Non-visitors: Who Are They and What Should We Do About Them?

Abstract

In November 2019, the Smithsonian hosted the Transatlantic Seminar for Museum Curators and Educators: Museums as Spaces for Social Discourse and Learning. The program brought together German and American museum professionals and was co-sponsored by the Leibniz Institution, the Smithsonian Institution, and Fulbright Germany. A keynote presentation on “Why People Choose not to Visit Art Institutions. Non-Visitor Research—Methods, Quantitative and Qualitative Results” generated a robust discussion among the symposium participants. In this essay Antje Kluge-Pinsker and Barbara Stauffer, two symposium participants, reflect on non-visitors in their respective countries, including how non-visitors are defined, why people don’t visit museums, and what museums can or should do about non-visitors. While some of the language and thinking are different, the essay reveals that many of the dynamics behind non-visitation are the same in both countries, including preconceived notions, a sense of exclusion, and barriers to access. These point to areas of joint investigation in which both countries can learn from each other.

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