Thirteenth International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

Museums can be fun. Museums are still sometimes considered as serious places; they are reliable and have the public’s trust. But can museums maintain that trust if they add a little bit of craziness and the element of fun in what they do? To attract new audiences, it is vital to plan contents that you believe in. But it does not hurt, if it also makes you smile or even laugh. When you plan museum contents it is important to remember the fun factor, learning should be fun. The whole museum organization should stand behind the crazy ideas. When you have the support of your colleagues, and everyone thinks that fun is the new black, then you can go for it. Have the courage to try, because even if it fails, nobody dies. And one must accept, that there is always someone, who does not like the idea. In the Museum Centre of Turku, we have found edutainment to be an effective way to engage audiences. In this paper, we share some successful and fun cases for engaging new audiences. Our cases consist of a small robot as a new museum worker who is amazed of what his fellow museum workers do, organizing a baroque disco in an old castle, and doing a remake of the old Mc Hammer video, U Can’t Touch This, to tell that the museum items shall not be touched.