博物館會員制的研究

Abstract

現今博物館發展的總趨勢之一即是，博物館必須強化其行銷的功能，以種種之行銷策略與計畫爭取公眾以實際行動表示對其之認同與支持。換言之，博物館「基於公眾的利益」（for the public benefit），無論是其運作與行銷的方式，都應考慮社會的需要，而會員制度的設計與推廣自應是其中不可或缺的一環。在此種情形下，當前博物館所面臨的最大挑戰，就是博物館與觀眾之間的「重新概念化」（conceptualization），博物館與公眾歷經將近一世紀的疏遠關係，今日的博物館正在尋求如何擁抱其訪客。 就台灣地區現今的情況而言，故宮博物院、台中國立自然科學博物館、鶯歌陶瓷博物館等，實施會員制度有年，但運作模式卻不盡相同，若能觀察、分析其制度的內涵，與執行績效的成敗利鈍，並跟操作成熟、足堪代表現今西方博物館文化之紐約大都會博物館、紐約古根漢博物館、紐約現代美術館、洛杉磯自然史博物館、印地安那兒童博物館，乃至大英博物館、東京國立博物館、新加坡歷史博物館等世界重要博物館之會員制，一併加以比較，即不難歸納出博物館動員社會資源之行銷策略與具體做法，此即為本論文研究之動機，而此一嘗試之最終目的，仍在為台灣博物館摸索出一條更寬廣、更有成效之道路。 本研究計分七章，第一章內容包括研究背景、研究動機、研究目的、研究方法以及研究內容與限制；第二章為相關文獻探討；第三章主要在探討美國地區重要博物館的會員制度，對象有紐約大都會博物館、紐約現代美術館、紐約古根漢博物館、洛杉磯自然史博物館、印地安那兒童博物館；第四章主要在探討英國大英博物館的博物館之友制度、英國博物館之友聯盟、世界博物館之友聯盟與其倫理守則，再加上東京國立博物館以及新加坡歷史博物館；第五章為探討國內三家博物館包括國立故宮博物院、國立自然科學博物館、台北縣陶瓷博物館之會員制度及其成效；第六章則在探討博物館招募會員的種種行銷策略；第七章為本研究之結論與建議。 本研究發現，博物館與觀眾之間的關係創造了一個新的文化，體會這樣一種博物館文化的變遷，博物館在設計其會員制度即應有相對之因應策略與做法，茲歸納其要點如下： 一、 重視會員制度的結構問題。 二、應體認休閒經濟的生活型態。 三、以博物館出版品作為招募與聯絡會員的利器。 四、應建立反饋的機制讓會員發聲。 五、安排博物館會員及其他訪客進行發現式學習活動。 六、對於會員應給予適當的表彰。 七、以博物館的專業服務會員。 八、鼓勵以博物館會員卡作為社交禮物。 九、對網路會員的開拓做策略性的思考。 十、就博物館之客群性質之不同可設計特殊會員組織。 另外，本研究發現博物館內部行政作業規定與流程，對其會員的開發亦有一定之影響，主要的行政配合工作，包括要採用主動出擊的方式接觸潛在會員或舊會員，以及對於舊會員的續約應做最大的努力。 本研究亦發現，儘管說有中外國情不同，國人對成為博物館的會員熱情不足，以及博物館會員會費不能抵稅等等問題，但公立博物館不能像以往完全仰賴政府經費，私立博物館能得到的政府補助也每況愈下，這是世界沛然莫能禦之的趨勢。在此種情況下，博物館轉以廣大社群為行銷對象，以種種誘因鼓勵公眾當其會員，不僅擴大其支持的力量，也可使其會員更進一步參與博物館的各項活動，提升藝文欣賞能力，及國民的人文素養。 綜合比較起來，歐美博物館所採行的會員制，有以下幾項共同的特點特別值得注意：會員制度架構完整，能呼應社會不同需求；會員權益獲得較周全的設計與保障；家庭會員幾是所有博物館會員制不可或缺的類型；會員制度的設計無不儘量貼近社會的需求。 本研究在結論中，對國內博物館提出以下建議： 一、會員制度的結構與會員類型應做調整。 二、對家庭會員應多加爭取。 三、應借重博物館館長與其他主管的號召力。 四、應考慮增設網路會員之類型。 五、善用博物館一切可以吸引會員之資源。 六、重視策展人溝通之角色。 七、應加強對年輕族群的爭取。 八、博物館會員的年會費之定價政策亦可再做評量。 總之，博物館的任何一種會員，可說都是博物館的支持者，如何透過藝術行銷來動員社群，使其成為博物館的有力後盾，實攸關一個博物館營運之良窳，而一個博物館行銷的成功與否，因素雖多，但其關鍵仍在於它能否以新的視野與新的策略及做法，不斷地增進其服務的附加價值。換言之，在後現代的社會中，群眾的參與乃是任何博物館營運成功的最大保證，此一以群眾需求為導向的營運模式，固然有可能迫使博物館走向通俗化以及自力更生的道路，但博物館的社教功能亦將因此獲得更大的彰顯。

