For many years, museums have been important cultural places for people to go and see a multitude of masterpieces; Ancient Greek statues, Rosetti masterpieces, Impressionist artworks, a plethora of contemporary art – anything you could wish for can be seen in London at the numerous museums and galleries across the city. And, as Sharon Ament rightly points out in her article, for young people in the UK, museums are a place to learn and be inspired. Often, they are the first place where inspired cultural encounters take place and can set a person up for a lifelong habit, interest, or even career.
Although, for a long time, museums were seen as something that only attracted older adults. Indeed, in 2015/16, studies revealed that adults aged between 25 and 44 were most likely to have visited a museum or gallery, coming in at around 56.4%. Coincidently, there was also a large gap in engagement between different socio-economic groups, with more than 3 in 5 adults from the upper socio-economic group visiting a museum or gallery in the year 2015-16, compared with just 38% of adults in lower socio-economic groups. When surveyed, the impact of museum fees proved to be the biggest barrier to visiting art galleries.
There was a void of younger adults, with those under 25 tend to visit museums and galleries in smaller quantities.
But, in recent years, a notable shift has occurred. Young people are increasingly interested in the stories museums tell and the way they bring history to life. This is an encouraging trend and one that should be celebrated. While in 2020, the most common age group to visit a museum or gallery was still those aged over 25, 45% of those aged 16-24 years visited a museum or gallery least once in the 12 months. And, it is a figure which has steadily been growing year on year.
Several reasons explain the recent increase. First of all, museums and galleries have increasingly turned to digital channels, a marketing tool most popular among the younger population, to promote themselves. Digital engagement with cultural institutions has been steadily growing year on year and in 2019/20, 32% of people had visited or used a museum’s website or app, and an even higher percentage of those surveyed discovered new exhibitions through digital advertising.
Museums have also introduced many extracurricular events specifically aimed at, and catered towards, younger people. For example, the National Gallery introduced Friday Lates, a similar scheme to Tate Lates, which sees multiple young people enticed by the option of cocktails, DJs, performances, talks and of course, entry to exhibitions, after usual opening hours.
Likewise, the introduction of extremely popular financial schemes specifically targeting those aged 18 – 25 to financially incentivise younger people to visit galleries has proved immensely popular; the RA offers half-priced admission tickets to their exhibitions for those under the age of 25, a new initiative financially supported by our very own founder Batia Ofer and her husband Idan, alongside the V&A, which reduces ticket prices for under 26s. The Tate offers £5 tickets at all exhibitions across the UK, and the National Gallery has a pay-what-you-can scheme for exhibitions on Friday evenings. This trend is not just apparent in art galleries, but at a plethora of other cultural institutions too; under 21s go free at the English National Opera, while youth tickets at the National Theatre start from £5.
These bids to entice younger audiences seem to have paid off, however, we must continue to attract younger audiences and ensure that there are no barriers discouraging people to attend.
This could also mean investing in outreach programs that make museums more accessible to young people from all backgrounds, and creating exhibitions and activities that are specifically designed to appeal to younger audiences.
As a charity which puts the creativity and imagination of children and young adults at its forefront, we believe that it is of the utmost importance to promote, support and encourage sustainability and future investment in cultural institutions for young people. While the figures are promising, there are still areas for improvement.
Nonetheless, thanks to the generosity of numerous institutions and people, it is amazing that so many young adults can keep fuelling their minds with the incredible things on offer at museums and galleries.