Developing Audiences for the Twenty‐First‐Century Museum

This chapter explores the challenges museums face in remaining relevant to twenty‐first‐century audiences in what is a period of rapid societal upheaval brought on by demographic change, generational shift, and the impact of new media. It explores the development of museum practice toward both traditional and new audiences and emphasizes that there is not a choice to be made between the two – museums need both. The author explores two case studies, the National Trust in the UK and the Dallas Museum of Art in the USA, which demonstrate how learning and visitor profiling can focus the work of audience development. Arguing that museums need to get to know their audiences much better and that the shifting expectations of audiences must lead to equal shift in the nature of the museum experience, it concludes that such change requires planning for the long term and sustained commitment.