Museum Visitor Trends
The Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on traditional forms of interaction and leisure as institutions closed and norms changed. The damage to cultural and artistic institutions has been particularly devastating, and museums are no exception. Studies by UNESCO and the International Council of Museums show 90% of museums across the world, some 85,000 institutions, were forced to close their doors, at least temporarily. Despite the adversity that faced museums over the last several months, many institutions found innovative ways to connect with sheltered patrons and connect with new ones. The pandemic may have ended visitation for a time, but it revealed much about visitor trends and the future of museums.
Going Digital
Many museums took collections and tours online, increasing their presence on social media and keeping their staff engaged through new mediums. While these virtual measures were born out of necessity, they offer new methods for connecting with new generations of visitors. The Baby Boomer generation is the second most populous generation and the generation that most frequently visits museums; the new social media presence of museums is an important step toward engaging younger visitors. Looking prior to the pandemic, the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts shows that 71 percent of Americans participate in arts or culture electronically, as compared with 49 percent who participate in cultural and performing arts in person. Eight years after the survey, it is clear that the largest but youngest adult generation, Generation Z, is a purveyor of the arts but through digital mediums, both in creation and viewing. Additionally, Gen Z’ers have uniquely developed their taste for art and cultural knowledge in a world where they instantly curate it themselves as they craft social media feeds, playlists, and seek digital compilations of recommendations for new interests. With Baby Boomers remaining the leading generation in visitation and donation to museums along with the adversity of a public health crisis, museums must follow generational trends rather than resist them in favor of one demographic. Digital access to art and exhibitions not only attracts new visitors but allows the continuation of a viewing medium that relieves the visitor density of narrow exhibition halls and small museums.
Innovative Solutions
In a changing world, museums are embracing innovative technological solutions in order to better visitor experiences. Exhibitions and their marketing strategies are increasingly driven by data-focused decisions. Printed brochures, shared audio devices, and printed maps or tickets are becoming less necessary as museums face an increasingly technologically savvy world accompanied by post-pandemic regulations restricting person-to-person contact and public surfaces. The experiences sought at museums are evolving as well; many visitors are enjoying more than the traditional stroll past exhibitions. For example, the National World War II museum in New Orleans offers a dining experience in a 1940s style dinner. Visitors enjoy a dining experience as authentic as the history surrounding them. Other museums have captured the experience of immersion for their visitors through virtual reality or augmentation and even by providing large-scale experiments such as the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry does. Active, rather than passive, exhibits, and an online museum presence capture the attention of young generations who seek a unique and individualized lived experience that can be shared through various social media platforms.
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