Attitudes of Local Visitors Towards Museum Exhibitions

Abstract

The knowledge that permanent exhibitions do not change often prompted this study. Permanent exhibitions can last even for thirty years while temporary exhibitions are expected to last for between a day to six months. This study investigated the attitudes of local Museum visitors towards museum exhibitions. The assumptions were that local visitors apparently dislike permanent exhibitions to temporary ones. It was also assumed that the community would be interested in participating in conception and mounting of exhibitions. This study was carried out in the Nairobi Museum, which is located within the headquarters (HQ) of national museums of Kenya in Nairobi City. The respondents targeted were local visitors, grouped into two teenagers (aged 15-23 years) and adults (aged 24 years and above), males and females. A sample size of eighty four respondents was purposely selected, from among local visitors coming from Nairobi and the neighboring districts. A questionnaire was designed for the above respondents (appendix I), and interviews were held with key informants, to shed light on some issues. Purposive sampling technique was applied to select the respondents, both the local visitors and key informants. Nairobi Museum was also purposely selected. This study concluded that local visitors have different attitudes to different permanent exhibitions, while some are not attractive others are. Display methods that have put into consideration the context of the object/specimen were cited as reasons for preference of some of these exhibitions. Community participation was an idea the local visitors are in support of, in fact 92% of the respondents commented positively towards the issue. Several ways through which participation can be enhanced were listed. These were donation of artifacts, suggestions and funding or sponsorship