Museums as a community resource:

Citizens empowerment, social

inclusion, and wellbeing

Pier Luigi Sacco

FBK-IRVAPP Trento

Harvard University

IULM University Milan

European Commission

The Culture 3.0 paradigm• Culture 1.0 (Patronage):

Highbrow vs. lowbrow, culture as spiritual cultivation, no industrial organization

• Culture 2.0 (CCIs): copyright, culture as entertainment, market organization

• Culture 3.0 (open communities of practice): blurred distinction producers/users, culture as collective sense-making, networks organization

Three different regimes of cultural value creation• Culture 1.0: patronage.

• No industrial organization• Subsidies indispensable• Centered on creative development & expert

recognition• Select audiences• Highbrow/lowbrow

• Culture 2.0: cultural and creative industries• Industrially organized• Profitable• Centered on market outcomes• Large audiences• Copyright

• Culture 3.0: open platforms• Commercial platforms + communities• Profits + crowdfunding• Centered on co-creation• Prosumer ecosystems• Virality

Mapping cultural and creative sectors The non industrial core

(1.0)

• Visual arts• Performing arts• Heritage and museums

They are like the ‘R&D’ lab of cultural and creative production

Cannot sustain themselves on the market, but are a crucial dynamic force

They are tendentially elitarian, but must be made as inclusive as possible

Mapping cultural and creative sectors Cultural industries (2.0)

• Publishing• Cinema• Music• Radio-television• Videogames

‘Experience economy’ industrial sectors based on the ‘first wave’ of cultural technical innovation (except videogames)

More elitarian in Europe, more mass-market in the US and Asia

The cornerstone of industrial cultural production

Mapping cultural and creative sectors Creative industries (2.0)

• Design• Fashion• Industry of taste• Communication & advertising• Architectural design• Serious gaming

At the crossroads between cultural and functional content

Strong segmentation, from luxury high end to mass market

The most dynamic component of the industrial spectrum

Mapping cultural and creative sectors: Open platforms (3.0)

• Collaborative ecologies (Wikipedia)

• Blogs and ground publishing

• Content communities (YouTube, Instagram)

• Social networks (Facebook, Twitter)

• Filter communities (Reddit, Imgur)

• Personal broadcasting (Snapchat, Whatsapp)

• Virtual social worlds (Second Life)

• Game worlds (World of Warcraft)

Mostly user content-driven, but very effective for traditional cultural and creative players

Complex mix of market and non-market element, profitable data ecologies

A mutable space in perpetual evolution and difficult to chart, which increasingly interacts with traditional sectors

The 0-1 transition• The artist as an independent figure is

increasingly recognized although craftmanship and artistry are still blended

• The notion of authorship marks a discontinuity with grassroots culture and circumscribes the making of culture as a creative act with its own rules

• Culture can be commissioned as an individual act of will

• Culture relates to personal cultivation and not only to religious or civic rites

• Culture associates with an idea of ‘good life’ and with disposable luxury

Culture 0.3: proto-patronage• In Greek city-states, culture

becomes an element of social debate and even critique

• Commissioning is supported by forced taxation of the richest citizens

• The social role of the creators becomes more recognized and their names transmitted

• The notion of ‘audience’ as people intentionally participating to a cultural event takes shape

Culture 1.0: patronage

• The pre-industrial regime: no possibility of organized markets; culture does not produce major economic value added but absorbs it; small, elite audiences that gradually expand as more sophisticated sub-regimes emerge

• Initially founded on the virtue of parsimonia: emphasis on human cultivation and balance

• Classical patronage• Strategic patronage• Public patronage• Committed patronage• Civic patronage• Entrepreneurial patronage

Museums 1.0: temples of knowledge

• In the patronage regime, the museum is mainly focused upon the conservation, development and presentation of its collections

• The creation of value is connected to the strengthening and cultivation of the museum audience, and to the transfer of knowledge and competences that this implies

• Economic sustainability concerns are seen as an interference with the pursuit of the mission of the museum, and the very goal of patronage is that of freeing the museum from the pursuit of activities that are extraneous to its educational mandate

The 1.0-2.0 transition

• Modern cultural markets are created by the concurrent emergence of a wave of technological innovation at the edge between XIX and XX century: modern printing, radio, music recording, photography, cinema

• The fact that for more than one century through the industrial revolution culture is not industrialized, however, creates a permanent frame of mind in Europe according to which culture is un-economical and needs to be subsidized anyway

• The high-brow stigma of patronage makes commercialization of culture problematic to many cultural players and to part of the audiences

Culture 2.0:cultural and creative industries

• With the massive urbanization that follows the industrial revolution, and with the ‘cultural’ industrial revolution that happens at the turn of the XX century, cultural markets can finally emerge

