New Survey Shows That Museums Can Change Society

Helsinki City Museum put on view a controversial exhibition on the Roma minority of Finland in summer 2009 and studied people’s reactions to the new approach in the museum’s exhibition policy. The exhibition, titled arrestingly “Beware of the Roma! A history of misunderstandings”, was designed to make people question the prejudices that the Roma (Romani people, often referred to as Gypsies) have been subjected to over centuries in Finland and elsewhere. Doing so, Helsinki City Museum moved outside its traditional role in highlighting cultural history in a neutral manner. The museum made a statement on current problems through an interpretation of the background of these problems and historical facts. The exhibition, on display at the Hakasalmi Villa next to Finlandia Hall, exceeded its targeted audience numbers more than two weeks before the end of the exhibition run in August. The successful turnout gave the museum a good opportunity to study people’s reactions to the new approach through a visitor survey. Most of the visitors had a highly favourable reaction to the exhibition. One-third of the respondents hoped for more exhibitions on the same approach, and only 10 per cent thought that socially charged themes have no place in a museum. Most respondents believed in the possibilities of museums to improve the status of minorities, one-third of them firmly so and 60 per cent with some reservations. The respondents were also asked if the exhibition had changed their attitudes to the Roma. Forty per cent said that their attitudes had become somewhat more positive, while five per cent said that their attitudes had changed dramatically for the positive. Helsinki City Museum [1] [1] http://www.hel.fi/wps/portal/Kaupunginmuseo_en/?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/Museo/en/Etusivu