Museum compass 1.
Zoltán Némedi Varga
Marketing in the service of museums
From 1990s on, as the market economy developed in Hungary, the marketing approach gained ground as well in the field of the market sector. After a while the market oriented approach appeared also in one of the service sector’s special areas: the cultural institutions.
The museums faced new challenges; the presence of new management philosophies however does not mean that the classical functions could be ignored or neglected. The new trends (like the visitor-friendly aspect) promote a better and more efficient functioning of the museum’s basic tasks.
Marketing should affect every activity of the museums. Therefore, marketing has to be present on three levels in the functioning of the museums: marketing – as approach, marketing – as strategy, marketing – as operative tool.
As a summary we can say that changes are taking place irrevocably and their affects will soon be perceivable in the life of the Hungarian museums. Museum marketing is not the enemy: it does not sell out the museums but preserving the traditions, it extends a helping hand in the labyrinth of market economy.
Gábor Veres
Marketing, reconstruction, Alfa-plan by the example of the Dobó-bastion
The Castle Museum István Dobó has been for decades one of the most visited museum institutions with yearly more than 400 000 visitors. The renovated Dobó-bastion was added to the national memorial place when it was open to public on the 5th November 2005.
The first marketing and publicity plan of the Castle Museum István Dobó was made in 1996, followed by a new concept in 2000. Both materials were created due to the needs of touristic developments. When reading the concept of 2000 we feel the careful style of the drafting and we see that the Dobó-bastion constituted a problem for the experts working on the action plan. Since financial sources were lacking, an accurate plan for finishing and for the daily functioning of the object was not possible. The concept for the Dobó-bastion was finalized only in 2003. The Alfa-plan was launched in 2004, the year of Hungary’s access to the European Union. This aspect is important in view of the EU-sources: the Regional Operative Programs were announced. This allowed an extension of the plans for the Castle Museum István Dobó. New possibilities opened up, which were not considered in the plans of 2000. Due to the new factors, the marketing plan of the institution had to be reworked completely in 2003. This is a good example to realize that the marketing plan is no more than a tool, a well useable tool for the institutions’ development. It helps to outline our goals adapted to the circumstances and possibilities – micro- and macroenvironment – of a given period, and to draft the steps to reach the goals. The marketing plan has to react to the important changes of the ”environment” – as it happened in the case of the Castle Museum István Dobó. The strategic goals did not change but the action plan and the steps towards the goals had to be rethought and redrafted.
Aurél Szakál
Museum, museum friends and marketing in Kiskunhalas
We give here a short summary of the last decade’s history of the Museum János Thorma and of the Foundation Halas Museum serving for the museum’s support. The development program of the museum took shape by the end of the 1990s. The building was renovated and the attic completed. New exhibitions, archaeological, numismatic and art exhibitions were added to the existing ones. The museum published 37 books and 19 booklets.
Besides the resources guaranteed by the maintainer, the museum needs support gained by tenders, financial help and income in order to achieve its goals. We observe the museums’ possibilities at national level and join them (like Alfa-program, Museums’ Night).
Good contacts with the local social environment have to be maintained by different means. One of the most important results for the museum is the support of the circle of museum friends with more than 220 members. We organise programs, excursions, dinners together and we always send them our newsletters and invitations.
The museum and the museum’s foundation make an effort mainly to achieve museologic goals but co-operate at the same time with persons involved in the cultural and economic life of the surroundings as well. We realized considerable results in professional and human areas as well as in the infrastructure in the past few years. One of the important results is the assignment of the award Museum of the year.
Marianna Kovács
Characteristics of the culture consumption – surveyed among the visitors of the Mátra Museum (July–August 2007.)
The sampling of 50 persons who visited the Mátra Museum consisted of men and women. The sampling was taken randomly.
