There are more than 130 Jewish museums in Europe — of all types, from big state, municipal or other public institutions such as the POLIN museum in Warsaw and the Jewish Museum in Berlin, to small private initiatives or museums run by Jewish communities. Some are high-tech or have thousands of items and artifacts; others are small displays; for others, the synagogue or other building in which they are situated is the primary exhibit.
Later this month, the Association of European Jewish Museums will hold its annual conference, this year at the Danish Jewish Museum in Copenhagen.
At that meeting, Dr. Brigitte Sion, of the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe, will present the results of a research survey on Jewish museums in Europe that she conducted on behalf of the Foundation.
We will be publishing and linking to that full report when it comes out. (And we will also be publishing a gallery of photographs from a number of Jewish museums in Europe.)
Meanwhile — Brigitte has summarized her findings in an article, “European Jewish Museums: At A Turning Point” published in Contact, the magazine of the Steinhardt Foundation. These findings indicate that
Museums that wish to remain relevant for the general public cannot afford to limit themselves to a repository role; they must engage with a diverse audience — local individuals, foreign tourists, school groups, researchers, etc. — with diverse knowledge and diverse expectations.
To illustrate this, she discusses types of museums and also the questions and issues raised by them.
Jewish museums cater to a very diverse audience: Jewish and not Jewish, local and international, students and tourists, scholars and random visitors. This conundrum has an impact on all museum activity: the mission statement, the core exhibition, the temporary exhibitions, the educational and cultural programs, as well as marketing and fundraising. While data is not available, it is clear that non-Jews make up a majority of visitors to Jewish museums, whether locals or foreigners. What is also evident is that most visitors come only once. This complicates the challenge faced by museums: How can they entice local and international visitors to make repeated visits, and how can they renew themselves often enough (and at what cost) to expand their visibility and win the public’s loyalty?
And yet, Jewish museums do a poor job in monitoring their visitors, understanding their profiles, expectations, and needs. They use unreliable measurement methods (website views, Facebook followers, random questionnaires, informal conversations after a guided tour) and do not collect substantial metrics that could subsequently serve their mission. Serious measurement of their visitor constituency would help train guides, design pedagogical materials and organize attractive public programs, among other uses.
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