A museum is not just a building full of art and other objects, it is a community of people who care for and share these objects. A museum is also a community of visitors who come to see these objects, often bringing with them their own interests and expectations.
Museums fill a variety of roles in society, not just chronicling the past and depicting the present but also as touchstones for communities’ future. They can be a place where citizens gather and learn from history, but they can also serve as incubators of new ideas and technologies.
In addition to their educational role, museums are important economic drivers in cities, providing jobs and revitalizing the local economy. The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, for example, brought $100 million into the Basque region of Spain. Museums also provide a social context for interaction and collaboration, where people can come together to explore common interests such as art or science.
People who work in museums, both professionally and as volunteers, are incredibly diverse. They are scientists, teachers, writers, artists, historians, designers, architects, and more. Across the board, these people are united by the common purpose to connect with and inspire the public. The work that they do is incredibly valuable and it is an important part of our shared human heritage.
As museums continue to seek ways to reach their full potential, they must keep in mind that each visitor has their own reasons for visiting a museum. The growing body of audience research (like that conducted by John Falk and Susie Wilkening) shows that visitors look for different things from their visit to a museum. Some are explorers, seeking out whatever captures their interest; others may prefer to focus on learning and education. Those who are rechargers find that museums can offer them the opportunity to experience something that they may not have seen or felt before, making them feel reenergized and motivated.
Museums manage their collections with the help of professionals known as curators. They are responsible for protecting the collection and ensuring that it is accessible to the public. This can be a challenging task, as museums have large numbers of objects and limited space to display them. Many museums only show a small percentage of their collections at any given time, and the remainder is stowed away in secure, temperature-controlled vaults. However, these stored items do not just sit there doing nothing; they are being studied by scholars across the globe. These scholars investigate painters; the posture of early humans; the preservation and conservation of objects, artifacts, specimens and species, and more.
Museums are complex institutions with a lot of moving parts, and they are always evolving to better serve their communities. This is a particularly challenging time to be in the museum field as it faces increasing budget cuts and funding uncertainty. In light of this, it is especially important that we continue to work collaboratively and proactively to make our voice heard.