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Abstract：
In Britain， most art galleries， heritage sites and museums are open to the whole public， some are free entry and others are charging for entry. And from December 2001， when all the national museums and galleries in UK have returned to a free entry basis， the free museums and galleries that the public can choose are becoming increasing. However， the amount of visitors are limited although those venues are available to the whole public， according to the data from the statistical institute. In other words， that’s not actually the case that everyone come and visit these venues even though they are open to the whole public and some are even free. This essay try to analysis the possible elements which affect the decision of people and explore how these venues can hold the existing visitor ， how can they develop and excite the potential visitors and finally achieve their social value better from these venues themselves.
Key words： museum gallery heritage site visitor
When it comes to the number of visitors of venues like museums， galleries and heritage sites， the first thing that should be recognized is that those venues’ functions toward the visitors are mainly cultural education and leisure activity. These two aspects will be analysed separated thus the exploration of the participation of the public can be more meticulous and the specific reasons which influence the number of visitors can be straightened out although these two functions are always close-knit.
First， let’s analyse the relationship between the number of visitors and the venues which are as the cultural and educational organizations. The MORI had arranged a survey towards 1102 people aged 15+ and asked them three questions as those above the follow chart. According to the result of the survey， 74per cent othe omnibus strongly agreed， agreed or tend to agree that cultural events in Britain are designed to appeal to people like them. Almost half of the interviewee （49per cent） felt that in general that cultural events are designed to appeal to most the upper and middle classes ， in the meantime， only 9per cent of them viewed that cultural events are designed to appeal all equally. And also according to this survey 54 per cent of interviewee said that they had been to an art gallery or museum in the past two years. Thus it can be seen that the major of people have pretty strong sense of participation and more than half of them had chose an art galley or museum to visit. These two items of data show that for one thing ， art galleries and museums became the choice of the majority of people who had the desire of engaging in the cultural events. For another， venues like art galleries and museums still have a mass of potential visitors to develop， especially those who did not choose art galleries or museums to visit but are interested in cultural events. From the result of the question that which group in general that cultural events are designed to appeal to， it can be found that seldom of interviewee thought that cultural events are equal to all the social status. And according to the research about the visitor motivations token by Hood， M.G. in 1983， those non-participants thought that museums are formidable formal places and those occasional visitors thought that they felt museums offer little in the way of comfort-this is were I belong. These all illustrate that cultural organizations should build their image of kind and friendly and narrow the gap between the public and accordingly develop the number of visitors. To deal with the above questions， there are several countermeasures available： first， carrying out some effective social drumbeating and improving the public’s understanding toward museums as well as the popularity of museums. In the meantime， museums should also try to let people feeling that they are invited to the museum. Second， proceeding from the details of the visitor service， for example using warm and popular slogans， panels in the museum. And to perfect the staff’s service is also very important. Q1 To what extent do you agree or disagree that cultural events in Britain are designed to appeal to people like you … ？
The second point is focus on the relationship between the number of visitors and the venues which are as leisure activities.
According to a separate MORI survey data， it shows that， of the 4039 people interviewed， more than a third （37%） of those questioned in the past 12 months have choose to visit the museum or art galleries as their leisure activities， and the vast majority of visitors （92%） said that they will be a repeat customer in the future. It shows that the museum should be propaganda and try to attract more people to enjoy their high quality content. In the investigation of the listed 12 leisure activities， the amount of people who have visited the museums and art galleries is ranked the third place， second only to the number of people who had chose cinemas and libraries as their leisure activities. This is similar to the results of the other relevant survey， that is the number of people choose to go to the cinema is always the most， usually there will be more than half of the respondents said they prefer to go to the cinema， and the number of people choose to visit museums is always next to the number of people going to the cinema. “Going to the cinema is an extremely popular leisure activity- nearly three –fifths of British adults（57%） have been to the cinema last year.’According to the analysis of XX， because of the more technical friendly of the cinema， three-quarters of people said they would like to go. It is not difficult to find that There is a remarkable characteristic that differ museum from cinema and library.In the cinema and the library， people may， according to their own interest or knowledge level， choose a movie or book all by themselves and this is totally active action. But， the museum presents things whichare relatively fixed. To be more specific， they offer visitors of different interest and different knowledge with the same exhibitions and thus audiences can only passive accept.Accordingly the needs of different visitors