Public art museums and galleries have an image problem and the buck stops with their directors.
In the mind of stakeholders and visitors art museums have a split personality. While potential visitors see art museums as relevant, accessible, interesting and exciting, they also describe the key cultural institutions as elitist, stuffy, conservative and judgmental.
The negative image is strongly associated with art museum directors who are seen by stakeholders as jaded, pessimistic and bitchy.
Research suggests gallery directors lack the necessary brand management tools to articulate a ‘brand vision’ and to engage staff. Directors need to think about changing their opening hours and providing more interactive experiences to refresh their image, according to a business study of art museum branding.
The Melbourne Business School brand research will be a wake-up call to directors and staff in art museums, whose enormous efforts are clearly unappreciated by visitors and stakeholders.
Researchers Dr Jody Evans and Dr Kerrie Bridson of the Asia Pacific Social Impact Leadership Centre at the Melbourne Business School, Melbourne University studied stakeholder and visitor perceptions at Victorian art museums. The study included state cultural institutions, metropolitan, regional and university art museums. Regardless of scale, resources or location all faced the same challenges.
The researchers were surprised by the negative image of directors and said this image was directly affecting stakeholders’ perceptions of art museums. Whilst there were positive images of directors as dynamic, engaged, savvy, inspiring, innovative and entrepreneurial, the negative images dominated perceptions. Directors were seen as elitist, exhausted and tending to undermine one another.
‘Many stakeholders, particularly those in funding positions, viewed art museum directors as fairly pessimistic, reactive individuals with a victim mentality that often led them to undermine the successes of others in the sector. There was a tendency to always highlight problems, rather than focusing on opportunities and successes,’ the researchers found.
One stakeholder identified the image of art museum directors and their inability to articulate a positive business case as the single most significant factor holding the sector back.
Evans and Bridson say addressing the negative image of public art museum directors is fundamental in any strategy for community engagement and improving the brand image of art museums.
The researchers identified four groups of potential visitors: the art lovers who visit regularly and are drawn by the permanent collection; the exhibitionists who come for the blockbusters; the date nighters who tend to be forgotten but could be attracted and the sports lovers who have interest but find the museums inaccessible and not on their radar. Most perceive art museums as intelligent and dynamic but somewhat ‘old’.
‘The Art Lovers referred to public art museums as welcoming, dynamic, inspiring escapes. They had formed the image of a benevolent God-like being that was a great source of comfort in their daily lives. Both the Exhibitionists and the Date Nighters talked of public art museums as an old member of the family that they reconnected with at social occasions. One member of the Date Nighters group described the art museum as a distant cousin in a boring suit, who when you get talking to them is so entertaining and interesting that you think you must see them more often. Afterwards you forget about them and don’t see them again until the next family event. For the Sports Lovers, public art museums were described quite fondly as a wise, conservative, affluent Old Soul.’
A change in opening hours was suggested as a strategy that would signal greater accessibility and encourage new kinds of visitors.
In terms of visitor experiences, the study highlighted a ‘serious deficiency in the current engagement strategies of art museums’ and found there was a real opportunity to affect change if staff interacted better with visitors. ‘Art museums can generate stronger brand preference in visitors if they offer more cognitively and emotionally engaging experiences. In particular, encouraging staff to interact more with visitors could substantially enhance the visitor experience’.
Art museums are advised to dedicate human resources to creating engaging experiences that afford a high degree of social interaction between visitors and staff and that emphasise an exciting, inspiring and nurturing brand.
In studying visitor engagement the researchers found only 50% of visitors were categorised as ‘high’ for behavioural, emotional, and cognitive engagement and only 31% of respondents were considered high for social interaction. ‘Moving forward, as a means of fostering deeper levels of community engagement, art museums should seek to also emphasise their nurturing and engaging qualities. Again, many of these qualities are best exhibited by staff, as the organisation’s greatest brand ambassadors, and reinforce the importance of social interaction in the art museum experience.’
Part of the problem is undoubtedly with resources. The majority (55%) of art museums are operating with fewer than 5 staff members. Most employ a museum director or senior curator. In total, the sector employed over 1400 people in 2011. Only 6% of those employed in the sector are in a marketing role with just 33% of art museums employing anyone in a marketing position.
‘This suggests that art museum directors and their small teams have to play multiple roles and the image of a director curating an exhibition, writing the media release, fixing the faulty plumbing and running a free workshop for local school children would not be unusual. Perhaps this lack of support staff goes some way to explaining the weak brand image for the sector, particularly when 80% of art museums rely so heavily in volunteers. Without dedicated human resources to creating engaging experiences that afford a degree of social interaction between visitors and staff and that emphasise an exciting, inspiring and nurturing brand, the sector will continue to struggle,’ the report noted.
Developing the social skills of directors and staff would also improve philanthropic funding, corporate sponsorship and commercial income streams. ‘Such opportunities are inextricably linked to the sector’s ability to develop a compelling and unique narrative that engages a wide range of stakeholders,’ the researchers said. ‘If art museums seek to improve their image then they must become braver, more proactive and innovative. Such an approach requires a deeper understanding of visitors’ needs and the way in which competitors may be addressing such needs.’
‘Whilst the image most people have of art museums is quite positive, it is not strong, compelling or unique. In conclusion, the public art museum sector is, and can be perceived to be, nurturing, exciting and engaging. The sector is now presented with the opportunity to take control of its image and influence the perceptions of, not only visitors, but all stakeholders. The public art museum sector does have a unique and compelling story to tell, but it must be bold and take on the role of a town crier shouting this through the streets.’
The negative image of the art museum director is damaging the brand of galleries.
