The New Role of Public Museums under the Concept of "Community Building"

This article clarifies the position of museums in Japanese society by tracing the history of public museums in Japan,and proposes a new course for them by introducing a nation of "community building." Many museums in Japan have existed as mementos of the authorities or sanctuaries of culture,with scant reformation since the days of the rapid economic growth in the 1960s. However,it has recently been questioned what role public museums should play in the course of the collapse of the so-called "Japanese model system." In aiming for a transition to a society of decentralized authority,it is necessary for the local autonomy to a develop independent citizenry with ability for public activities to form a basis for this. They have confused "official" and "public",and have depended heavily on the government in the form of centralization of power. It is time for local governments to develop their citizens in order to maintain the conditions of autonomy. Public museums are now required to consider community-building activities from the viewpoint of discovering and creating "the value of the region",which can pose a newly unveiled mission for them. That is,voluntary and cooperative activities of local residents using cultural resources deriving from the characteristics of each museum. There have been examples of voluntary activities by local people in association with museums,such as locals doing research activities at the Lake Biwa Museum,preparation and mantenance of historic spots such as parks with the Folk Museam of Higashimurayama and the popularizing of nursery rhymes starting from an exchibition held in the Noda City Museam. None of these are in any way operations organized by museums,but voluntary activities by local people with the motive to improve the environment of their eneryday life. These examples have been interpreted until now simply as neighbourhood activities directed by museum authorities,without any authout awareness of a community aspect. Public museums have surely given rise to voluntary activities of locals based on community,although these are diverse in scale,type,and relation with other groups or people of the community. These seem to indicate a sign of people\u27s desire for a breakthrough from the present situation. They migth be partly motivated simply out of a desire to enjoy themselves,being satisfied with doing something worth doing,or to communicate with one another;but the difference between these activities and those of the so-called "Culture Centre"(a school offering classes for adults on a commercial basis,primarily concerning pastimes)lies in the people\u27s ability to cooperate with one auother and carry out the projects. The role of the curator is crucial to preparing and facilitating the projects with them. They can understand matters by looking at exhibitions,but tend not to start actions simply from there. If a project succeds,it could grow into a voluntary and independent community-building activity,independent of the help of museums and curators. In short,the author considers that the new role of public museums now and in the future is to promote voluntary activities of the community under the concept of "community building.