cannot be met appropriately. This would be a reason why some people do not come and visit museums， art galleries and heritage sites. At first glance this situation seems to be difficult to change since the museum has its owncharacteristics which decide that it can't change the content ad asbitsium to cater to the visitors of their preference. But in fact the museum can improve the quality of the exhibition content from many aspects， for example the interpretation work， and market research， etc.The museum facing different visitors can provide different forms or level of guide services， such as according to different age paragraph of the visitors providing different types of interpretation and treating visitors with different levels of knowledgewith different knowledge level and different emphasis to explain. The another example is the interactive experience. To perfect the interaction facilities of the museumcan strengthen the visitors participation. Such as those hands-on display techniques which need visitor to explore like the reveal ark in drawer style which need visitors to pull and to discover and the use of high technology. “Respondents foresee an increased use of technology for the presentation of information， such as screens， gadgets， and virtual reality.”Fot still another instance， Market research is also very important. If the museum has the ambition to attract more visitors， then they must understand the public interest and preference at the first step. Market research should be taken frequently and according to the needs of the community， the adjustment of the exhibition should be madeas well as the specific exhibitions toward visitors’ interest. It can improve public participation and the active level of the people when visiting the museum. There is a survey that focuses directly on those non-participants of museums and art galleries. If standing in the position of the museum， the 12 items of reason that for not visiting the museum can be roughly divided into two groups. The first kind is the individual’s own reasons that museums can't change， including "no time or too busy， not interested." But the rest of the almost can be regarded as reasons come from museum， which can be improved by museums themselves and can be divided into three terms：
First， the museum facilities and service are incompetent. This includes have difficulty to get there or get around for medical or health reasons， the public transport is poor or too far to travel， people feel not user-friendly for families or children and don not make people feel welcome. Second， the exhibition content is poor in the museum. This contains the complain of museums and galleries are boring and children would not be interested. The third kind is that people thought the admission charges are too high. All the three terms above can be improved by museums and galleries. For example for the issue of the incompetent facilities and service， first， Museums should perfect the infrastructure， particularly for the elderly and the sick. Second， museum should work to improve traffic inconvenience， if the geographical position cannot be changed， then at least some convenient traffic sign of recognition can be provided for the visitors. Third， museum should actively plan some suitable exhibition for families and children's visit. In the meantime， museum should improve the service quality and try to make the visitors feel kind and comfortable. For another example， as to the complain towards the boring content and the low attraction to the children， museum may set out to improve the arrangement of the display content， diverse the display technique and develop the use of interactive experience. When it comes to the issue of the admission price of museums， different consideration should be taken according to the different situations. Countermeasures like strengthening the market competitiveness of the museum shop to relieve the tickets’pressure may work.
The above is focused on the analysis of the museum itself， mainly from the museum culture education and leisure activity two functions which are related to the audience directly. The following analysis will focus on the social public， including visitor and non-visitor.
According to the above survey conducted by MORI， there is a further classification of these 37% respondents who had been to museums or galleries in the past 12 months， the results indicate that there is no obvious difference between different age groups about whether to visit museums and galleries or not. The number of people who chose to visit museums in 35 to 54 age group is fairly more than this same data of other age groups. This may relevant to their higher education degree and their higher income. From the results of the social classand household income survey， it is apparent that people from the higher social classes and enjoyed higher income were tend to be more prefer to visit the museum. In other words， people who belonged to a lower social class and had lower income visited the museum less. And from the investigation result focused on the education degree it indicates that people with lower education degree were less tended to visit the museum. These data show that social class， family income and education levels are all affecting people’s decision of visiting museum or not. The activity of visiting museums， including the museum and the public two elements. To answer the issue why not everyone visiting museum， the reason can be divided into two parts—one is the part that museum can deal with and improve. The other part is the visitors’ matter that cannot be changed by museums.
The first species of reason comes from the non-participants themselves. Looking from the whole， people come from a lower social class ， with a lower income and a relevant low education degree seems to have less pursuit and needs toward the culture and accordingly they have limited needs toward the cultural venues like museums. Then from individual to see， some people are living a busy lifestyle and they do not have spare time to visit museums. And there is still another reason that is some people are really not interested in the museums and its activities.
