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ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

The Playful Art Museum: Employing Creativity as a Tool for Visitor Engagement

Montgomery, Susannah Patton
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1492031264532918

Abstract Details

2017, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, Arts Policy and Administration.
Using Simon Sinek’s `Golden Circles’ framework, this study begins by identifying what a hub for creative engagement is—a space that provides opportunities for visitors to foster creativity through participatory engagement. This study then explores how large regional art museums implement hubs for creative engagement. Using the Wonderkamers in the Gemeentemuseum in the Netherlands and the Center for Creativity in the Columbus Museum of Art in the United States as case studies, this study relies on a mixed-methods approach of synthesizing publicly available sources, curator interviews, and participant observations to understand how these spaces impact visitor creativity and visitor engagement. Participant observations reveal that visitors of all ages are attracted to hubs for creative engagement, that visitors are more likely to choose participatory over passive engagement when given the option, and—per Stuart Brown’s (2010) typology of play—that social, creative, and object play occur most frequently when they participate. By comparing these findings to the curators’ intentions for these spaces, this study also reveals how effectively these hubs for creative engagement meet their intended goals. Finally, this study finds that creativity and innovation are understood in largely the same way in both the United States and the Netherlands, making hubs for creative engagement an asset for art museums in more than one region of the world. Consequently, this study provides a framework for how to implement a hub for creative engagement that can be utilized by any applicable art museum.
Joni Acuff, PhD (Advisor)
Shoshanah Goldberg-Miller, PhD (Committee Member)
199 p.
Arts Management; Museum Studies; Museums
play; creativity; innovation; art museum; participatory museum; participatory activities; visitor engagement; museum exhibition design; visitor-centered museum; Columbus Museum of Art; Columbus, OH; Gemeentemuseum; The Hague; The Netherlands;

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Montgomery, S. P. (2017). The Playful Art Museum: Employing Creativity as a Tool for Visitor Engagement [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1492031264532918

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Montgomery, Susannah. The Playful Art Museum: Employing Creativity as a Tool for Visitor Engagement . 2017. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1492031264532918.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Montgomery, Susannah. "The Playful Art Museum: Employing Creativity as a Tool for Visitor Engagement ." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1492031264532918

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1492031264532918
585
© 2017, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.