On day one of the conference, the inaugural speech on “The audiences of the future” was made by Françoise Serralta, founder of one of the most important prospective agencies in the world, PeclersParis.
Not an arts professional, but an arts passionate, Françoise presented what are, according to her, the trends for future museum consumption as well as the socio-types that will shape visitor profiles in 2020. I can only let you imagine the potential interest for the arts organisations represented in the room…There may have been a bit of a culture clash though, as Françoise’s presentation was no bullet point affair: it was an in-depth, ideas- and reference-packed presentation, making it difficult for some delegates to “process” it into something that can be directly applied to their own audience-development strategy.
I personally did follow it, so it seems, with not too much difficulty, perhaps helped by not having to wonder about some thinkers brought up in the presentation. But then again, I am French so this may explain why. Or not. It seems to me that above all, what I felt was the most important point in Françoise’s speech was that museums’ role is the future is going to be even more meaningful, with people craving a refuge, a place where they can express themselves or a threshold towards higher aspirations. In short, museums will be big on audiences, even bigger than today. This seems like quite a simple and applicable idea to me.
Why is that? I know you have heard this a trillion times now, but this appears to be because of the way that recession is deeply reshaping the way we relate to arts and to places for arts. Recession is etymologically linked with the term “revelation”, which points to the fact that during a period of economic crisis, audiences rediscover their emotions and spiritual aspirations and get back in touch with them. What was then hidden by comfort is unraveled again, as risk and danger are getting more present in our lives.
We are in a digital world, yet we are by no means digital people: we are essentially made to desire and to recreate new forms of art through this desire. We are the famous “desiring machines” that French philosopher Deleuze identified as a driving force within every human being – that is, within every art consumer. Hence the fact that even in a digital world, we are certainly not becoming digital people and our cravings remain the same, if not more powerful and unbridled as before. So arts places have to stand up to that very high level of expectations and not be afraid of risk-taking.
Museums are increasingly places for magic, spiritual emotions and transcendence. They represent the opportunity for something that is hidden in our everyday life. In times of crisis, that which is fundamental is more important than ever: Life, Death, Sex, God… I leave you to ponder what is the core of our lives and existence. Practically, Françoise’s speech dealt with the key idea discussed throughout the conference: what is the deep reason why people come to museums, and consequently, what are the missions of the museum going to be in the next ten years?
In his second speech, “Developing an audience-focused mind”, Andrew McIntyre also stressed the fact that if visitors’ motivations were mainly of social and recreational concern, then the profit made while visiting an exhibition was of a more emotional and spiritual nature. It would be interesting to contrast this with the speech Molly Flatt of 1000 Heads gave last year in Malaga, about museums being places made for social interaction. Are times slightly changing?This gives museums the greatest of opportunities to change people’s lives but also the greatest of responsibilities to live up to audiences’ expectations, it seems to me.
I am meeting Françoise for an interview the blog in the following days. What a fantastic opportunity to ask questions about trends in exhibitions programmes, clarification on the different visitors socio-types and so on.
So, being a delegate or a non-delegate, what would be your questions to Françoise? You have exactly five days, so please leave a question via Twitter using #ctm10 hashtag, Facebook, my email address or this blog.
Claire
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