The causes from the museum are more complicated： firstly， as a cultural education institution， in some public’s impression may be too formal or too far away from people’s daily life. Some people might mistakenly think that museum is a kind of place that is too academic and to some extent， this kind of fallacy has restricted people’s visit to museum. In order to strive for more potential audience， museum should be active and try to close the gap between the public as well as enhancing the propaganda and expanding the social awareness. It is very important to let people to feel invited by the museum and to provide kind and comfortable service is really vital. Secondly， as a kind of leisure activity， museum in some respects seems to be a kind of boring since the exhibition mode is relatively fixed and drab， visitors’ participation seems to be passive and lack of diversity. But these can be changed by museum through many available accesses. Museums should pay attention to improve the quality of the content of museum exhibition and being active to engage in the perfect of interpretation work， rich interactive displays and pay attention to the market survey as well as the feedback from the visitor. Then the inherent passive visit mode can be reversed and the visitors’ initiative participation can be enhanced. Museum’s exhibitions can be increasingly rich and attractive in the meanwhile. Thirdly， as a kind of public place， and is open to all， museum should perfect the basic service facilities as well as possible. Things like the equipment and special service toward people with disabilities. Otherwise， this can also become a stumbling block to block the public to visit museum.
Reference：
1、Gerard Corsane（2007） ‘Using ecomuseum indicators toevaluate the Robben Island Museumand World Heritage Site‘Landscape Research
2、Richard Sandell ， Annie Delin ， Jocelyn Dodd & Jackie Gay （2010）’ Beggars， freaks and heroes？ Museumcollections and the hidden history of disability‘Museum Management and Curatorship
3、Richard Sandell （2010） ‘The Strategic Significanceof Workforce Diversity inMuseums’International Journal of Heritage Studies
4、Eleonora Belfiore （2010）‘Art as a means of alleviating social exclusion： Doesit really work？ A critique of instrumental culturalpolicies and social impact studies in the UK’International Journal of Cultural Policy
5、Andrew Newman ， Fiona McLean & Gordon Urquhart （2010）‘Museums and the Active Citizen： Tackling the Problemsof SocialExclusion’Citizenship Studies
陈蜀西（1989.6—）女，26岁，汉族，籍贯四川崇州，西南民族大学研究实习员，研究方向：博物馆学、民族学。
In Britain， most art galleries， heritage sites and museums are open to the whole public， some are free entry and others are charging for entry. And from December 2001， when all the national museums and galleries in UK have returned to a free entry basis， the free museums and galleries that the public can choose are becoming increasing. However， the amount of visitors are limited although those venues are available to the whole public， according to the data from the statistical institute. In other words， that’s not actually the case that everyone come and visit these venues even though they are open to the whole public and some are even free. This essay try to analysis the possible elements which affect the decision of people and explore how these venues can hold the existing visitor ， how can they develop and excite the potential visitors and finally achieve their social value better from these venues themselves.
Key words： museum gallery heritage site visitor
When it comes to the number of visitors of venues like museums， galleries and heritage sites， the first thing that should be recognized is that those venues’ functions toward the visitors are mainly cultural education and leisure activity. These two aspects will be analysed separated thus the exploration of the participation of the public can be more meticulous and the specific reasons which influence the number of visitors can be straightened out although these two functions are always close-knit.
First， let’s analyse the relationship between the number of visitors and the venues which are as the cultural and educational organizations. The MORI had arranged a survey towards 1102 people aged 15+ and asked them three questions as those above the follow chart. According to the result of the survey， 74per cent othe omnibus strongly agreed， agreed or tend to agree that cultural events in Britain are designed to appeal to people like them. Almost half of the interviewee （49per cent） felt that in general that cultural events are designed to appeal to most the upper and middle classes ， in the meantime， only 9per cent of them viewed that cultural events are designed to appeal all equally. And also according to this survey 54 per cent of interviewee said that they had been to an art gallery or museum in the past two years. Thus it can be seen that the major of people have pretty strong sense of participation and more than half of them had chose an art galley or museum to visit. These two items of data show that for one thing ， art galleries and museums became the choice of the majority of people who had the desire of engaging in the cultural events. For another， venues like art galleries and museums still have a mass of potential visitors to develop， especially those who did not choose art galleries or museums to visit but are interested in cultural events. From the result of the question that which group in general that cultural events are designed to appeal to， it can be found that seldom of interviewee thought that cultural events are equal to all the social status. And according to the research about the visitor motivations token by Hood， M.G. in 1983， those non-participants thought that museums are formidable formal places and those occasional visitors thought that they felt museums offer little in the way of comfort-this is were I belong. These all illustrate that cultural organizations should build their image of kind and friendly and narrow the gap between the public and accordingly develop the number of visitors. To deal with the above questions， there are several countermeasures available： first， carrying out some effective social drumbeating and improving the public’s understanding toward museums as well as the popularity of museums. In the meantime， museums should also try to let people feeling that they are invited to the museum. Second， proceeding from the details of the visitor service， for example using warm and popular slogans， panels in the museum. And to perfect the staff’s service is also very important. Q1 To what extent do you agree or disagree that cultural events in Britain are designed to appeal to people like you … ？
The second point is focus on the relationship between the number of visitors and the venues which are as leisure activities.
