The Great Sustainability Challenge: How Visitor Studies Can Save Cultural Institutions in the 21st Century

Please join us for a book club-style discussion hosted by VSA's Professional Development Work Group. We will discuss the 2007 article, "The Great Sustainability Challenge: How Visitor Studies Can Save Cultural Institutions in the 21st Century” by Alan J. Friedman. The Conversation will be directed by the interests and input of participants, but some topics we would like to explore include: How, if at all, does your research and evaluation work touch on the three dimensions of sustainability for cultural institutions: intellectual, financial, and social (described on p. 4-6) At the writing of the article over a decade ago, Friedman noted that visitor studies is currently mostly aligned with measuring social sustainability (p. 11). Is this still the case? Who is doing research evaluation work in the areas of intellectual and financial sustainability? Should it be a focus of the visitor studies community? Are there other areas of sustainability that visitor studies is or should be focused on? Hosts Amanda Krantz and Erin Wilcox from VSA's Professional Development Work Group will kick start the discussion and facilitate the conversation, but we encourage you to come ready to share your thoughts, and raise questions, too!