SOAS Research Online

Abstract

A museum has a close relationship with the community where it is based and plays a role in various areas such as culture, society, economy and politics. Therefore, many governments implement a policy which endeavours to develop a local community by establishing or expanding a museum. The local government of Basque in Spain intended to re-invigorate their city by establishing a museum. Bilbao, which once had a poor cultural legacy, gained a world-class reputation as soon as the Guggenheim Museum was built and became one of the most famous cities for its cultural and tourist attraction. Afterwards, the term 'Bilbao effect' was coined to describe the success of the city revival plan. The British government launched the "Renaissance project" in order to re-generate deprived communities in England by supporting regional museums. Regional museums which were supported by the project tried to encourage locals to visit museums and enhance educational outcomes from the museum experience. Local museums serve the community by optimising their education programmes according to the characters of the community. In Korea, it is also recommended that the government should expand their support to museums, thereby museums fulfilling the educational and cultural need of the community by developing exhibitions and education programmes. However, the most important precondition for museums to serve the community is that they should recognise themselves as part of the community and try to communicate with the community on an equal footing.