The waltz of turnstiles resumes. Attendance at most of the world’s major museums has started to rise again since last year, without however succeeding in erasing the great dead loss of visitors compared to the last pre-pandemic year.
The 100 largest museums in the world totaled 71 million visitors in 2021 compared to 54 million in 2020. In 2019, the same 100 large museums had attracted 230 million people, according to data collected and published at the end of March by the specialized publication Art Newspaper.
The Art Gallery of Ontario is the only Canadian museum to feature on this list. He arrives in 93and position with 321,664 visitors in 2021, an increase of 65% compared to the previous year.
The Quebec establishments consulted are following the same trend with a loss of visitors of around 30% last year compared to 2019. The drop hovered roughly around two-thirds in 2020.
The summer will show if the uptrend holds around domestic and outbound tourism dynamics. The 2021 high summer season had distinguished two phenomena linked to tourist fluctuations in Quebec: regional museums then benefited from the windfall of visitors from major centers, while the major museums of Montreal and Quebec (like those in the world rankings) suffered this effect on the contrary, negatively doubled by the weakness of foreign visitors.
“Domestic tourism saved the day last summer,” summarizes Stéphane Chagnon, director of the Société des musées du Québec (SMQ), who recalls that two regions (Bas-Saint-Laurent and Basse-Côte-Nord) even saw their summer attendances increase in 2021 more than in 2019. “We hope that Quebec tourism will further benefit regional museums and that tourists from outside Quebec and international tourists will return to major centers. »
The Pointe-à-Callière museum in Montreal recorded in the first quarter of 2022 “an encouraging increase” in its attendance compared to 2020-2021. “In the midst of the pandemic, we were welcoming around 30% of our 2019 clientele. Today, we have regained almost 60% of our 2019 attendance,” writes the To have to Nora Charifi, Communications Officer for the History and Archeology Museum. She adds that the years 2018 and 2019 were exceptional in terms of attendance for Pointe-à-Callière.
The establishment relies on VIKINGS. North Sea Dragons and on the return of foreign visitors to replenish at the turnstiles. “Given the lifting of restrictions for foreign travelers, we hope to find a tourist public that has been absent in recent years of the pandemic, explains Ms.me Charifi. Indeed, before the pandemic, 60% of our visitors were international visitors. So, we are excited for summer 2022! »
The Joliette Art Museum is just as optimistic. “With the resumption of activities at full capacity, we are confident that we will regain pre-pandemic cruising speed and even exceed it, says Julie Armstrong-Boileau, communications and marketing manager for the establishment. The demand is there. We just need to align our cultural offers with the needs of the public, which have evolved since the pandemic, and with the recovery, which is causing a proliferation of offers and therefore often more niche offers. »
Eighty-six lost years
The pandemic was no less lethal last year than in 2020: there were in fact more deaths than in the first year of the health crisis. In general, however, museums have remained open longer in 2021 and the sector, like its clientele, has learned to endure the inevitable. More than a quarter (28%) of global survey respondents still lost visitors in 2021 compared to 2020.
During those two unfortunate years, the 300 museums that responded to the global survey were closed for 31,000 days, the equivalent of 86 years. On average, each establishment remained inaccessible for 106 days in 2021, compared to 145 in 2020. The Montreal Science Center was closed for six months in 2020 and eight months in 2021.
As in many other sectors, these years of crisis have also shaken certain habits and forced changes.
“We created vernissages that only had a vernissage in name, that is to say that in compliance with health standards, we welcomed the public and artists during exhibition launch days, but with reservations for time-stamped visits in order to respect the distance and the limit of capacity (and the speeches rather took the form of words printed and delivered on arrival), explains the spokesperson for the Musée d’art de Joliette. These events sent a strong signal that, even by ensuring health security, it was possible to resume visiting cultural places. »
The establishment launched the Museum in Quarantine initiative in March 2020. The participatory platform (still active) invites the community to create works according to a monthly theme. “This platform is also a laboratory that allows us to test different ways of connecting audiences, artists and museum professionals,” explains Ms.me Armstrong-Boileau adding that Museum in Quarantine made it possible to create the first podcast of his museum.
The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (MNBAQ) has been closed for 275 days since March 2020. The recovery is coming, but with persistent precautions. “We feel a certain caution among our visitors since the fifth wave , notes Linda Tremblay, head of press relations for the establishment. They continue to visit our museum, but their visit is spread over time, either throughout the duration of a new exhibition or even over longer hours in the same day, for example. […] The habits of our visitors are still influenced by the pandemic. »
The Near Abroad
The advantage of the particular attention paid to local customers is confirmed everywhere. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, United States, received 411,000 people in 2021, 58% more than in 2020 and just 19% less than in 2019. This impressive achievement in the very difficult context is explained by the establishment’s low dependence on international tourism and an energetic attendance policy which includes opening the rooms every day of the year (yes, including Christmas and New Year’s Day) which was maintained in 2021, with free admission and programming based on proven values, including an exhibition on the treasures of ancient Egypt (Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities).
The director of the SMQ predicts that this concern for local or regional visitors will characterize museology in the coming years. “Museums can no longer neglect close audiences,” says Mr. Chagnon. Quebec audiences saved the day for Quebec museums. They must not be lost sight of. »
The sector will also come to terms with a significant reduction in international collaborations. The museology of this summer and the coming years could make less room for blockbusters summer seasons and favor a return to national or near-abroad collections.
“The situation has changed,” says the director of the SMQ. Borrowing abroad, which requires international agreements, transport and insurance costs that are now exorbitant, affects the model that relies on mass attendance to make significant investments profitable. We are moving towards exhibitions that highlight the treasures of our national collections or borrow from a more North-South axis than East-West. »
The MNBAQ is going with a mixed proposal for the future pending the creation of the new Espace Riopelle in 2025. This summer, the exhibition America. Between dreams and realities offers a look at American creativity since 1920, with more than 80 artists and more than a hundred partly borrowed works.
“The expo should appeal to both our members, passing visitors and the tourist clientele, which will certainly be on the rise this summer with the reopening of the borders”, predicts Mme Tremblay. In the fall, the exhibition Evergona retrospective dedicated to a Canadian icon, “should bring a different clientele to the MNBAQ,” adds the spokesperson, since the works collected address very current themes, including cultural, bodily and identity diversity.