Defining special events in galleries from a visitor perspective

In an attempt to alter public perceptions of art galleries as elitist institutions, art galleries are shifting their directions to become more visitor focused. With contemporary policies being adopted to explicitly pursue access that is more equal and participation, new programs and strategies are being developed to make art galleries more appealing to people who would not normally visit them. One such visitor-focused strategy increasingly being utilized is the staging of special events. To document the impacts special events are having on art galleries, and to assess whether special events are enabling these institutions to achieve their aims of becoming more visitor focused and less “elitist,” it is important that these institutions develop an awareness of how their visitors understand and respond to such events. This study explores visitor perceptions of special events in art galleries using a qualitative methodology and has developed a set of categories that reflect those visitor perceptions