Swancey's Travels

Visitor Well Being and Museum Agenda…

The Meeting:
John Falk

Time:
13 March 2023

Weeks ago, when learning we were meeting with John Falk, I was excited because I read many of his writing pieces during my courses.  But was a bit apprehensive due to a concern he would be promoting a certain idea that museums should have for the future.  This apprehension was broken within minutes of meeting with John Falk during our meeting on March 13, 2023.  He was warm, personal, and gave the encouraging feeling of a mentor not only to museums but also museum studies students.  He truly lives and breathes the ideas he presents in his books and writing. 

For another class, we read Identity and the Museum Visitor Experience by John Falk and many of my notes on the book came back to the idea that museums have a reason to do what they are presenting, and visitors have a reason why they are visiting.  While reading the book I discovered that when visiting museums my reasons are backed by being a recharger, explorer and experience seeker in a museum. Since reading about the styles of museum goers a personal discovery was to learn more about the other types of visitors in the museum, since I was not any of these styles.  The conversations with John Falk left me with an understanding of the other roles of facilitator and professional/hobbyist; because no matter our reasons for going, we are just trying to meet some need for well-being.  During our conversation with Falk, he mentioned the four ways we achieve well-being through: 

1. Comfortable and feeling safe.
2. Social well-being or social interaction
3. Intellectual well-being. 
4. Personal well-being. 

These four goals connected back to every reason people visit museums and are why I visit museums. Toward the end of the conversation Falk mentioned that we (museums and visitors) all have an agenda and for me I keep thinking that if we BOTH meet our well-being agenda or well-being goals _

–Then success will be met by all. 

Image of John Falk: Borrowed from: Institute of Learning Innovation. (2023). For more information visit: John H. Falk Ph.D. : Institute for Learning Innovationhttps://www.instituteforlearninginnovation.org/person/john-h-falk-ph-d/