MusLi (Museums Literacy) - Fondazione Fitzcarraldo

MusLi - No qualifications needed: museums and new audiences
In general, one can therefore conclude that the process of reassurance and of confidence building
towards the museum and the project staff is a decisive success factor.
Work with a long term approach
In general, building confidence in non-users or people who are less culturally educated and laying the
foundations for a positive attitude towards museums is not the result of short term initiatives. It requires,
over and above straightforward communication and a well balanced offer, a lasting relationship.
For non-visitors, for whom the strongest barrier is a cultural one, it is necessary to create, within the
museum or its activities, a space for discovery and experience that can work as an introduction
and cultural experience building, following the hints and tips already mentioned.
The difficulty felt by many museum practitioners is the challenge of guaranteeing the continuity of this
kind of approach, in order to avoid the risk that “new” visitors persuaded to enter the museum, once
alone encounter displays, labels and styles of communication that remain to a large extent traditional
and confirm the cultural gap that repels many people in the first place.
A more systematic use of different styles of interpretation, different levels of complexity and of analysis
in the presentation of collections, with activities and projects that value the discovery and understanding
of diverse categories of objects and phenomena should, perhaps, become part of the permanent
offer of the museum and redefine in more varied and flexible terms its interpretative and communication
strategies.
“How do we make this kind of public engagement work mainstream in all our museums and galleries?”
(Pete Brown, Head of Learning & Interpretation, The Manchester Museum)
Train the museum staff for all the aspects of a project
As clearly underlined in the Louvre case study, the training of the staff involved in every phase of an
audience development project is essential in order to avoid “leaks” throughout the conception, communication
and implementation.
In particular, styles of welcome and language are crucial to the success or failure of these kinds of museum
initiatives addressed mainly at non-users.
Quoting directly from the project:
The experience at the Maison d’Arrêt de la Santé has highlighted the important question of how to
address and interact with people with a low literacy level. This issue of “how” alone deserves special
attention and training for museum professionals in order to improve their communication skills to assure
a dynamic and invigorating transfer of knowledge and ideas. All those who are directly or indirectly
involved in the project should be trained in the different methods of address and interaction (bearing in
mind language, vocabulary level, attitudes and behaviours) that will allow them to better serve the needs
of people with low literacy skills.
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