The Rhode Island School of Design Museum is looking to increase engagement with the Providence community and improve the overall visitor experience. These goals are a part of the institution’s new five-year strategic plan, which was launched at an event Wednesday evening.
Co-founded with RISD in 1877, the RISD Museum is the 20th largest art museum in the United States and draws over 130,000 visitors each year. The institution holds a collection of over 100,000 art works.
RISD Museum Director Tsugumi Maki emphasized that the museum will continue to serve as a teaching facility for RISD students and a space for the public to experience various art forms.
“For years, the RISD Museum has been a world-class resource for students, faculty, artists and the greater Rhode Island community and that isn’t changing,” Maki said. “But what is changing is how we communicate that role and expand who sees themselves here.”
“The RISD Museum has something that no other museum has, but we don’t always communicate that clearly,” she added, referencing the museum’s connection to the arts school. “We need to push our reputation beyond Southeast New England so that more people can see what makes us different.”
For some visitors, art museums can be an overwhelming experience, Maki said. Exhibits may be difficult to navigate and the art is not always explained clearly by institutions.
“The same anxiety some feel when faced with an elaborate dining setup, like wondering which fork to use at the dinner table, can strike when walking into a gallery,” she said, explaining that the museum instead hopes to help “audiences engage with art in a way that feels very personal and meaningful.”
RISD Museum also wants to reutilize the building’s space to make navigating the museum an easier experience for visitors. Space has also “been a challenge for a very long time,” according to Maki, who added that storage at the museum is currently 20% over its capacity.
The strategic plan aims to accomplish these goals by implementing the “RISD Museum way,” or a “distinctive approach to art, engagement and learning through four key principles: Process, Meanings, Origins and Connection.”
Maki elaborated on these guiding principles, explaining that Process asks the question of “how was it made,” while Meanings attempts to answer the question of “why does it matter?” The theme of Origins evaluates “how did it get here?” and the last value of “Connection” hopes to explain how objects can “illuminate contemporary experiences,” she added.
Another one of the museum’s major goals in their strategic plan is to increase engagement with the Providence community. While creating their strategic plan, the museum received feedback from over 900 people, including museum staff, RISD students and others.
Maki noted that the average age of museum goers is typically much higher than other recreational activities, but that the museum never wants to “alienate” their core audience — young people.
Manna Patiparnprechabut, a RISD senior, is currently in a class that explores the role of public programs in art museums. For the past six months, she has worked to host panels for artists to meet and connect with leaders in the art world.
For Patiparnprechabut, the museum is unique in its approach to connect with students and provides various opportunities and “community engagement programs.”
William Hollinshead has been coming to the museum since 1976. He wants to continue to see the museum not only target college-aged people but younger children as well.
Hollinshead and his wife, a former art professor, have loved visiting the museum since it was “part of our earliest experiences” in Rhode Island.
“We brought our kids to the museum and now we bring our grandchildren,” he added. “We don’t do it as often as we should but we love it and plan to keep it up.”
Sanai Rashid lives in Long Island, New York. As an English and Economics concentrator, she is passionate about storytelling and how numbers and data create narratives in ways words alone cannot. When she is not writing, you can find her trying new pizza places in Providence or buying another whale stuffed animal.
