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

Paivi-Marjut Raippalinna
REGIONAL ART MUSEUMS AND CHALLENGES OF COMMUNITY ORIENTATION - A
CASE STUDY
In Finland there has been built up during about twenty' years a
system of regional museums covering for example 13 mainly
municipally run art museums and twenty cultural historical
museums provided with the status of regional museum. The system
was guaranteed by the law in the year 1989. These museums stand
for the professional expertise and are responsible for the
heritage activities related to visual art in the region. The
basic idea beyond the system was, that the nominated museums
were subsidized by the state according to certain measures (for
example number and the qualification of the museum
professionals) because of their duties as the central museum of
the region. The ideological background of the system was
coloured by the cultural policies in the seventies, that focused
on equality: Regardless of social or geographic setting he or
she should have access to art and culture and public art
activities, including also art museums, their collections and
exhibitions. Museums as public institutions were a media par
exellence to advance the idea of equality in terms of cultural
consumption along with the municipally run theatres or
orchestras.
As the regional art museums were concerned their aims were
explicated as the following:
- to make artists, acting in the region, and their products
known to everyone
- distribute knowledge on art and advance positive attitude
towards art
- advance cooperation between museums
- preserve and document art in the region
- to encourage communities in the region to use and produce
different activities related to visual art
- to create new diversified activities to respond to new
challenges of the community
The new system for regional (art) museums created new jobs and
even new museums in the field. There were different approaches
in different museums to carry out their new community orientated
duties. Cultural historical museums found their way out into the
region through excavations, cultural protection and through the
numerous local museums with a lot of energy and a little of
expertise. A common art museum mode was that of circulating
easy-to-handle-sized exhibitions. Each museum had their
individual choice of exhibitions in terms of their collections
and interests . In Finland there hasn't been such an
comprehensive system as Riksutstallningar in Sweden to produce
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