Young adults learning in a national art museum : a holistic approach

Abstract

This thesis explores holistic educational strategies with reference to a national art museum. For some young adults, an art museum serves as a space that sustains aesthetic and historical facts. Meanwhile, other young adults are not even aware of the existence and location of the national art museum. Yet a national art museum collection belongs to the public. Since 2018, ‘MUŻA’ – Malta’s new national art museum has aimed to serve as a national community art museum. This research provides holistic learning strategies grounded in three participatory action-research projects carried out during 2016-2017 with three different young adult communities. The projects’ participants admitted they had little or no experience of the museum. In Malta, the national art museum has failed to make any significant investment in public education and the role of museum educators was, and remains non-existent. This is the justification for my thesis. The only initiatives in the education sphere undertaken by the museum have targeted school children, these visits being conducted in a touristic approach by front office staff. Although this research’s projects still referred to the same art collection, the main focus was on the contexts of the participants and not the narratives of the collection. This thesis reveals that despite the absence of education within the museum environment, holistic educational strategies can still be achieved effectively ‘outside’ the museum. Indeed, none of the three projects were held within the museum due to its closure and transition to the new MUŻA premises. The proposed educational strategies are not grounded in prior knowledge of art history and aesthetics but in the open-endedness of meaning-making, embracing constructivist principles that view learning as contextual. This research evidence reveals that by bringing the museum collection closer to the interests and needs of young adults, those who do not ordinarily visit museums start to recognise their educational significance. Finally this thesis redefines the paradoxical question of whether museum education needs the physical space of a museum. The researcher asserts that the educational potential of a national art museum lies in providing both physical and virtual accessibility to its collection. By such measures, young adults can engage with art and construct meaningful learning experiences.