Instrumental museum and gallery policy: issues and opportunities

英国博物馆和美术馆的政策可以说是工具性的。自20世纪80年代以来，博物馆和画廊与一般的艺术部门一样，被英国政府用作工具，试图实现社会政策领域的目标，例如解决社会排斥问题。现代背景下的这种做法源于“新公共管理”的引入，这是对财政压力的反应，也是政府通过采用源自私营部门的原则和做法来管理公共部门的一种尝试。工具性政策的一个有趣方面是，需要越来越多的证据来证明政策目标的成功实现。对展示影响的需求的政策回应是开发模型，这些模型可以被博物馆和画廊从业者用来衡量影响，比如学习。实践者很难实现与这些模型相关的方法，因为存在未解决的问题，例如定义博物馆或画廊中的学习是什么。虽然实践者和决策者认识到与这种政策方法相关的困难，但尚未确定实际的解决方案。关于如何描述价值和增加“公共价值”的概念也存在争议，作为理解与用户的对话和参与如何指导政策构建的一种方式。拟议的讲习班将汇集决策者、从业人员和学术研究人员来解决这些问题。在任何程度上，这种情况以前都没有发生过，因为这些部门中的每一个都有自己的工作方法，并在特定的政治环境中运作。这意味着尚未探讨联合工作对所有各方的潜在好处。例如，博物馆、图书馆和档案委员会（Museums, Libraries and Archive Council）就为英国博物馆和画廊政策的发展提供建议和实施，并逐渐认识到这种方法可能带来的好处。讲习班还将借鉴美国的经验，在美国，博物馆和画廊的政策在很大程度上也是工具性的。研讨会将促成博物馆和画廊从业者、政策制定者和学术研究人员之间的新合作，以发展新的伙伴关系并分享最佳实践。他们将探讨“以证据为基础”的博物馆和画廊政策对实践的影响，并开发可能的博物馆和画廊政策新方法。他们还将计划未来涉及各方的合作研究。讲习班的成果将通过出版物、会议文件和网络资源加以传播。该组织一旦成立，将在未来解决一系列与博物馆和画廊政策有关的其他问题。

UK museum and art gallery policy can be described as being instrumental in nature. Since the 1980s museums and galleries, in common with the arts sector generally, have been used instrumentally by the UK government to attempt to attain objectives in social policy areas, such as resolving problems of social exclusion. This approach in the modern context has its origins in the introduction of the 'New Public Management' which was a response to fiscal pressures and an attempt by Government to manage the public sector by adopting principles and practices derived from the private sector. An interesting aspect of instrumental policy is that increasingly evidence is needed to demonstrate success in achieving policy objectives. The policy response to the need to demonstrate impact has been the development of models that can be adopted by museum and gallery practitioners to measure impact, such as learning. The methodologies associated with these models have been difficult to implement, by practitioners, because of unresolved issues such as defining what learning is in a museum or gallery. While practitioners and policy makers recognise the difficulties associated with such an approach to policy practical solutions have yet to be identified. There is also a debate over how value can be described and increasing the concept of 'public value' is coming to the fore as a way of understanding how dialogue and engagement with users can guide policy construction. The proposed workshops will bring together policy makers, practitioners and academic researchers to address these issues. This has not happened before, to any extent, as each of these sectors has their own methods of working and operates within a particular political environment. This means that the potential benefits of joint working, to all parties, have not been explored. Increasingly the possible benefits of such an approach are being recognised by, for example, the Museums, Libraries and Archive Council, the body that advises on and implements the development of museum and gallery policy in England. The workshops will also draw on the experience of the United States of America where museum and gallery policy is also largely instrumental in nature. The workshops will result in a new collaboration between museum and gallery practitioners, policy makers and academic researchers to develop new partnerships and to share best practice. They will explore the impact of instrumental 'evidence-based' museum and gallery policy upon practice and develop possible new approaches to museum and gallery policy. They will also plan for future collaborative research that would involve all parties. The results of the workshops will be disseminated through publication, conference papers and a web-based resource. The group, once established, would address a range of other issues surrounding museum and gallery policy in the future.