How to attract people to museums

The Rijksmuseum in Holland had an idea: Let's bring the art to the people and then, hopefully, they will come to see more - at the museum.

Your take is interesting on several levels. Most art in the major (and even lesser) museums was donated or is on loan from the very wealthy. They are there for the benefit of the hoi polloi who can choose to enjoy it or not.

Nearly every day during the school year, school buses are lined up outside the museums of the Smithsonian Institution so young children can be introduced to art, to history, to science. Charter buses from around the country abound in summer as well as throughout the year. The Smithsonian is called our “nation’s attic” for good reason. Our country’s history, its customs, and culture are treasures, all on display for the people to enjoy. Or not.

There is nothing quite like seeing an original piece of timeless art in person. It’s the difference between seeing a classic movie on an iPad vs. seeing it on a big screen. Or reading Cliff’s Notes vs. reading a great novel. Magnified and on steroids.

Let’s take the famous painting of Washington crossing the Delaware as an example. I must have seen its reproductions hundreds of times in my life. Last year I saw the original at NYC’s Metropolitan Museum and was absolutely blown away. It is not, no matter what you claim, comparable to calling it up on the internet or seeing a magazine cover or any other alternative to the real thing.

I don’t know why you think people working in museums despise those who go there. Most people the public see ‘working’ in museums are volunteers who love the art (or history or science or whatever other subject the museum covers). I’ve only ever met very enthusiastic tour guides and docents who enjoy telling the stories behind the exhibits.

Because I'd like to live in a society where people's appreciation of life, the universe and everything rises slightly higher than the antics of some bimbo in "Jersey Shore".

There is a culture war going on in the west, and our side is losing it. "Dumbing down" the general population is a major weapon of the elites on the other side. An uneducated, ignorant population, living at a mere survival level, suits them just fine. They are easy to manipulate.

As for being "forced to pay for likes" - what you are actually doing is contributing to the the common weal, because some things are just done better in bulk. All of these things are open to you as a member of the public. If you dont want to take advantage of those facilities, that's YOUR business. Would you advocate just paying for the bit of road you personnaly use, or beautifying just the corner of the square that you can see?

You are mixing several unrelated items together. We agree that there is an intentional dumbing down of the population. That is driven by...government intervention in the education market. The direct cause is government schooling. Let’s end the governments monopoly on education, both the physical act and the regulation of what is or isn’t an education.

Your intentions, however good, are misguided in the area of government subsidizing ‘museums’. Should they subsidize the museum of porn? Historically, museums were funded and sponsored by the wealthy. Let that be the case today. I like culture and am well educated in a classical education across great music, visual art and literature. I don’t need your confirmation of such, nor the financial subsidy of music, art or literature by government. No thank you.

To presume that culture will collapse without government intervention is to ignore the War on Culture that our very government is waging. The dumbing down of Americans is a direct result of governments culture campaign. I mean should we be subsidizing the Kennedy Center or would the K Street crowd be able to fund it themselves out of the spoils of politics?

I dont think I am mixing unrelated items. I think its equally likely that you are failing to join the dots up. For example, with regard to the intentional dumbing down of the population - agreed government intervention in the education market is a direct cause of that, but its surely not the only direct cause. There are a lot of reasons why that is happening, and government isnt completely behind all of them because there are other forces in this world who want it to happen for their own reasons. Attacks always work better when they come in at many angles.

Government subsidy in and of itself is not always bad, as long as the decision to subsidise is democratically controlled. A government subsidy of a porn museum would attract a lot of criticism and therefore, because the people rule (or should do) it wont happen. The fact that such things are conceivable is, in itself, evidence of an uneducated populace whose primary motivation is the satisfaction of their baser desires.

Many museums are still funded and sponsored by the wealthy, but in proposing that is the only way things should be done you assume these patrons dont have ulterior motives as well. A lot of these foundations and trusts are very liberal. Or have been co-opted by the left.

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