• The industrialized forms of culture become profitable, the size of the audience expands dramatically, and culture becomes increasingly linked to entertainment

• Emphasis on profitability and audience response:

• Proto-industry• Mainstream• Counter-mainstream • Subcultures• Fan ecologies

Museums 2.0:entertainment machines

• Although the museum cannot be properly ‘industrialized’, there is an increasing expectation that the museum is generating income, is managed efficiently, and contributes to the development of the tourism industry

• Economic returns are not seen as an interference in the pursuit of the museum’s mission

• Audience response increasingly becomes an explicit success factor and significantly constraints the museum strategies and policies

• The museum environment itself performs a spectacular function

The 2.0-3.0 transition

• We are now witnessing a new regime transition that is driven by two concurrent streams of innovation: digital content production + digital connectivity

• Standard digital suites provide people with semi-professional packages that are cheap and easy to learn; with a modest investment they can be upgraded at the professional level

• The same packages less than 2 decades ago would have been expensive, would have required bulky hardware and would have been difficult to use

• Contents can be distributed almost without mediators to highly segmented and profiled audiences by means of increasingly specialized social media

Culture 3.0:content communities• Collapse of the separation between producers and

audience: a blurred continuum of active/passive participation

• A new wave of technological innovation that enables massive, shared and shareable production of content and instant diffusion and circulation

• The production of value moves to the social domain and connects to all of the main dimensions of civic functioning: innovation, welfare, sustainability, social cohesion, lifelong learning, social entrepreneurship, local identity, soft power

Museums 3.0:participative platforms• The idea of a passive audience is gradually substituted by a

spectrum of forms of direct engagement

• Museums can create value in terms of innovation hubs, welfare hotspots, sustainability facilitators, social cohesion gateways, etcetera

• The new forms of value entail different forms of social interaction and exchange as constituent factors

• The museum opens its collections to the possibility of creative appropriation and remix of its contents by users

The culturalization of the economy

• Ubiquitous and increasingly active participation brings cultural production into the very fabric of everyday life of everybody

• Culture becomes a key asset at the top of any kind of value chain

• Capacity to unleash the potential of culture as a source of value is a key factor of competitiveness and smart growth

• But the point is: will we be able to make cultural platforms inclusive or will we make of culture another channel of income and opportunity inequality?

The evolution of participation• Culture 1.0: participation as co-optation (limited, passive)• Culture 2.0: participation as market access (generalized,

passive)

• Culture 3.0: participation as community affiliation (generalized, active)

• We need a conceptual scheme that allows us to understand (and capitalize) the socio-economic effects of cultural participation

• The new paradigms of cultural production do not necessarily use the market as the value-generating platform (communities of practice)

Shifting emphasis

A transition under way

The museum spectrum:Combinations of value creation channels

Eight types of museumsAuratic museum environments

High visitor and social

attendance

“Gold Standard”

(GS)

High visitor, low social

attendance “Ivory Tower” (IT)

Low visitor, high social

attendance “Midcult Theme Park”

(MTP)

Low visitor, low social

attendance “One Shot Mecca”

(OSM)

Non-auratic

museum environments

High visitor and social

attendance “Learning Center” (LC)

High visitor, low social

attendance “Geek Temple” (GT)

Low visitor, high social

attendance “Access Gateway” (AG)

Low visitor, low social

attendance “Open Classroom” (OC)

Museums as places of well-being

• Sense of purpose• Sense of belonging• Cognition• Affect• Agora• Stage• School• Home

An 8-tiers approach to the indirect effects of cultural participation

Innovation

Health & wellbeing

Sustainability

Social cohesion

New entrepreneurship

Soft power

Local identity

Lifelong learning

Culture-innovation clusters• Top innovation + culture: Sweden, Denmark,

Netherlands, UK, Ireland, Luxembourg, France, Germany

• Top innovation + culture lagging: Finland, Belgium, Austria

• Top culture + innovation lagging: Spain, Estonia• Lagging innovation + culture: Slovenia, Malta,

Croatia, Italy, Czech Republic

• Bottom innovation + lagging culture: Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland

• Bottom culture + lagging innovation: Cyprus, Portugal, Greece, Slovakia, Hungary

Hierarchy of factors

affecting psychological

well-being

Hierarchy of factors affecting psychological well-being

1 Diseases

2 Cultural participation

3 Income

4 Age

5 Education

6 Gender

7 Job

8 Geography

Classical music concerts

Theatre

Which single variables have the strongest impact on SWB?

