Indianapolis Museum of Art: Presented by Max Anderson

¶ … Anderson and the Indianapolis Museum of Art

In his YouTube presentation on his work, Max Anderson of the Indianapolis Museum of Art notes that ticket sales are a relatively minimal part of art museum revenue. He believes success is better measured by how many new pieces are added to a collection and other markers of the health and overall growth of the collection that reflect a more general outreach. Serving the community is a critical component of the Museum's mission. Rather than simply keeping track of how many visitors come through the doors, the Museum also keeps track of their zip codes and other demographic factors to better tailor its offerings (online as well as in real space) to their needs.

Rationale

The use of such data highlights how art, even as displayed by a nonprofit museum with an endowment, is very much a product of business decisions and a need to respond to the consumer and reflect changes in technology. Art museums must market themselves given that the comfortable relationship between art journalists and museums is no longer a factor in PR. Also, online, social media is such a critical component of marketing that transparency is absolutely essential.

Coding, software, and production units are more important for an art museum than traditional tools of promotional media. These new methods are also open source and allow the community to respond in an interactive method to the information that is disseminated. Sharing the wealth of the museum generates interest and spreads information about its art. 'Art Babble' is an example of a collection crowdsourced art videos about works of art and experiences in the art world that make museums more welcoming and accessible to laypersons. The rationale behind Art Babble is that it is useful yet non-chaotic in its specificity and enables people to see the best examples of what is going on all over the world, as created by people who are interested in art.

The location of the Museum in the Midwest is an added incentive to make a compelling case for the relevance of art museums online, given that it is not in the center of the art world and needs to generate interest online in the virtual community, versus the physical foot traffic that passes through the doors. Thus, measuring the mission is more about how many people the Museum is reaching in a variety of different ways and how its offerings suit the needs of contemporary life vs. traditional markers of success.

Potential research questions

Potential research questions include how to track the ways in which people respond to the art shown by the Museum and how to translate this into more targeted and effective ways of showcasing them both online and in the Museum itself; also, if there are any other interactive ways to track people's responses to art in the museum through social media such as Facebook and Twitter.