Academic Sessions: London 2003
Has the Bubble Burst?
Convenors:
Sylvia Lahav, Senior Education Officer National Gallery Trafalgar Square London WC2N 5DN. Tel: 020 7747 2894; Fax: 020 7747 2431; sylvia.lahav@ng-london.org.uk
Sara Selwood, University of Westminster; selwoos@wmin.ac.uk
Abstract:
Tate Modern, New Art Gallery Walsall, The Lowry, and more recently, the Baltic have all attracted huge interest and visitor numbers have far exceeded expectations. For these new galleries, the days of a white–cube culture have passed. Methods of interpretation and display have been re–evaluated and a wider range of text, audio and visual guides are now standard for their visitors. Education departments meet a seemingly ever–growing need for lectures, gallery talks, seminars and courses for both general and specialist audiences, while fund raising sponsorship and marketing has become an essential arm of the museum\'s activities. But while increased visitor numbers may be used to justify government\'s grant in aid and national museums are free, not everything in the garden is rosy. Lottery distributors are regularly criticised for failing to anticipate how capital projects would create greater revenue costs. Financial crises are common, building and maintenance costs are mounting and a continued emphasis on increasing visitor numbers is putting a strain on resources, financial as well as personnel.
Andrew Brighton (Independent writer, formerly Tate Modern) The Inclusion Industry: An Enemy of Art?
Margaret O’Brien (The British Museum) The Discreet Charm of the Thing Itself: Museums, Material Culture and the Adult Learner.
Maurice Davies (Museums Association) Increasing Access.
Jacob Simon (National Portrait Gallery) Structure and Culture: Success and Failure in Museums and Cultural Institutions in Britain.
Dominic Willsdon (Tate Modern) Overcoming Excellence.
Sylvia Lahav (The National Gallery) Falling Apart at the Themes: Mourning the Particular.
Nick Merriman (Curator of UCL Museums) The UCL Panopticon: A New Way of Using University Collections?
Helen Rees Leahy (Centre for Museology, University of Manchester) Rewriting the Gallery: The Politics and Practice of Interpretation.
Sylvia Lahav, Senior Education Officer National Gallery Trafalgar Square London WC2N 5DN. Tel: 020 7747 2894; Fax: 020 7747 2431; sylvia.lahav@ng-london.org.uk
Sara Selwood, University of Westminster; selwoos@wmin.ac.uk
Abstract:
Tate Modern, New Art Gallery Walsall, The Lowry, and more recently, the Baltic have all attracted huge interest and visitor numbers have far exceeded expectations. For these new galleries, the days of a white–cube culture have passed. Methods of interpretation and display have been re–evaluated and a wider range of text, audio and visual guides are now standard for their visitors. Education departments meet a seemingly ever–growing need for lectures, gallery talks, seminars and courses for both general and specialist audiences, while fund raising sponsorship and marketing has become an essential arm of the museum\'s activities. But while increased visitor numbers may be used to justify government\'s grant in aid and national museums are free, not everything in the garden is rosy. Lottery distributors are regularly criticised for failing to anticipate how capital projects would create greater revenue costs. Financial crises are common, building and maintenance costs are mounting and a continued emphasis on increasing visitor numbers is putting a strain on resources, financial as well as personnel.
Andrew Brighton (Independent writer, formerly Tate Modern) The Inclusion Industry: An Enemy of Art?
Margaret O’Brien (The British Museum) The Discreet Charm of the Thing Itself: Museums, Material Culture and the Adult Learner.
Maurice Davies (Museums Association) Increasing Access.
Jacob Simon (National Portrait Gallery) Structure and Culture: Success and Failure in Museums and Cultural Institutions in Britain.
Dominic Willsdon (Tate Modern) Overcoming Excellence.
Sylvia Lahav (The National Gallery) Falling Apart at the Themes: Mourning the Particular.
Nick Merriman (Curator of UCL Museums) The UCL Panopticon: A New Way of Using University Collections?
Helen Rees Leahy (Centre for Museology, University of Manchester) Rewriting the Gallery: The Politics and Practice of Interpretation.