Something Different: A pilot study evaluating family outreach ...

Something Different - Page 11 of 47
Betty I’ve been here in the past. I’m not sure whether it was with my
school or my college, but I remember being here.
Interviewer Do you remember any impressions from then?
Betty I was young then. I was a teenager, before I had a kid or
anything. But yes, I thought it was all right then. [...]
Interviewer Have you been to any other art museums?
Betty No, I’ve only ever been to this one.
Interview at Fitzwilliam Museum on Day of Visit - 24/11/09
In the following extract, ‘Liz’ recalls indistinct memories of visiting the Fitzwilliam Museum
while she was a child, both with parents and with school.
Interviewer Have you been to the Fitzwilliam Museum before?
Liz [...] I came with school, but I don’t remember coming, if that
makes sense. But my mum said I came. I think I vaguely
remember the horse upstairs, or something like that.
Interview at Fitzwilliam Museum on Day of Visit - 24/11/09
The most consistent finding regarding prior visits to art museums was that with only one
exception none of the participants had visited these cultural institutions as an adult. This
result points to the value of the family outreach activities for bringing these young adults into
cultural institutions, which may seem potentially intimidating to visit as a lone visitor.
While most childhood memories of visiting the Fitzwilliam Museum were relatively
indistinct, for ‘Tina’ (extract below) her memory of coming to the museum while in school
set in motion a strong negative expectation about what it would be like to come to the
museum with her own child.
Interviewer Had you heard of the Fitzwilliam Museum before?
Tina Only through school. [...]
Interviewer Do you have any impression that you remember of the Museum
from that?
Tina Somebody kept saying, ‘behave’ and ‘be quiet’. [My
impression was] ‘authority’ really. I don’t like authority.
Interview at Fitzwilliam Museum on Day of Visit - 9/2/10
As can be seen in the extract above, Tina’s prior experience influenced her expectations of
the family outreach visit. The negative perception of the museum from this childhood