsiders' images.
Chapter 3. Visitors' responses to the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Chapter 4. A museum that attracts visitors and community support because it really
                serves the community.
Chapter 5. Conclusions.

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Participation