I started the survey by asking general questions and found out that about one third of the visitors spend their leisure time with museum visits. It was important to know which sources provide information about the museum to visitors. I concluded from the answers that spreading from mouth to mouth is the most efficient among all means of promotion. I consider the visitor’s idea about the need of more publicity in the media of major importance in the survey. Most of the visitors wish more publicity in the media, in the press.
My following questions referred to the Mátra Museum, resp. to visiting habits in the museum. The museum has permanent and temporary exhibitions. About 2/3 of the questioned persons prefer the permanent exhibitions – to visit them with the family, with friends or acquaintances. Among the permanent exhibitions they prefer the geology and the hunting exhibitions. Finally I wanted to know whether the surveyed persons have knowledge about investments carried out on the museum’s premises. I regretted to hear that almost 2/3 of them is not aware of the investments. Therefore the museum’s more frequent presence in the media is an absolute necessity.
Gábor Veres
The private sector in the museum. Contacts, cooperation, problems.
The public collections are in daily contact with the private sector. Since 1990 the private sector has been playing a major role in every area of economic life. Today even the state institutions and those belonging to the local governments are unimaginable without close contacts with the private sector. Museums also make use of the offer of the enterprises when they need services or for purchasing their necessities. At the same time, they have no alternative but to look for new possibilities for creating income. This essay deals with the contact network between the private sector and the museums illustrating the subjects with examples taken from the functioning of the Castle Museum István Dobó in Eger.
Mihály Kurta
Museum Stall. En entrepreneurial attempt by the Foundation Regional Circle of Museum Friends in the Museum Ottó Herman
The Foundation of the Regional Circle of Museum Friends has been fulfilling its tasks for the community and its engagements of common concern from the time of its foundation. But those „experiments in entrepreneurship” aiming at earning profit were real challenges: the proceedings had to be re-drawn for providing for the museum’s basic needs.
The real trial was the opening of a Museum Shop together with the opening of the visitorfriendly Picture Gallery of the Museum Ottó Herman. After having acquired all the necessary permits, in December 2005 we opened the first Museum Shop in the 105 years old history of the Museum Ottó Herman.
The foundation’s curators as well as the voluntary helpers called the Museum Shop a „museum stall” – referring to their impression as if they were selling goods on the village market. But in-spite of our worries, we were proud of the additional services provided by the museum: visitors could do „shopping”, have a coffee or discuss the world sitting with a cold beer. Briefly, they could have „social life” in the museum.
The Museum Shop’s offer was gradually extended. We approached the region’s folk artists: wood carvers, potters, lace makers, blacksmiths, glass artists, those who produced folklore toys and gifts, handicraft masters who contributed to the sale of the products.
By offering photos, copies of objects, postcards, folding albums, museum educational booklets, placards, and of course scientific and educational publications and books, we earned smaller and sometimes bigger amounts to cover the museum’s needs.
Gábor Veres
Tourism based on cultural heritage in the Castle Museum István Dobó in Eger
Law LXIV. of the year 2001 treats the questions of protection of cultural heritage in a comprehensive way. The law’s attachment contains the list of those historic monuments and monument complexes which have to be kept in exclusive State property. The castle and fortress of Eger figure among them. Elements of the cultural heritage are present in the functioning of the castle in a favourably manner. Not only archaeological values but also values of historic monuments are preserved in the fortress and due to the existence of the museum from 1957, the fortress is a rich collection of cultural relics as well. The most beautiful objects of the collections of the Castle Museum István Dobó are displayed in the buildings being at the same time historic monuments. The castle of Eger is one of Hungary’s most visited buildings. Touristic attraction is the presence of the cultural heritage: the archaeological heritage is there together with the heritage of historic monuments and relics.
