Museums and the Challenge of Change

Old Institutions in a New World

Graham Black

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780367488291
• eBook ISBN: 9781000336733
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Museum Studies

Museums and the Challenge of Change explores the profound challenges facing museums and charts ways forward that are grounded in partnership with audiences and communities on-site, online, and in wider society.

Facing new generations with growing needs and desires, growing population diversity, and a digital revolution, the museum sector knows it must change – but it has been slow to respond. Drawing on the expertise and voices of practitioners from within and beyond the sector, Black calls for a change of mind-set and radical evolution (transformation over time, learning from the process, rather than a 'big bang' approach). Internally, a participative environment supports social interaction through active engagement with collections and content – and Black includes an initial typology of participative exhibits, both traditional and digital. Externally, the museum works in partnership with local communities and other agencies to make a real difference, in response to societal challenges. Black considers what this means for the management and structure of the museum, emphasising that it is not possible to separate the development of a participative experience from the ways in which the museum is organised.

Museums and the Challenge of Change is highly practical and focused on initiatives that museums can implement swiftly and cheaply, making a real impact on user engagement. The book will thus be essential reading for museum practitioners and students of museum studies around the globe.

INDEX

Page numbers in italic indicate a figure and page numbers in bold indicate a table on the corresponding page. Page numbers followed by “b” indicate a box.

1stFans events 29

3D; animation 219; printers/printing 107, 183; scans 230; technology 220

4 Cs 146, 156, 204

4K film and 3D modelling 219

5G technology, and AI 214

90–9–1 rule 184

absorption, and immersion 69–70

abusive behaviour online 43

Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 266–267, 267, 271

accessibility/access 10b, 82b, 128, 129, 133, 186; to art experiences 241; to awareness training 134; to collections 152, 153, 156, 186, 198, 289; to content 45, 48; to creative experiences 178; to cultural heritage 48; to cultural institutions 53; digital 45–46; disability training and 263; to the internet 153; user experience 160

active audience participation 145, 148, 153

active experience 74, 174b

activist museum 13, 93–100; cities and urban development 99–100; digital democracy 98–99; food, environment, and climate change 97; health and care 95–96; key areas of social challenge 94–95; migration and integration 97–98; participative exhibits 181; skills and learning 96

Adams, D. 61

Adams, M. 149

advisory panels 128

ageing 5, 33–34

Age of Participation 41, 42

agile approach to displays 166

Alice in Wonderland (painting) 2...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Introduction: the challenge of change
• Section I Context
• Section II Museums in the wider world
• Section III Developing the participative experience
• Section IV Managing change
• Concluding thoughts
• Index