Comments on: Museums Swamped — by kids!! http://blogs.walkerart.org/ecp/2008/02/21/museums-swamped-kids/ Walker Art Center Sat, 06 Sep 2008 06:23:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Lisa http://blogs.walkerart.org/ecp/2008/02/21/museums-swamped-kids/#comment-60148 Lisa Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:29:33 +0000 http://blogs.walkerart.org/ecp/2008/02/21/museums-swamped-kids/#comment-60148 To the author of the article: Unfortunately, museums aren't just for you. They are for everyone. Perhaps you need to make room for the children and stay away from the museum during school hours. In fact, you might be in their way. There are many children who would not have this opportunity if it wasn't for their school. And if children aren't exposed to this at a young age, what makes you think they will walk into a museum as an adult? These days kids have little time in school for art, so let them have this. To the author of the article:
Unfortunately, museums aren’t just for you. They are for everyone. Perhaps you need to make room for the children and stay away from the museum during school hours. In fact, you might be in their way. There are many children who would not have this opportunity if it wasn’t for their school. And if children aren’t exposed to this at a young age, what makes you think they will walk into a museum as an adult? These days kids have little time in school for art, so let them have this.

]]> By: Christina http://blogs.walkerart.org/ecp/2008/02/21/museums-swamped-kids/#comment-59211 Christina Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:42:38 +0000 http://blogs.walkerart.org/ecp/2008/02/21/museums-swamped-kids/#comment-59211 What strikes me is the photo. No one is looking at the art! What worries me is the activities become a distraction from the art rather than helping to enrich the learning experience. Shouldnʼt activities help kids keep their hands busy and minds moving while parents take time, either to talk to them about the work or to enjoy the works for themselves? What strikes me is the photo. No one is looking at the art! What worries me is the activities become a distraction from the art rather than helping to enrich the learning experience. Shouldnʼt activities help kids keep their hands busy and minds moving while parents take time, either to talk to them about the work or to enjoy the works for themselves?

]]> By: Margaret http://blogs.walkerart.org/ecp/2008/02/21/museums-swamped-kids/#comment-58795 Margaret Sun, 24 Feb 2008 03:43:11 +0000 http://blogs.walkerart.org/ecp/2008/02/21/museums-swamped-kids/#comment-58795 Good point about dwindling funding, and the need for civic institutions to build audiences. And kids are an important audience for museums, I think -- the kids themselves are future paying adult visitors, and kids bring their families with them. And whether they're talking to knowledgeable adults, first-time adult visitors, art students, or kids, it seems that museums deploy lots of strategies in the galleries. Some things work for kids, some things don't. If you don't want to explore the gallery with a treasure hunt worksheet, you don't have to. Good point about dwindling funding, and the need for civic institutions to build audiences. And kids are an important audience for museums, I think — the kids themselves are future paying adult visitors, and kids bring their families with them. And whether they’re talking to knowledgeable adults, first-time adult visitors, art students, or kids, it seems that museums deploy lots of strategies in the galleries. Some things work for kids, some things don’t. If you don’t want to explore the gallery with a treasure hunt worksheet, you don’t have to.

]]> By: Lilliodillo http://blogs.walkerart.org/ecp/2008/02/21/museums-swamped-kids/#comment-58685 Lilliodillo Sat, 23 Feb 2008 03:28:36 +0000 http://blogs.walkerart.org/ecp/2008/02/21/museums-swamped-kids/#comment-58685 I have to wonder if this push to draw children into museums isn't another side effect of the slow opening of the giant umbrella of consumer choice's effect on traditional civic institutions. I enjoy my didactic wall text, too. I get a thrill when I can visit the impressive Neo-Classical architecture and wide open, well-lit spaces filled with visual wonder and no scent of playground that is the museum archetype of my mind. The sad truth is that in the UK, funding for these institutions is beginning to dwindle as a cost-benefit analysis method of management (likely adopted from the US) is applied to NGO's. US museums are becoming famous for their "edutainment". Rather than bemoan this fact, it provides an opportunity for traditional museum visitors to recognize a mild symptom of an epidemic found in many non-profit organizations. Museums are simply shifting their programming to keep the numbers of visitors high so they don't disappear into obscurity as an "outdated" form of cultural understanding. Many non-profit organizations have not been as adaptable as museums. Smaller, more site specific non-profits or non-profits that depend on specialized audiences or funding are becoming less and less capable of competing for the media-saturated young demographic. Why go to the symphony when you can go to the movies for less money? Museums are a complex community consisting of many stakeholders. This complex community of the museum parallels what society suffers in its chameleonic changes. Lucky (or unlucky as the case may be) for museums, this diversity in stakeholders provides many sources for monetary input. Thus, the net must be cast wider. In that light, I think I can find a way to enjoy the toddler art corners and what-not. I prefer babies in the galleries to no museum at all. I have to wonder if this push to draw children into museums isn’t another side effect of the slow opening of the giant umbrella of consumer choice’s effect on traditional civic institutions.

I enjoy my didactic wall text, too. I get a thrill when I can visit the impressive Neo-Classical architecture and wide open, well-lit spaces filled with visual wonder and no scent of playground that is the museum archetype of my mind. The sad truth is that in the UK, funding for these institutions is beginning to dwindle as a cost-benefit analysis method of management (likely adopted from the US) is applied to NGO’s. US museums are becoming famous for their “edutainment”. Rather than bemoan this fact, it provides an opportunity for traditional museum visitors to recognize a mild symptom of an epidemic found in many non-profit organizations. Museums are simply shifting their programming to keep the numbers of visitors high so they don’t disappear into obscurity as an “outdated” form of cultural understanding. Many non-profit organizations have not been as adaptable as museums. Smaller, more site specific non-profits or non-profits that depend on specialized audiences or funding are becoming less and less capable of competing for the media-saturated young demographic. Why go to the symphony when you can go to the movies for less money? Museums are a complex community consisting of many stakeholders. This complex community of the museum parallels what society suffers in its chameleonic changes. Lucky (or unlucky as the case may be) for museums, this diversity in stakeholders provides many sources for monetary input. Thus, the net must be cast wider.

In that light, I think I can find a way to enjoy the toddler art corners and what-not. I prefer babies in the galleries to no museum at all.

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