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Museums in lockdown: how digital media and remote offerings saved the museum from COVID-19
Thesis   Open access

Museums in lockdown: how digital media and remote offerings saved the museum from COVID-19

Caroline Elizabeth Fresh
Master of Science (M.S.), Drexel University
Sep 2021
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00000917
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Abstract

Digital media Social media Arts--Management COVID-19 (Disease) and the arts COVID-19 (Disease)--Economic aspects Museums
The objective of this thesis was to investigate the digital outreach strategies used by three museums-The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and the Woodmere Art Museum- to combat the unprecedented challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The researcher used academic literature to establish a working history of how museums have leveraged emerging technologies to enhance the visitor experience, strengthen engagement with exhibitions, and grow their audience. Current news articles establish the cultural climate during the early stages of the pandemic and revealed rising trends of increased online activity from museums and the general public as lockdowns shuttered non-essential businesses. A multiple case study consisting of qualitative interviews with museum staff, which followed an investigation into the extent of the museums' remote offerings, revealed instances of resourcefulness as well as missed opportunity. Digitization is a necessary practice for museums in the 21st century that ensures visibility, engenders direct communication with the public, improves accessibility, and addresses both financial and sociocultural barriers to arts participation. The researcher concludes that the museums in this study approached the pandemic with a digital mindset, presenting museum content through websites, blogs, and social media, creating videos, activities, and podcasts that the public could enjoy from home. They bolstered their past digital offerings, developed entirely new remote museum activities, shifted in-person programs to an online format, and invested more heavily in their social media presences. The observable results of these practices were higher follower and view counts, expanded geographic reach, and enthusiasm from interviewees about the potential of continuing to offer remote alternatives to their in-person programs. However, interviewees also reported little comprehensive evaluation into the true efficacy of these activities, speaking to both the strain of the pandemic and the corresponding belief that providing access to the arts during times of crisis is mission-driven work. However, keeping up with evaluation practices is no less essential during periods of urgency or strife.

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