The following appeared in a memorandum issued by a large city's council on the arts.
“In a recent citywide poll, fifteen percent more residents said that they watch television programs about the visual arts than was the case in a poll conducted five years ago. During these past five years, the number of people visiting our city's art museums has increased by a similar percentage. Since the corporate funding that supports public television, where most of the visual arts programs appear, is now being threatened with severe cuts, we can expect that attendance at our city's art museums will also start to decrease. Thus some of the city's funds for supporting the arts should be reallocated to public television.”
The author of this topic states that the cut in television funding will decrease the attendance at art museums. While the author does address a problem for the management of museum, the logic of his arguments and the conclusion he reaches are fundamentally flawed. He does not consider various factors that affect the attendance of art museums.
To begin with, the author falsely considers that the increase in number of visitors in museum attributes to television programs. Besides television, there are many medias that can convey information to their audiences. In reality, many successful business organizations advertise through internet, radio and banner in public places at large. For instance, promotion and discount notice can be easily obtained through many media channel such as emails and newspapers.
Moreover, quality of visual arts is a crucial factor in attracting visitors. It is obvious that quality of arts in five year ago cannot be compared to those in nowadays. Even visual arts without much advertising but with high quality can attract many people to take a look at it. The prevalence of education in nowadays is totally different from the past. More people are getting educated and are more likely to pay a visit to the museum.
Last but not least, the result of city poll is doubtful. With only fifteen percent of all residents said they got information about visual arts from the television, I suspect not many of them would go to the museum. A more accurate way to conduct the poll is to include a question such as "Will you go to the museum?" in the ballot.
For the reasons stated above, the author’s argument simply does not hold up. If one truly wants to boost up the attendance of the museum, he should conduct a more thorough investigation on the factors affecting the attendance.
“In a recent citywide poll, fifteen percent more residents said that they watch television programs about the visual arts than was the case in a poll conducted five years ago. During these past five years, the number of people visiting our city's art museums has increased by a similar percentage. Since the corporate funding that supports public television, where most of the visual arts programs appear, is now being threatened with severe cuts, we can expect that attendance at our city's art museums will also start to decrease. Thus some of the city's funds for supporting the arts should be reallocated to public television.”
The author of this topic states that the cut in television funding will decrease the attendance at art museums. While the author does address a problem for the management of museum, the logic of his arguments and the conclusion he reaches are fundamentally flawed. He does not consider various factors that affect the attendance of art museums.
To begin with, the author falsely considers that the increase in number of visitors in museum attributes to television programs. Besides television, there are many medias that can convey information to their audiences. In reality, many successful business organizations advertise through internet, radio and banner in public places at large. For instance, promotion and discount notice can be easily obtained through many media channel such as emails and newspapers.
Moreover, quality of visual arts is a crucial factor in attracting visitors. It is obvious that quality of arts in five year ago cannot be compared to those in nowadays. Even visual arts without much advertising but with high quality can attract many people to take a look at it. The prevalence of education in nowadays is totally different from the past. More people are getting educated and are more likely to pay a visit to the museum.
Last but not least, the result of city poll is doubtful. With only fifteen percent of all residents said they got information about visual arts from the television, I suspect not many of them would go to the museum. A more accurate way to conduct the poll is to include a question such as "Will you go to the museum?" in the ballot.
For the reasons stated above, the author’s argument simply does not hold up. If one truly wants to boost up the attendance of the museum, he should conduct a more thorough investigation on the factors affecting the attendance.
