Educational dimensions in London’s art museums
MúzeumCafé 48.
It is well-known that entry to London’s museums is generally free. What is not so well-known is that since the introduction of the policy in 1997 numerous museum education projects have been launched, for example the Museums and Galleries Education Programme, involving innovative educational projects, or Culture Online, which introduced online services for schools and other bodies. At the time school groups accounted for just 10% of museum visitors. In the 2000s the figure changed. Museum education has played a central role in the Victoria and Albert Museum ever since its foundation in 1852, thus unsurprisingly 30% of its visitors are designers, artists, craftspeople or art students. The National Gallery has no museum education sessions in the Hungarian sense, but it conducts thematic guided tours, for example focussing on mythological representations in painting. They are similar to traditional guided tours, with the difference that the guide asks more questions than in an average tour. In the National Portrait Gallery there is a ‘Late Shift’ every Thursday and Friday evening, when young folks wearing mini-skirts and stiletto heels, as well as suits, turn up for some culture before heading for the pub. The Geffrey Museum displays British home design from the 1600s to the present. The museum has a fine herb garden, which is a focus of the education sessions. In one of their competitions aimed at young people an animal had to be designed for the garden, then the winning design was realised. It was carved from wooden boards with the help of an artist and then painted. Everyone could give the creation a name, or briefly write something about it. Now they can all be seen displayed in the garden. It is clear that museum education plays a central role in London. Almost every art museum has a specialist museum education department.