ABSTRACT
Increasingly over the past couple of decades, the roles of art museums and galleries and the justification for their funding have been questioned and a number of tensions, issues and themes have come to the fore. In the past, art museums and galleries were seen as being agents of moral improvement. More recently, their roles have been expanded, with a number of significant new art museum and gallery initiatives playing a central position within economic regeneration projects. In addition, there have been the calls that these institutions should be more accessible, socially inclusive and working towards developing new audiences.
