ABSTRACT
I am hoping that the preceding chapters have made it clear that there are many reasons why communities should care about their museums, albeit more for their unfulfilled potential than for the conformity, imitative excesses and conventional practices examined in this book. However, does the museum community itself actually care about its broader, non-museum relationships – a genuine and necessary question? Furthermore, why should they care? Although there are no ready answers to either of these questions, the indications are not heartening and reflect the litany of intractable challenges confronting museums. Among these many issues, as noted before, are the preoccupation with revenues and attendance as the measures of worth; little or no diversification in the traditional visitor profile; the insularity and fragmentation of the museum community; the belief or assumption that the marketplace creates communities; and the belief that nature exists to serve the interests of people.
