As cities become more crowded and less green, we see families shut away in high density spaces looking for a place to take their children to escape the four walls of the apartment.
Families want to have fun together, learn together and enjoy different experiences. It’s a perfect time for the museum and gallery sector to step up and encourage local families through their doors, not once but many times a year. It’s important to think about the regular, repeat visitors and not just those once in a lifetime and single exhibition visitors but many museums seem to be exhibition focussed.
If I was a weekly or fortnightly visitor, how would I see your museum space? I would definitely be looking for different things when compared with a single exhibition visitor. Food for thought?
One of the most interesting facts that I have learned from visitor studies at the Australian Museum, Sydney, was that many “inner city dwellers” use the museum as their backyard (metaphorically speaking of course).
I found that a number of families live in apartments in the inner city and have taken out membership to several cultural institutions and that they regularly bring children to come and play at the Australian Museum. I don’t mean running around kind of play but definitely spending hours at the museum (to escape their apartments) in the Search and Discover section of the museum or participating in craft activities (when available) at Kids Space. This was quite a revelation to me because I’ve never lived in a small flat with children. My four kids were brought up in the suburbs, 20 kilometres away from the city and had access to a backyard, local parks and…
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Museum Whisperings 