A Study in Elderly Participation in the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts

[[abstract]]ABSTRACT As the art and social education agency, the museum of fine arts values the epochal trends of audience-oriented citizen participation. The population above 65 in Taiwan made up 7% of the total national population as of 1993 that ushered in an aging society. In the wake of the condition that the aging population in this nation would be over 10% of the total population, Ministry of Education published “White Paper for Policy on Elder Education in the Wake of being Ushered in An Aging Society” in Nov. 2006. This research first conducted questionnaire surveys on business supervisors from National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei Fine Arts Museum and Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, the top three museums of fine arts in Taiwan, about the issue of aging audiences; this research took National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts as the example to explore three issues concerning the condition of elders’ participation, i.e. aging volunteers’ participation in services, focal interviews from elders participating in groups of morning and evening sports for leisure and health care purpose at sculpture zones, and questionnaire survey on aging audiences’ participation in the learning activities organized by the museum, and further put forth three conclusions in view of the discussion on aging audiences’ motive and needs toward their participation in the environment of the museum of fine arts in terms of psychological and physiological perspectives and of the suggestion: 1. National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts should act actively as a good model for elders in social and art education. 2. National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts should value the design of different aged education activities for elders. 3. National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts should put ” White Paper for Policy on Elder Education in the Wake of being Ushered in an Aging Society” into practice and set up planning for the lifelong learning zone. In terms of the study and analysis of the elders’ participation in voluntary services organized by National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, the elders’ use of sculpture zone outside the museum and the in-museum learning activities, this research further put forth the following eight suggestions: 1. Suggestion on elders’ participation in voluntary services: (1) National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts should expand the scale of PR activities of educational promotion participated by aging volunteers. (2) The marketing measures by National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts should value the group participation by the elders and their family members. 2. Suggestion on elders’ participation in the use of the sculpture zone of the museum: (1) Improve the design of image and cover function at the entrance in the outside museum and parking lot. (2) Put of layout of glass show window and glass and steel structure of the building into a design for the broadcasting of evening digital information. (3) Plant flowers in the garden as well as supplement the facilities of chairs and evening lighting outside the museum. 3. Suggest on software and hardware facilities for in-museum learning activities participated by elders: (1) Offer space for multimedia illustrations on curatorial programs and artists’ background prior to the participation in the activities by the elders. (2) Reserved service of draping blanket magnifier, wheelchair and to be available in service desk. (3) Supplement the chairs, enlarge the sign illustrations, planning for entrance and exit circulation and design for the sign of restroom location.