Thirteenth International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

Twenty years ago, this author published a paper* describing the major relationships, over time, between museums and people who visit. To summarize, Strangers: The museum believes that its responsibility is to the collection and not to the public. Guests: The museum wants to ”do good” for its audience out of a sense of mission, primarily through “educational objectives.” The author proposed a different relationship: Clients: The museum is accountable to the public. Institutions acknowledge that visitors, as clients, have needs, expectations, and wants that the museum is responsible to understand and meet. After 15 years, it was clear that Client relationships did not infiltrate museums, so the term no longer seemed appropriate. A better formulation, drawn from the digital world, was to aspire for museums to recognize Users. This study traces changes in the last twenty years and provide examples of a new, twenty-first century formulation of partners and platforms.