One of the trends in museum development today is for museums to strengthen their marketing efforts. They do this by using various marketing strategies to win the public’s support and recognition. In other words, no matter if it’s in the manner of administration or marketing, a museum should consider the needs of the society and public interest. The design and promotion of membership options is one of the most important elements in this process. The most challenging issue that museums face today is in understanding their relationship with the public. For the past century, museums have shared a distant relationship with the public, but the museums of today are seeking ways to embrace their visitors. In recent years, museums like The National Palace Museum, The National Museum of Natural Science, The Yingge Ceramics Museum and others in Taiwan have began offering membership options. Each museum has developed their own membership packages, but if the differences of each program can be analyzed and compared to the membership policies of the most important museums in the world like The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, The Natural History Museum of Los Angles County, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, The British Museum, The Tokyo National Museum and National Museum of Singapore, it wouldn’t be hard to generalize the marketing strategy and ascertain concrete methods of using social resources for Taiwanese museum membership. This is the research motive of this thesis. The ultimate goal of this research is to discover a broad and efficient way for museums in Taiwan to approach administrate. The research is divided into seven chapters. Chapter one includes research background, research motive, research method, and research content and restrictions. Chapter two includes the study of literature. Chapter three discusses the membership policies of important museums in the United States of America. The target museums are The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Natural History Museum of Los Angles County, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. Chapter four discusses the membership policies of The British Museum, The British Association of Friends of Museums, The World Federation of Friends of Museums and their moral principles, The Tokyo National Museum and the oldest museum in Singapore area The National Museum of Singapore. Chapter five analyzes the membership programs of three museums in Taiwan, including The National Palace Museum, The National Museum of Natural Science, and The Yingge Ceramics Museum. Chapter six discusses various marketing strategies aimed at recruiting potential museum members. Chapter seven is the research conclusion and suggestion. This research has found that the relationship between museums and their visitors has spurred a new culture. Because of the transition of museum culture, museums should develop a coping strategy and method when designing the membership policy. Important measures are: 1. Pay attention to the problems of membership structure. 2. Recognizing social demographic drawn to leisure oriented economics. 3. Use museum publications to recruit and contact members. 4. Create feedback mechanisms for members to express their opinions. 5. Arrange learning activities for museum members and other guests. 6. Honor members appropriately. 7. Provide professional services for members. 8. Encourage members to buy museum membership-cards as gifts. 9. Create strategies on expanding Internet memberships. 10. Design distinct membership clubs for the various needs of museum members. Also, this research has discovered that the internal administrative policy and execution of a museum have an impact on building members. The main administrative works, including contacting potential members or old members aggressively and renew membership, should work its best. This project also discovers the variation between the East and West. In Taiwan, museums have to face the difficulty of selling non tax-deductible memberships to an often-indifferent public. It is a worldwide trend that public museums can no longer fully depend on governmental funding to meet their needs, and private museums get less governmental subsidies every year. Under these conditions, museums have had to market new services to the public in order to satisfy their financial needs. One example of this is by encouraging the public to join in member related activities designed to raise the awareness and appreciation of the arts. In comparison, the memberships of Western museums have some common characteristics: the membership structure is flexible enough to satisfy the needs of a broad audience; members receive a more secure and better designed service; family memberships are among the most common sold; membership design is targeted toward specific social needs. The conclusion of this research addresses several suggestions for museums in Taiwan: 1. Adjust the structure and types of membership. 2. Strive for family enrollment. 3. Use museum director and chief to rally public support. 4. Consider using Internet to build memberships. 5. Use every resource in the museum to attract members. 6. Value the communicative role of curators. 7. Strive to raise interest for the younger demographic. 8. Re-evaluate the annual fees of museum membership. In the end, every member of society is a possible contributor to the welfare of a museum. Using marketing to mobilize the community to become a firm support is the key to running a successful museum. Although many factors can play a role in the success of museum marketing, the key is whether or not it can provide a continuously adaptive vision, strategy, and execution to deliver good service. In other words, in a post-modern society having community participation is a guarantee of success to any museum. The idea of catering to public interest has the possibility of watering down a museums personal vision and therefore compromising its ability to deliver unique content. Conversely however, it can also result in a more widespread delivery of educational material and ideas.