Who Foots the Bill?

There are literally hundreds of new museums nationwide that didn’t exist forty years ago.  Museums have never attracted greater crowds nor have they held more flexible hours to accommodate an increasingly dynamic public. They’ve made themselves places of social gathering with the introduction of music, film, and fine dining.

So what’s the problem?

Corporate support has all but evaporated. Government aid remains modest at best (and compared to many European cities, infinitesimal – sadly something I don’t see changing soon).

Board members now expect museums to market their programs with the sophistication and aggressiveness of the for-profit world.

But who foots the bill?

Museums find themselves forced to rely more and more upon gate and collateral revenues (from gift shop, restaurants, special event rentals, etc.) to supplement traditional avenues of support and good old-fashioned philanthropy – a shift from “I want to give because I support the organization, do with my contribution what you will” to “what do I get at this level of membership?” or “use my donation exclusively for what I want it to support.”

It’s not surprising then that we have seen a steady growth in the types of shows that that years ago wouldn’t have made it into most museums – the kinds of shows that pull crowds in with their “event-ness.” But do these masses come back? Do they become members? Do they give? We hope so.

But I think museums need to be careful not to give away the one extremely special and irreplaceable experience: the one-on-one encounter with a work of art. No matter how glorious the digitization, how interactive the technology, the unique experience of standing before an original work of art remains irreplaceable.

We clearly want to attract a younger audience, while not losing our consistent base of support.  Bringing the millennial generation into the tent- giving them a place at the table to help design programs around existing content seems like a pretty obvious approach.

It has led to many highly successful new programs at museums that offer different kinds of events for different demographics.  That special museum experience can be enjoyed without the exclusive ticket, without the timed admission, without advance planning – but by spending time in the museum collection. Museums that offer their collections for free and only charge for special exhibitions are sending the right message.

The permanent collection rests at the heart of any museum. Every time I hear of a commercial company that wants to “package masterpieces” from other institutions to send them on the road as a moneymaking venture, I shudder. Doing so treats the audience without the respect they deserve, the respect for a public that all museums hopefully share as a common mission – to educate rather than entertain. Edutainment is a slippery slope.

I often ask people to tell me their most favorite museum experience. Rarely is it a blockbuster show. Hardly ever is it even the large encyclopedic museums with their deep collections. Most often it is the small museum where the intimate experience of being close to the art is most prized.  I think it’s worth following those special experiences.