27
MARCH
MUSEUMS AS SOCIAL CHANGE
Reading No. 1
Museum Experiences That Change Visitors
Journal: Museum Management & Curatorship
Barbara J. Soren
Reading No. 2
Museums, The Public, and Public Value
Journal of Museum Education
Carol Scott
Glasgow Life
Curious Life Project Evaluation Final Report March 2013
Reading No. 1
"Transformational experiences seem to happen if we discard old ways of thinking and provide new opportunities for individuals to invent personal knowledge and explore new ideas and concepts"
Museum Experiences That Change Visitors
Journal: Museum Management & Curatorship
Barbara J. Soren
If some sort of ‘transformation’ happens does it happen in the museum or afterward?
Creating challenges in which people can discover the interconnectedness of ideas are important to personal change.
Museum visits as ‘transformative experience in which we develop new attitudes, interests, appreciation, beliefs or values in an informal, voluntary context focused on museum objects’
‘the use of what we already know, in a new combination or relationship’
the museum becomes a place for ‘personal validation’ in which staff share knowledge and transfer authority to the visitor.
Museum experiences as transformative:
‘by displacing me, and bringing me far outside myself’
the experience is ‘something that stays with us afterward’
so impactful the individual can ‘call it to mind instantly’ during a conversation
Having a ‘deep’ experience
Museums, The Public, and Public Value
Journal of Museum Education
Carol Scott
"Determination of the public value of arts and culture is subject to the political process with formal power being allocated to those who provide funds to make choices"
reading no. 2
Authorizing environment-refers to the political sphere, the area which confers legitimacy and provides funding support. Policy makers, legislatures, bureaucrats and funders
Operational capacity-public sector institutions or organizations and the assets and capabilities entrusted to its public sector manager. Institution’s mission, quality of leadership, strategic partnerships and stakeholders, human and monetary resources.
Public Value-produced for individuals and communities as a result of an institution using its operational capacity with the approval of the political environment to achieve.
Taxpayers do not determine public value in some kind of referendum and there is no process that allows them to earmark public funds.
Public sector agencies have traditionally failed to create public value—ignoring the importance of recipient satisfaction and disregarding the significance of the public’s declining trust in government and public service providers.
Two models:
1. Public as recipients—public takes a passive role
2. Public as Informants-offers the public a degree of participation—feel as though they are making a contribution.
Demands for evidence of economic and social returns on investment found a comfortable indicator in numerical data based on participation stats. Engagement continues to be based on the number of visitors.
Museums are in a period of transition. They need to rely more on models of collaboration for engagement.