Deepening the Dialogue: Art & Audience

SAM is committed to creating a deeper connection to the community and to putting the visitor at the center of all of our programs and activities. Our research report, Deepening the Dialogue (DTD) , explores a range of research, visitor feedback and community dialogue aimed to help SAM to better understand and respond to the needs of our audience and our diverse community.

Through a generous grant from The Wallace Foundation, SAM was able to break out of the stereotypical museum box and connect with the community in new and different ways through the Deepening the Dialogue: Art and Audience initiative. During the grant period, 2000-2004, SAM focused primarily on the goals of broadening, diversifying and engaging our audience. The first year of the grant, SAM worked to identify barriers to participation, and for the remaining years set about to remove obstacles to participation, and identify ways to continue to engage our audience. The 12 participation strategies and over 42 activities implemented to encourage audience participation greatly influenced the way SAM connects to its audience.

What we have learned has also shaped our plans for the transformation of SAM with the Olympic Sculpture Park, the downtown expansion, and changes to the Seattle Asian Art Museum at Volunteer Park. As we move forward in our efforts to continue audience participation, we will focus our efforts on Diversity, Involvement and Visibility.

This report outlines the activities undertaken over the last four-plus years, how each activity occurred and our analysis of it.

• DTD Measurements of Success
• DTD Full Report (available soon)
  
  

Go here for additional research and surveys.