Attracting and engaging with a socially inclusive audience: an exploratory study into special events which are held in museums
Abstract
This study aims to identify how special events which are held in museums can attract and
engage with a socially inclusive audience. The event attendees’ perspectives will be
explored further to ascertain to what extent museums are achieving social inclusion
through hosting special events.
The research follows a qualitative approach through the form of semi-structured
interviews. Nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals who had
attended a special event in a museum. The research was conducted in Edinburgh,
Scotland.
The findings conclude that participants’ perceptions of museums have improved after
attending a special event in a museum. Secondly, free admission is critical to ensure
fundamental equal access to the museum event. However, the results indicate that free
events only reach current museum visitors. The special events are more accessible for the
working population, who are unlikely to visit the museum on a regular day. Despite this,
the results identify that corporate museum events are exclusive. Lastly, a positive event
experience strengthens attendees’ engagement with the museum’s events programme.
On this basis, it is recommended that museums’ management aim to relieve the barriers
to participation from non-attendees and raise awareness of their free events through social
media. Future research is required to determine the rationale for corporations selecting the
museum as their host event venue. Secondly, the barriers to participation in museum
events must be investigated, from the perspective of non-attendees, to understand this
target audience and market the special events accordingly.