Levente Nagy
Vision of the present and the future in the museums’ public education. Brochure about the educational activities of the Mátra Museum in Gyöngyös
The write-up presents the recently renovated Mátra Museum in Gyöngyös, the Orczy castle and garden completed by revitalisation and the Nature historic Pavilion with extended exhibition sites. We have re-organised our museum educational programs in these sites in form of museum lessons and summer camps for students. Related to these activities, we launched a series of publications mainly for the age-group of 11–14. The activity books treat the exhibitions’ subjects with different exercises and contain interesting information about the topics. The tasks can be done individually and are useful guides during museum visits of schools or suit for group activities in the museum. They can be included into the museum programs and are very useful. The nature historic exhibitions will soon be completed and accessible for visitors. With them our possibilities will be extended and we shall plan our further programs and the publication of new issues connected to the new exhibitions.
Mária Sándor
Country Museum and public education
The Bihar Museum in Berettyóújfalu gathers ethnographic, local historic and literary relics in the region of the former Bihar county, which remained within Hungary’s today’s borders. Its public educational activity with a great past experienced a stimulus when it moved to the former parish hall in the centre of Berettyóújfalu.
The country museum serves first of all the public education of the inhabitants in the Bihar region. To meet these requirements, it developed a concept on two pillars: propagation of local cultural values and relics of Bihar in the exhibitions and public educational programs on one hand, and being the only institution of the small region with such features, treating national subjects on the other hand. By doing so it provides the local public with museum events and exhibitions of great interest. This double objective is served by family and other programs (Family museum afternoon, Museums’ Night, Autumn Festival of Museums), by public lectures (Museum Omniscience) and by subjects presented in temporary exhibitions. Civil organisations such as the Association of the Circle of Friends of the Bihar Museum and the Foundation for the Bihar Museum contribute to a great extent to its activities in the field of public education. The annual Camp for Knowledge of the Country in Bihar for the age group 10–18 as well as the competitions about local history are organised by the efforts of these two organisations (which means financial support won in tenders). The museum’s staff alone would not be able to carry out this varied work of public education. The members of the association’s and of the foundation’s advisory board contribute to the success of the events with their voluntary work.
József Kriston Vízi
Museum mosaics – Museum and Mosaic, partly and on the whole
An educational law was enacted in Hungary in summer 2007, which officially accepts and promotes the museums’ role in the education. This means that schools may acquire knowledge „legally” when spending school lessons in museums with the assistance of a museum professional (archaeologist, historian, ethnographer, etc.). This was the case before the law too, but without financial support and strictly in the students’ leisure time, outside the school activities (during excursions). In order to enable the schools to gather knowledge in museums, they need mainly such school books and publications, which contain the latest scientific information. It is important to present besides the texts such illustrations, which promote understanding and have a high quality from the aesthetic-visual point of view.
The centre of the TIMPNET Workshop met during a pedagogue workshop in Eastern Hungary such ambitions expressed by a pedagogy publishing house. The program is called: Museum – Mosaic, which has a double meaning: the name of the publishing house is Mozaik, furthermore, student and teacher can put together the essence of different social and natural scientific knowledge like a puzzle. Furthermore, students can compose themselves the knowledge units from the parts taken from the mosaic-like knowledge conveyed by the museum objects, books and verbal information. This is not a closed process, new information and participation of new persons, who join the students on other occasions, can extend the units. With the help of several well-known museologists the publishing house creates maps, exercise books and the units of digital knowledge deliberately for students who are visiting museums. Some museums, like the Museum of Local History in Dombóvár (Dombóvár is a small town in South-West Hungary) furnished a „Mosaiccorner” with books and educational and activity material. The TIMPNET Workshop signed a contract with the Mozaik Publishing House in the spring of 2008 and as a result, they organised in 10 museums local and regional meetings for discussing the possibilities of complex passing of knowledge in museums. The representatives of the host museums as well as those of the guest schools told about their experiences and needs. The publisher referred to the exhibitions in the museum and stated that they are open for any interesting and important suggestions which should be considered in the drafting and treating of new school books. Museum experts learned new information about local and national educational tendencies, requirements and possibilities. The author of this essay presents the process of one and a half year, during which time this project helped the museums to get into tight and regular contact with the schools, to work on common workshop programs and to participate successfully in tenders helping the museums’ development.
