Cornerstone: What do Visitors Really Want From Museums: A conversation with leaders in the field

Friday, March 29, 2019 at The Cooperstown Graduate Program (5838 NY-80, Cooperstown, NY 13326)

Speakers: Deborah Schwartz, Director, the Brooklyn Historical Society and Fath Ruffins, Curator, National Museum of American History

While we don’t know everything about what motivates visitors to come to museums, we do know a great deal gathered over time from quantitative and qualitative studies, as well as good old fashioned anecdotes. Join us for a conversation informed by studies such as LaPlaca Cohen’s important Culture Track reports, to a sampling of studies created for individual museums or exhibitions.  Should we extrapolate from other museums to learn more about our own institutions? What can we learn when we listen carefully to our visitors? Are we making full use of our knowledge when we make decisions about what exhibitions and programs to produce each year? Are we giving visitors what they want, or are we following our own idiosyncratic interests? Given the competition for the public’s use of their valuable leisure time, are museums paying enough attention to what we know about our audiences. Schwartz and Ruffins have decades of experience, and enjoy challenging the status quo. Come join the conversation!

Register today at: https://maom.wildapricot.org/event-3230241