Last month I wrote about an article on the Metropolitan Museum of Art that appeared in Yale University’s The Business Behind The Art series.
Another article that caught my eye was about the Memphis Art Museum’s move from the suburbs to a new location downtown under the direction of executive director and Yale alum Zoe Kahr.
Kahr talks about some of the challenges the museum has faced over the years as well as the decision to move the museum downtown rather than expanding/renovating at their original site.
One of the things that really caught my eye was her reflection that pricing doesn’t equal engagement whereas relevant programming does.
We found that our traditional membership model was failing. When the offer was free admission, people weren’t connecting with us,” Kahr explains. “But when we spoke to them about a topic that either connected to their identity or was super interesting to them, people who had not previously been involved were suddenly coming to every event.”
The museum created affinity groups which resulted in greater engagement with the museum, but also greater connection between the group members which Kahr recognized as creating community.
The way she describes the layout of the new museum space, it appears it is intended to foster community and be a gathering space. She mentions that a lot of the museum will be accessible without paying an admission fee. (my emphasis)
The aim is to make the museum—and its art—part of everyday life in the city. “If you’re just ducking in to get some very good coffee, you’re also going to see a bunch of great art,” Kahr explains. Those drawn to watching the sunset from the roof garden while enjoying music and wine will be in a sculpture garden…
Kahr accepts that the art will be secondary for many visitors. “That might be perceived as sacrilegious in certain institutions….“If you’re a community art museum, your goal is to get people to come again and again and again and bring friends and see the museum as part of their core identity,” says Kahr. “To do that, you have to show them themselves, but also continuously expand their horizons about who they are.”