Foglio1

cinema8.0771

arthritis6.493cinema35.6591

jazz_concerts6.4347theatre24.0219

male6.3456painting_exibition22.0703

cancer6.1511disco26.7866

depression6.1013rock_concerts28.2048

rock_concerts5.9679jazz_concerts36.808

North5.5602hypertension13.6327

disco5.408heart_failure25.9642

theatre5.2032cancer30.6704

osteoarthritis5.1116allergy13.9448

low_back_pain5.0017arthritis16.2703

hypertension4.8307low_back_pain16.2188

painting_exibition4.4108blindness17.6108

schooling4.3383skin_diseases18.5733

retired4.3107depression21.3112

high_income4.2123anemia12.8838

heart_failure4.0755osteoarthritis20.6101

Income_no_information3.6859migraine20.4955

skin_diseases3.6682menopause16.9347

anemia3.6306obesity13.3665

divorced3.6305liver_diseases2.4831

allergy3.5995multiple_sclero1s15.7374

semi_urban3.5659osteoporosis2.9013

multiple_sclero1s3.2697divorced7.6578

blindness3.1942age26.862

migraine3.098schooling13.0948

blue_collar3.0584semi_urban14.3713

osteoporosis2.8383high_income15.9539

liver_diseases2.4831Income_no_information10.3915

age2.3439south18.1353

obesity2.3172North11.4946

south2.1149male21.0494

student1.5058retired12.2512

menopause0.9711blue_collar11.1495

student15.6394

Grafico1

jazz_concerts

cinema

cancer

rock_concerts

age

disco

heart_failure

theatre

painting_exibition

depression

male

osteoarthritis

migraine

skin_diseases

south

blindness

menopause

arthritis

low_back_pain

high_income

multiple_sclero1s

student

semi_urban

allergy

hypertension

obesity

schooling

anemia

retired

North

blue_collar

Income_no_information

divorced

osteoporosis

liver_diseases

36.808

35.6591

30.6704

28.2048

26.862

26.7866

25.9642

24.0219

22.0703

21.3112

21.0494

20.6101

20.4955

18.5733

18.1353

17.6108

16.9347

16.2703

16.2188

15.9539

15.7374

15.6394

14.3713

13.9448

13.6327

13.3665

13.0948

12.8838

12.2512

11.4946

11.1495

10.3915

7.6578

2.9013

2.4831

Foglio2

jazz_concerts36.808

cinema35.6591

cancer30.6704

rock_concerts28.2048

age26.862

disco26.7866

heart_failure25.9642

theatre24.0219

painting_exibition22.0703

depression21.3112

male21.0494

osteoarthritis20.6101

migraine20.4955

skin_diseases18.5733

south18.1353

blindness17.6108

menopause16.9347

arthritis16.2703

low_back_pain16.2188

high_income15.9539

multiple_sclero1s15.7374

student15.6394

semi_urban14.3713

allergy13.9448

hypertension13.6327

obesity13.3665

schooling13.0948

anemia12.8838

retired12.2512

North11.4946

blue_collar11.1495

Income_no_information10.3915

divorced7.6578

osteoporosis2.9013

liver_diseases2.4831

Foglio3

More than you know (or imagine)

Implications

• There is not a ‘right’ rule to value creation

• Every museum must find its own proper mix of value creation channels depending on its characteristics, mandate, context, and constraints

• The museum value creation philosophy needs to be clearly spelled, communicated, and accounted for: the crucial role of measurement

• The value creation philosophy is to be read in the framework of the local cultural and creative ecology

• Avoid being judged against an inappropriate benchmark!

Museums as a community resource: Citizens empowerment, social inclusion, and wellbeingThe Culture 3.0 paradigmThree different regimes of cultural value creationMapping cultural and creative sectors The non industrial core (1.0)Mapping cultural and creative sectors Cultural industries (2.0)Mapping cultural and creative sectors Creative industries (2.0)Mapping cultural and creative sectors: Open platforms (3.0)The 0-1 transitionCulture 0.3: proto-patronageCulture 1.0: patronageMuseums 1.0: �temples of knowledgeThe 1.0-2.0 transitionCulture 2.0:�cultural and creative industriesMuseums 2.0:�entertainment machinesThe 2.0-3.0 transitionCulture 3.0:�content communitiesMuseums 3.0:�participative platformsThe culturalization of the economyThe evolution of participationShifting emphasisA transition under wayThe museum spectrum:�Combinations of value creation channelsEight types of museumsMuseums as places of well-beingAn 8-tiers approach �to the indirect effects �of cultural participationCulture-innovation clustersHierarchy of factors affecting psychological well-beingHierarchy of factors affecting psychological well-beingDias nummer 29Dias nummer 30Dias nummer 31More than you know (or imagine)Implications