Irén Kállai
School-friendly museum – Museum Mosaic in Bihar
The day of professional programs for pedagogues called Museum Mosaic in Bihar took place in the Bihar Museum as part of the program series ”School-Friendly Museum” thanks to the support of the Ministry for Education and Culture and of TIMPNET. The first program of the series, which served as a model, was organised in Berettyóújfalu with the purpose of making local pedagogues acquainted with the museum educational activities of the Bihar Museum so that they know and use the exhibitions in their daily work. The events started with a museum lesson, followed by a special guided tour where museologues and pedagogues analysed the exhibitions and looked for links between the exhibitions and the curriculums of the different school subjects. In the second half of the program information was provided about the training possibilities for pedagogues and about the publications of the Mozaik Publishing House. The organisers and the co-ordinators of the region analyzed and evaluated the model program and suggested to propagate it to further 10 museums in the county.
Ágnes Marosi
Museum educational programs and methodological possibilities in the Museum Ottó Herman
This study is based on the lecture presented on the 24th November 2008 in the Exhibition Building of the Museum Ottó Herman during the series of programs called Museum Mosaic. The purpose of the lecture was to provide the pedagogues of Miskolc with a comprehensive view about the museum educational efforts taking place in the museum and the methodological capacities available.
The Museum Ottó Herman is considered lucky since its permanent and temporary exhibitions are housed in three buildings in Miskolc.
The Picture Gallery of the Museum Ottó Herman in the central building of the museum is one of the most comprehensive overview of art history of the Hungarian countryside from the Baroque age till the Art Nouveau.
The Exhibition Building of the Museum Ottó Herman offers two exhibitions: the Collection of Endre Szász presents beyond the artist’s works a cultural diversity crossing continents, and the photographic history exhibition Ages, pictures, cameras shows besides the technical improvement the old townscape of Miskolc, being a sort of reminder of local history.
The Ottó Herman Memorial House invites to the permanent exhibition ”There is no glory, only duty” where the life-work of the denominator, the ”last polyhistor” is displayed in a wonderful natural environment.
These localities constitute excellent places for exhibitions and collections and in accordance with the scientific work carried out in the background, they offer possibilities for varied museum educational activities. It is our objective to make these spiritual values and objects accessible and understandable for visitors by using similarly colourful museum educational methods.
Gyöngyi Kaposvári
Museum Mosaics
As part of the series of programs called Museum Mosaic a joint methodological further education took place in Szolnok on the 26th November 2008 for pedagogues teaching history and environment knowledge. The Mozaik Publishing House and the János Damjanich Museum of Szolnok organised the event. One of the lectures presented the activity package called Tabán 24. made by the Tabán County Museum of Szolnok and the board game Let us do archaeology! designed for visitors of the permanent archaeology exhibition with the title: A visit in our ancestors’ house.
The Board of Museums of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County launched a new series of publications in 2007 with the title: Museum educational booklets of the Museum János Damjanich. The issues’ purpose is the presentation of the János Damjanich Museum’s permanent exhibitions by giving the children a playful guide which helps them to develop into an understanding museum friend. At the same time, the family-members of different ages acquire common experiences in the museum.
The first publication is the activity package made for the Tabán County Museum, which won in 2007 the Quality Award in the category of ”The best museum educational publication” announced by the Ministry for Education and Culture’s Program Museum for Everybody.
The second issue of the Museum educational booklets of the Museum János Damjanich is a board game designed for visitors of the permanent archaeology exhibition with the title: A visit in our ancestors’ house.
The study reviews these two museum educational publications.
