Remodeling RI museums for consumer tastes

By Amir Sidharta

JAKARTA (JP): Despite the economic crisis, the country is still in a consumerist age. In less than 10 years, dozens of shopping malls have sprouted up here and in other urban centers.

Increasing per capita income has created an atmosphere conducive for the general public, especially those living in urban areas, to spend their money more liberally.

Malls have become the favored places for urbanites to shop, while away their leisure time and spend disposable income on weekends and holidays.

Of course, museums could also serve the same function as an attractive recreation site to unwind.

Before that can happen, there are issues related to museum management that need to be altered in a more positive direction.

Public expectations of museums need to be studied further. But as the most appropriate target market is urban residents with recreational time, museum development could be done in a leisure industry approach, like that used for management of malls.

Museums should be able to compete with malls as an attractive recreation site. The first concept that can be introduced is "mall-ing", or the management of museums as malls.

In a consumerist era, the attention of prospective consumers is directed toward products. The leisure industry also features products: food, beverages, performances and entertainment.

To guarantee the continuity of educational events, local museums also need to be managed in this industrial approach, with exhibitions as the main product. As a mall, museums should feature exhibitions at center stage to ensure the institution remains focused on education.

Currently, the public perception of museums is in accord with its definition as "a place to store historical objects, etc." in W.J.S. Poerwadarminta's Indonesian dictionary.

In the eyes of the public, museums are merely a repository of ancient, historical and cultural artifacts.

The view is also held by many museum managers. Local museums are filled with lots of artifacts but these are often arranged haphazardly.

This is inappropriate for the institutions' function at the present and in the future. A new definition should be "a place to store and exhibit artifacts of history, culture and science for the purposes of education".

This would stress that museums have a main product manifested in an exhibition. Museums should be seen as an industry which has a loose relationship to the concepts of cultural or educational industries.

As such, museums are no longer merely storage sites, but must be equipped with supporting divisions for curatorial matters, collection management, information and education, design and production, and promotion and marketing.

Any exhibition starts with research by the curator. He or she has support of the collection manager, exhibition designers and producers. Promotion and marketing officers get word out to the public.

Visitors obtain information and learn more about the show from education and information officers, who are also responsible for gathering feedback from the public so the exhibition can become more communicative.

Museums as malls

When museums, as educational institutions, can present their exhibition as a main product, management can be undertaken using an approach similar to that for shopping malls.

Each museum can be developed like a small mall. Activities of learning history, culture, and science in a museum use a lot of energy; museums will need to be equipped with supporting facilities such as food and beverage outlets, and gift and souvenir shops. These are needed by today's public. If museums are equipped with facilities that support visitation, the public will be more interested in spending their leisure time in them.

The mall approach can also be used to develop networks of museums. Like a shopping mall, where several outlets are placed together under one roof, the museum mall groups together several museums in one large complex for "the mall-ing of museums".

In Jakarta, one good example is Taman Mini Indonesia Indah. In addition to their several wonderful museums, the Taman Mini complex is equipped with shops and restaurants.

Benefits to museums are twofold. As a "tenant" of a "mall", the museums become a complementary attraction for visitors.

But they also benefit from unplanned visitation from those whose main intention is a look around the larger Taman Mini "mall".

Mall-ing can also be applied to museums in a general location. In Jakarta, the groupings would be: the History Museum, Fine Arts Museum and Wayang Museum which face Taman Fatahillah; the outlook tower, Pasar Ikan and Museum Bahari, around the Sunda Kelapa port; and the National Museum, National Monument, State Palace and National Gallery, which face Medan Merdeka.

Each museum should not be considered separate from the others, but an integral part of the group, other institutions of history, culture, science and technology, and open natural spaces.

In an integrated district, the accessibility of museums can be easily enhanced. Museums must be reachable by private and public transportation, including pedestrian accessibility and railway facilities. Signage that will make accessibility easier should be installed on roads. Of course, adequate parking space is also essential.

Museums with a common theme but geographically distant from each other, such as those related to finance and banking, or fine arts galleries, can apply the concept of malling for their institutions by forming consortiums. They can form networks in which curators, collection managers and conservators can cooperate to create joint exhibitions which tackle a subject comprehensively, featuring the best objects of each collection.

Until now, collections of most museums in the city are mediocre, which means poor exhibits. But a show prepared by a consortium of museums could feature the "cream of the crop". The formation of consortiums is also beneficial because human resources are still limited.

Malling would make all the museums more accessible for visitors. It would also mean more efficient promotion and marketing; museums could conduct mutually beneficial joint promotions. Promotional costs can be absorbed collectively, and the Internet would be an important link.

Museum development can borrow from the development models for institutions which have achieved significant commercial success, such as shopping malls. Of course, the commercial approach should be considered as a means, and not the end for the museum. It is important to remember that museums are not-for-profit institutions that should focus on their educational mission.

Exactly what role museums can play in the life of Indonesian communities requires further study. For the future, it is vital that museum administrators have a vision that fits the needs of their constituents. Museums should take a more active role in community life, and at the same time offer the public more opportunities to play a part in their activities.

The writer is museum curator at Pelita Harapan University, Tangerang.