According to a separate MORI survey data， it shows that， of the 4039 people interviewed， more than a third （37%） of those questioned in the past 12 months have choose to visit the museum or art galleries as their leisure activities， and the vast majority of visitors （92%） said that they will be a repeat customer in the future. It shows that the museum should be propaganda and try to attract more people to enjoy their high quality content. In the investigation of the listed 12 leisure activities， the amount of people who have visited the museums and art galleries is ranked the third place， second only to the number of people who had chose cinemas and libraries as their leisure activities. This is similar to the results of the other relevant survey， that is the number of people choose to go to the cinema is always the most， usually there will be more than half of the respondents said they prefer to go to the cinema， and the number of people choose to visit museums is always next to the number of people going to the cinema. “Going to the cinema is an extremely popular leisure activity- nearly three –fifths of British adults（57%） have been to the cinema last year.’According to the analysis of XX， because of the more technical friendly of the cinema， three-quarters of people said they would like to go. It is not difficult to find that There is a remarkable characteristic that differ museum from cinema and library.In the cinema and the library， people may， according to their own interest or knowledge level， choose a movie or book all by themselves and this is totally active action. But， the museum presents things whichare relatively fixed. To be more specific， they offer visitors of different interest and different knowledge with the same exhibitions and thus audiences can only passive accept.Accordingly the needs of different visitors cannot be met appropriately. This would be a reason why some people do not come and visit museums， art galleries and heritage sites. At first glance this situation seems to be difficult to change since the museum has its owncharacteristics which decide that it can't change the content ad asbitsium to cater to the visitors of their preference. But in fact the museum can improve the quality of the exhibition content from many aspects， for example the interpretation work， and market research， etc.The museum facing different visitors can provide different forms or level of guide services， such as according to different age paragraph of the visitors providing different types of interpretation and treating visitors with different levels of knowledgewith different knowledge level and different emphasis to explain. The another example is the interactive experience. To perfect the interaction facilities of the museumcan strengthen the visitors participation. Such as those hands-on display techniques which need visitor to explore like the reveal ark in drawer style which need visitors to pull and to discover and the use of high technology. “Respondents foresee an increased use of technology for the presentation of information， such as screens， gadgets， and virtual reality.”Fot still another instance， Market research is also very important. If the museum has the ambition to attract more visitors， then they must understand the public interest and preference at the first step. Market research should be taken frequently and according to the needs of the community， the adjustment of the exhibition should be madeas well as the specific exhibitions toward visitors’ interest. It can improve public participation and the active level of the people when visiting the museum. There is a survey that focuses directly on those non-participants of museums and art galleries. If standing in the position of the museum， the 12 items of reason that for not visiting the museum can be roughly divided into two groups. The first kind is the individual’s own reasons that museums can't change， including "no time or too busy， not interested." But the rest of the almost can be regarded as reasons come from museum， which can be improved by museums themselves and can be divided into three terms：
First， the museum facilities and service are incompetent. This includes have difficulty to get there or get around for medical or health reasons， the public transport is poor or too far to travel， people feel not user-friendly for families or children and don not make people feel welcome. Second， the exhibition content is poor in the museum. This contains the complain of museums and galleries are boring and children would not be interested. The third kind is that people thought the admission charges are too high. All the three terms above can be improved by museums and galleries. For example for the issue of the incompetent facilities and service， first， Museums should perfect the infrastructure， particularly for the elderly and the sick. Second， museum should work to improve traffic inconvenience， if the geographical position cannot be changed， then at least some convenient traffic sign of recognition can be provided for the visitors. Third， museum should actively plan some suitable exhibition for families and children's visit. In the meantime， museum should improve the service quality and try to make the visitors feel kind and comfortable. For another example， as to the complain towards the boring content and the low attraction to the children， museum may set out to improve the arrangement of the display content， diverse the display technique and develop the use of interactive experience. When it comes to the issue of the admission price of museums， different consideration should be taken according to the different situations. Countermeasures like strengthening the market competitiveness of the museum shop to relieve the tickets’pressure may work.
