1. Centre for Sport, Leisure and Tourism Research - University of Exeter Research Showcase Event - April 23rd 2012 Church House, Westminster, London Experiences and Engagement: An Investigation of Young Persons’ Visits to ARTIST ROOMS on Tour Stephen Vainker

2. Galleries and visitors ‘Object-centred’ Passive audience Galleries contained important pieces from which the visitors learnt (Hooper-Greenhil, 2000) ‘Visitor-centred’ Active audience Visitors find meaning in the artworks for themselves Galleries serve the needs of the visitors. Galleries aim to dissolve the boundaries between the institution and the community Galleries and museums were created so that culture could be available to all THEN N OW

3. ARTIST ROOMS Art collection donated to the nation by art dealer and collector Anthony d’Offay. Owned and administered jointly by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. The Art Fund supports the touring costs Made up of the works of 35 artists. Each artist forms a ‘room’ that tours around the UK independently. 2012 Tour

4. ARTIST ROOMS and young people Aim To engage ‘new’ young audiences (13 – 25 years old) across the UK with the ARTIST ROOMS collection and artists in a meaningful and enjoyable way. Practice Associate Galleries collaborate with an ‘ambassador’ group of young people over an extended period of time. E.g. New Walk Museum, Leicester: young people worked with the gallery to create an iPad app that displayed their responses to the artworks and was available within the exhibition. (Ganley, 2011)

5. Research Focus The purpose of the ambassador groups is to enable young people to help shape the relationships galleries have with their audience. This means enabling the agency of young people to flourish within the gallery space. The challenge for the galleries: for the young people to express themselves at the same time have an impact. The research will look at how far this is able to happen in practice. Hallet and Prout, 2003

6. Methods The research will examine the groups at 4-6 galleries during 2012. To understand people’s experiences in a group, the details are important. This means: -observation over an extended period - participating in the groups - audio-visual recordings of the groups - interviews with participants and staff Impact The research will contribute to our knowledge of the experiences of young people in galleries within this new collaborative framework. It will have practical and theoretical implications for galleries, museums and public services more widely (Silverman, 2009)

7. References Books Hallett, C. & Prout, A., 2003, (eds.) Hearing the Voices of Children: Social Policy for a New Century. London and New York: RoutledgeFalmer Hooper-Greenhill, E., 2000. Museums and the Interpretation of Visual Culture. London: Routledge. Lynch, B., 2011. Whose Cake is it Anyway? Report for Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Silverman, D., 2009. Interpreting qualitative data: Methods for analysing talk, text and interaction. London: Sage. Images In the Flesh, ARTIST ROOMS: Ron Mueck at Aberdeen Art Gallery, 2009. © Mike Davidson, Positive Image. Grace Jones, 1984, Robert Mapplethorpe. © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Untitled (Hand Circle), 1996, Bruce Naumann. © ARS, NY and DACS. Winter Bears, 1988; Jeff Koons. © Jeff Koons. Untitled, 1985, Gerhard Richter. © Gerhard Richter All images: ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. Acquired jointly through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008.

8. Thanks – questions. Research presented here was conducted during an ESRC Studentship under its Capacity Building Clusters Award (RES- 187-24-0002) in partnership with Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. For more information about this project and the work of the Centre for Sport, Leisure and Tourism research, see www.ex.ac.uk/slt. For more information about ARTIST ROOMS, see www.artfund.org/artistrooms Stephen Vainker, srv202@ex.ac.uk, 07792299494.