Viktória Földi
Mosaic of Eger
The István Dobó Castle Museum has been welcoming its visitors in a unique environment of historic monuments as early as from the 1950s. The museum considers it as its basic task to maintain and to respect the special traditions of our national heritage, which is the keynote of our museum educational program as well. In order to meet today’s new challenges, we work out methods for a true-life and visitor-friendly educational program in cooperation with several institutions. This was the leading idea for elaborating a program of further education for pedagogues with the joint contribution of the Ministry for Education and Culture, the TIMPNET Workshop, the Mozaik Publishing House, the István Dobó Castle Museum and the educational institutions of Heves county (on the 8th December 2008).
The purpose of our program is to draw the schools’ attention to our museum and to work out adaptable program packages. 14 employees of 6 educational institutions in the region of Eger participated in our meeting. The program package ”Glorious school of valiant knights” started in 2003 and has been applied for the last 5 years in the course of 186 activities. We would like to increase the number of these activity programs. After having heard about the museum educational objectives and the existing program offer, the teachers received book gifts from the Mozaik Publishing House and they visited the exhibition History of the Eger Castle. They attended two museum lessons about the Castle’s history: Life in the border fortresses, Géza Gárdonyi and the Egri Csillagok (lit. The Stars of Eger though the English translation used the alternate title Eclipse of the Crescent Moon). The last organised program of the further education was a special guided tour in the exhibition of the castle’s history: Museum from nearby. When walking around in the exhibition, the museologues and the teachers collected ideas and suggested several subjects suitable for museum educational lessons. The teacher’s lesson plans are organically linked to the curriculum and provide insight into the relics of local history. The ideas expressed in the discussion are considered in the program of cooperation between museum and school. The jointly organised work’s condition is for the teacher to know the town’s local history and for the museum to know the National Educational Program. These basic conditions may be the foundation of a visitor-friendly museum education in our museum, which provides for visitors delightful experiences for a long time.
Sarolta Szabó
Mosaic of Nyírbátor
”Museum Mosaic – School-friendly Museum” is the title of the event for professionals, which took place on the 26th February 2009, jointly organised by the Museum István Báthori and the Mozaik Publishing House. The subject of the day was the museum educational activities launched in the institution and the discussion of further plans and ideas.
The program consisted of three parts. The museum’s expert spoke about the current museum lessons held in the Museum István Báthori and about the plans for the future. They started to hold museum lessons for the 1st– 4th classes of the primary school in October 2008. Every concerning class of every primary school in Nyírbátor participated already in the lessons, which is a sign of success. Later we would like to win over the upper classes of the primary schools and the students of the secondary schools to the cause of frequent visits in the museum. We composed for them lessons, which are linked to the curriculum of the subjects history and knowledge about the country, furthermore, they are based on the local plan of studies.
In the second part the representative of the Mozaik Publishing House spoke about the school books and other publications of the publishing house for the propagation of education.
Two museum lessons were presented to the pedagogues in the third part. Both were related to the subject history: Hungary’s history in the 16th century for two age groups, the 6th and the 10th classes. A 6th class attended one of the lessons, which was conducted by the museum’s war historian museologist. The special history lesson was based on the exhibition’s material from the 16th–17th century and its objects to recall the contacts between the town Nyírbátor and Gábor Báthory, to demonstrate the process of settling down the hajduks and to reveal the motives of this process. When the lesson was finished, the children were allowed to touch the ceremonial sword of the prince of Transylvania and they learned about the arms of that period by studying the original weapons.
The other lesson was held by the history teacher of one of the local secondary schools who is much engaged in museum matters. She treated the attempt to unify Hungary torn into three parts by talking of the Convention of Bátor in 1549 and she involved in the lesson the objects and documents displayed in the permanent exhibition. The lesson is linked to the curriculum of the 10th class. Information about the structure and the course of the lesson is attached.
Few participants attended the event for professionals; the audience came from Nyirbátor and from two villages nearby.
Still, as a welcomed reaction, the working community of the history teachers of primary schools in Nyírbátor invited me to get more information about the co-operation possibilities of the museum and the schools and wanted to know the suggestions of the Museum István Báthori, which museum lessons and thematic activities could be linked to which school subjects within the mentioned possibilities.
