The Campus Art Museum - Samuel H. Kress Foundation

How Participants Became Engaged with
Art and Art Museums
How do those who are interested in and supportive of art and art museums become
that way? What happens in their past that they not only become enamored with
art but also, perhaps, choose a career that allows them to be immersed in art
or museum life? I was talking with a select group—with art museum directors,
curators, and other museum staff; with students who, often, are studying art
history or art education; with faculty who make use of the museum in their
classes; and with community members who are museum docents, volunteers, or
board members, or alumni who remain connected in some way with the museum. 6
From them, I sought to learn about aspects of their past that helped them become
interested in the arts and, ultimately, art museums. Four factors seem to have had
the largest influence:
1. Art. As a child, they were surrounded by art, often because a parent was
an artist. They grew up with art and, sometimes, with a gift for drawing or
painting.
2. Course. As a college student or, sometimes, as a high school student, they took
an art history course that, generally in combination with a fantastic teacher,
interested them in taking more courses and got them interested in art and art
museums.
3. Job. They took a job in an art museum (or gallery or frame shop) and, through
the exposure and associated experiences, decided they wanted to pursue work in
an art museum.
4. Museum. They visited art museums and became interested in them.
Often, a combination of the above factors coalesced to encourage the
respondent to pursue studies, work, and/or frequent interactions with art and
museums. One would lead to the other, as when growing up in an art-centered
environment led to taking courses in art and/or art history which led to a degree in
the arts and a subsequent job in an art museum. Sometimes, however, the interest
in the arts came more suddenly through a visit to an art museum or through a
course. The following table focuses on different categories of respondents and the
factors that appear as primary in interesting them in art museums.
6. The thirty-four interviewees who are more removed from the art museum world are campus administrators, faculty
loosely connected to the museum, and a few students who are at the museum because of a job. Many are, nonetheless,
champions of the campus art museum.
How Participants Became Engaged with Art and Art Museums
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