people, find that what is on offer at the museum, no matter how wonderful, a sufficiently compelling reason to visit. If it was, then every museum would be full of visitors every day of the week. Today, most people make leisure decisions for personal reasons, reasons related to the quality of their everyday life. People are looking for ways to improve their daily lives. They are looking for experiences that are not just performative but rather are palpably useful to them. 6 In the age of radical relevance, the public is constantly in search of experiences that they perceive as unique, and most importantly, personally meaningful. To build and attract audiences, museums need to create and clearly communicate to the public that the experiences they offer directly support specific, highly valued well-being-related outcomes such as those described above; the types of quality outcomes most people currently find hard to find in other aspects of their lives.
My research has now documented that museum visitors consistently report that their visit experiences result in exactly these four types of positive well-being. 4 Meanwhile, research beyond the sphere of museums has shown that when people consistently feel like they have achieved these kinds of personal, intellectual, social, and physical wellbeing-related outcomes, they are significantly more likely to believe they have lived a satisfying and successful life. 5
The fact that museums support this kind of positive, wellbeing-related value is wonderful, but that value only accrues to those who actually visit a museum. The challenge for museum professionals is how to attract and satisfy more people in this way.
ENGAGING MORE OF THE PUBLIC, MORE OF THE TIME
Although many people go to museums, many more do not. And this is particularly true in places like the Middle East, a region lacking a long history of museum-going. Although most museum professionals are eager to attract more visitors to their museums, most currently lack an understanding of exactly how to accomplish this. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that most museum professionals still delude themselves into believing that what is preventing the public from visiting museums is a lack of awareness of all the wonderful things they will be able to see and do once they get inside the front doors. In other words, all that is required to attract visitors is to provide clear and compelling descriptions of all the wonderful objects on display, and timely announcements about the exciting new artist or topic being featured in the latest exhibition. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that most people, particularly local
So, rather than telling the public about what is on display at the museum, museums would be much better served by explaining to the public why a visit will be worth their while. Museums need to provide compelling, concrete explanations about how a visit to the museum will result in direct, personal benefits, not just for themselves, but for the person’ s family as well. As described above, museums need to explain to prospective visitors how a visit will directly support their personal, intellectual, social, and physical well-being. For example, museums need to describe how a visit will inspire a sense of awe and wonder, how it can be a vehicle for stimulating curiosity and creativity around topics that directly connect with their lives, how it will build social bonds with their children and friends, and how a visit experience will result in enhanced feelings of physical and mental health.
When a museum successfully communicates that a visit will support a person’ s needs and then delivers an experience that successfully fulfills that expectation, people leave that experience feeling satisfied and enriched. When people feel satisfied and enriched, they perceive that their time was well spent, and feel motivated to share those feelings with others, and by so doing, they encourage others to also engage with the museum. This in turn creates a virtuous cycle of participation and satisfaction and fosters the perception that the museum is a place of value in the community. By focusing on delivering personal value, the museum can become a place where increasing numbers of people feel comfortable going repeatedly, a place where people feel like they achieve personal, intellectual, social, and physical nourishment and well-being. References available on page 60
John H. Falk is a leading expert in free-choice learning and the founder and CEO of the Institute for Learning Innovation while serving as Emeritus Professor at Oregon State University. His expertise focuses on helping cultural institutions reimagine their role and value proposition for the modern era. He can be reached at john. falk @ freechoicelearning. org
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