A Study on audience development for museums in Japan; Practical approach for capturing and stabilizing new audiences

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26870895
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Art at large; Cultural assets study and museology
• Research Institution: Tokyo National Museum
• Principal Investigator: Yasuhiro Sekiya 独立行政法人国立文化財機構東京国立博物館, 総務部, 係長 (80727397)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: audience development / 鑑賞者開発 / 来館者開発 / 来館者研究 / ミュージアム・マネージメント / ミュージアム・マーケティング / アート・マネージメント

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research concentrates on how audience development could be introduced to Japanese museums with 3 approaches.
The first was research interviews with advanced museums in UK, US and Japan. From the results, it came to light that Japanese museums had few strategy and segmentation into new audiences. The second approach was audience development activities and surveys on the attendees. The results showed the attendees were different from the ordinary visitors. Most of the attendees were young and enjoyed the museum with friends, while existing visitors tended to visit the museum alone and enjoy artworks. The last research was an online survey which focused on cultural segmentation and museum habits. It clarified that the ways to enjoy museums were depending on their relations with museums.
Through the research, it was clarified that audience development must be effective for museums to capture new audiences and Japanese museums need a strategy into audiences to sustain them.

Free Research Field

ミュージアム・マネージメント