Museums are not the ideal public
servants that they proclaim to be. More so, I believe that their idea of what
constitutes an ideal public servant is faulty or incomplete; even if operating
under their parameters of defined success in public servitude. I believe one
better proponent and institutional role model of public service is the Rochester
Public Market.
In my thesis, I would like to delineate
the parallels between museums (that operate alongside AAM guidelines) and the
Rochester Public Market (a cultural institution with a high level of public
appeal and influence; through analyzing current and past histories and
regulations of both. In addition I would identify and synthesize the major
reasons and methods of operation that garner the Rochester Public Markets success
in revitalization and propagation of diverse economies and public congregation.
The Rochester Public Market, for example, has a large amount of teens and
culturally diverse audiences flowing through their gates every week; categories
of audiences that museums often have trouble reaching. The Public Market also
implements many public events/programs to foster a broad community engagement; something
that I haven’t seen in many other museums.
Ultimately, working off of
accumulated research and conclusions, create a proposal for techniques and other
operations that museums could implement to achieve higher success in audience
engagement, visitation, and learning; creating a memorable experience.
