Meeting Expectations?: Assessing the Gap Between Administrative Intention and Visitor Experience at a University Art Gallery

ABSTRACT

The University of Maryland’s Stamp Art Gallery provides students and University visitors with an opportunity to experience contemporary art in an accessible location; however, ethnographic research indicates that the goals of the gallery’s administrators do not always align with the experiences of visitors. Findings show that the gallery administrators’ goals related to education and conversations about contemporary art were misaligned with visitor experiences, which were characterized by feelings of confusion. Researchers used interviews and participant observation to understand the motivations and perceptions of each group in order to suggest ways to bridge the divide.

KEYWORDS:

• Visitor studies
• university art gallery
• contemporary art
• participant observation
• qualitative research

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Dr. Thurka Sangaramoorthy for her instruction and support of this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

About the authors

V. Camille Westmont, PhD, MAA, MHP, is the Postdoctoral Fellow in Historical Archaeology in the Department of Southern Studies at Sewanee: The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. She received her graduate degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Amelia Hood, MAA, is a research program coordinator at the Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.

Timothy Penn, PhD, teaches Public Relations as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mass Communication, Towson University, Towson, MD.

Magda Mankel, MAA, is a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Madhyatu Taylor, MAA, is Manager of the Quality Solutions Group at the National Committee for Quality Assurance, Washington, DC.

ORCID

V. Camille Westmont http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4229-6340

Timothy Penn http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9896-4892

Madhyatu Taylor http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9653-1783

Notes

1 Mason and McCarthy, “Young Peoples’ Perceptions.”

2 Davidson, “Visitor Studies,” 504; Kirchberg and Trondle, “Experiencing Exhibitions.”

3 Falk and Dierking, Learning from Museums.

4 McLean, “Museum Exhibitions,” 83; Mason and McCarthy, “Young Peoples’ Perceptions.”

5 McLean, “Museum Exhibitions.”

6 Ulbricht, “Art Education.”

7 Russo, Watkins, and Groundwater-Smith, “Impact of Social Media,” 155.

8 Bernard, Research Methods.