Flourishing Aims of Art Museums: A Survey of Art Museum Professionals

Abstract

People visit art museums for many reasons—to see something beautiful or famous, to learn more about art, or to experience a sense of awe. Recently, there has been increased interest in how art museum engagement can promote flourishing. Little is known, however, about how the professionals shaping these art museum experiences (e.g., curators, educators, front of house staff) view art museums as institutions that can promote flourishing outcomes. In the present research, we examined the perceptions of 208 art museum professionals regarding the functions of art museums and their ability to impact both well-being (e.g., empathy, self-acceptance) and ill-being (e.g., anxiety, loneliness) factors. The findings suggest that art museum professionals feel that the well-being of visitors should be emphasized as a goal more strongly than it currently is, and that there are some well-being and ill-being components (e.g., empathy, helping, closed-mindedness) that should receive greater attention than others.