The above is focused on the analysis of the museum itself， mainly from the museum culture education and leisure activity two functions which are related to the audience directly. The following analysis will focus on the social public， including visitor and non-visitor.
According to the above survey conducted by MORI， there is a further classification of these 37% respondents who had been to museums or galleries in the past 12 months， the results indicate that there is no obvious difference between different age groups about whether to visit museums and galleries or not. The number of people who chose to visit museums in 35 to 54 age group is fairly more than this same data of other age groups. This may relevant to their higher education degree and their higher income. From the results of the social classand household income survey， it is apparent that people from the higher social classes and enjoyed higher income were tend to be more prefer to visit the museum. In other words， people who belonged to a lower social class and had lower income visited the museum less. And from the investigation result focused on the education degree it indicates that people with lower education degree were less tended to visit the museum. These data show that social class， family income and education levels are all affecting people’s decision of visiting museum or not. The activity of visiting museums， including the museum and the public two elements. To answer the issue why not everyone visiting museum， the reason can be divided into two parts—one is the part that museum can deal with and improve. The other part is the visitors’ matter that cannot be changed by museums.
The first species of reason comes from the non-participants themselves. Looking from the whole， people come from a lower social class ， with a lower income and a relevant low education degree seems to have less pursuit and needs toward the culture and accordingly they have limited needs toward the cultural venues like museums. Then from individual to see， some people are living a busy lifestyle and they do not have spare time to visit museums. And there is still another reason that is some people are really not interested in the museums and its activities.
The causes from the museum are more complicated： firstly， as a cultural education institution， in some public’s impression may be too formal or too far away from people’s daily life. Some people might mistakenly think that museum is a kind of place that is too academic and to some extent， this kind of fallacy has restricted people’s visit to museum. In order to strive for more potential audience， museum should be active and try to close the gap between the public as well as enhancing the propaganda and expanding the social awareness. It is very important to let people to feel invited by the museum and to provide kind and comfortable service is really vital. Secondly， as a kind of leisure activity， museum in some respects seems to be a kind of boring since the exhibition mode is relatively fixed and drab， visitors’ participation seems to be passive and lack of diversity. But these can be changed by museum through many available accesses. Museums should pay attention to improve the quality of the content of museum exhibition and being active to engage in the perfect of interpretation work， rich interactive displays and pay attention to the market survey as well as the feedback from the visitor. Then the inherent passive visit mode can be reversed and the visitors’ initiative participation can be enhanced. Museum’s exhibitions can be increasingly rich and attractive in the meanwhile. Thirdly， as a kind of public place， and is open to all， museum should perfect the basic service facilities as well as possible. Things like the equipment and special service toward people with disabilities. Otherwise， this can also become a stumbling block to block the public to visit museum.
Reference：
1、Gerard Corsane（2007） ‘Using ecomuseum indicators toevaluate the Robben Island Museumand World Heritage Site‘Landscape Research
2、Richard Sandell ， Annie Delin ， Jocelyn Dodd & Jackie Gay （2010）’ Beggars， freaks and heroes？ Museumcollections and the hidden history of disability‘Museum Management and Curatorship
3、Richard Sandell （2010） ‘The Strategic Significanceof Workforce Diversity inMuseums’International Journal of Heritage Studies
4、Eleonora Belfiore （2010）‘Art as a means of alleviating social exclusion： Doesit really work？ A critique of instrumental culturalpolicies and social impact studies in the UK’International Journal of Cultural Policy
5、Andrew Newman ， Fiona McLean & Gordon Urquhart （2010）‘Museums and the Active Citizen： Tackling the Problemsof SocialExclusion’Citizenship Studies
陈蜀西（1989.6—）女，26岁，汉族，籍贯四川崇州，西南民族大学研究实习员，研究方向：博物馆学、民族学。