Visual Arts: tapping the potential

Research published by Arts Council England (ACE) last year revealed that there is potential to more than double the market for original art. In Taste Buds: how to cultivate the art market (2004), Morris Hargreaves MacIntyre found that 12% of residents in England were existing buyers of original art but that 15% aspired to buy but had not yet done so. Research also shows that we could almost double the number of gallery and exhibition attenders. The Scottish Arts Council’s research Audiences at Scottish Arts Council Core Funded Visual Arts Organisations indicated that 43% of the population of Scotland said they would consider visiting an art gallery or exhibition but only 57% of these actually attend…

All of this means that in the United Kingdom there are potentially an extra 9 million purchasers of original art and 11 million gallery and exhibition attenders. So how can we tap into this huge potential market for the visual arts?

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Objects or inspiration: should museums focus on marketing the collection or the experience?

Heather Maitland

Here’s how two local museums in the UK introduce themselves to potential visitors:
“Grantham Museum interprets the archaeology and history of this market town and includes Sir Isaac Newton, the Dambusters and Margaret Thatcher.”

“A ‘hands on’ museum for all the family. Full of fun activities for kids, fascinating facts for adults and, for the not so young, a chance to share some cherished memories! Come and discover Rochdale’s past and, perhaps, shape its future”
One focuses on the collection and the other on the experiences visitors can expect.

The reason that someone goes to a museum or art gallery is to experience the art on the wall or the artifacts in the display case – without the objects, there would be no experience. But usually visitors don’t talk about those things when they describe why they enjoyed the exhibition…

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