ISS 25 (1995).pdf - The International Council of Museums

fees for services and admissions in an attempt to increase the notion of their value. As such,
the larger notions of nationalism and abstract notions such as democracy and evolution have
a more difficult time in aligning paths of historical truth of the display of their material.
This drive behind the museum-community interface has created changes to the financial bases
of museum, where museums are now actively soliciting funds, charging higher and higher
admissions and memberships and becoming special-public oriented; it has created a political
demand from the community which is wanting to have the museum reflect a particular public's
concerns and notions of historical truth; it has created a marketplace atmosphere where value
and service are determined through a kind of auctioning process. The reactive/responsive
contemporary museum has both gained and given power in its newly defined role with the
community. Because of the museum's visibility, it is seen to be a focal place for ideas, and this
gathers status and influence for the institution, while on the other hand, the community's use
of the museum has gained for itself a power base from which it can disseminate its messages.
Tourism
The financial dependence of museums on communities is readily seen in the tourism industry
where the tourist anticipation of what objects they would be willing to pay admission to see
determine the size and content of museological display, and in a very real sense, the tourist is
a nomadic community which strongly influence museums as points of destination. Millions of
people travel the world to visit specific locations which are providing known collections of
objects which have been advertised as being available for tourist consumption.
Anticipation and Reality
Many museums are having to reconcile their museological objectives which may have, for
example, academic, ethnographic, or archaeological quests for education or discovery, and are
having to modify these intellectual ambitions with the "real" demands from various public
communities.
It is also noted that the world's populations are desiring more to be entertained rather than
educated; they are being accustomed to mass entertainment models and expect the same from
their institutions which portray their history; and that people, more and more, are desiring
interactive rather than passive displays.
The museum will continue to be a house where history is stored though the stories depicting
the evolution of peoples will continue to change as the social fabric of the community evolves.
Lynn Maranda, Vancouver Museum, Canada
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14 March 1995