How should the "City of Museums" be built
【Hot Spot Observation】
Our country's history of more than 5,000 years has accumulated rich cultural heritage.
Many historical and cultural cities have unique resource endowments.
With the rapid development of the national economy and the continuous improvement of people's material life, people's demand for spiritual culture is becoming stronger and stronger.
As an institution that preserves and displays natural history specimens, material and spiritual cultural treasures, museums play an important role in meeting people's spiritual and cultural needs.
The "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Reform and Development of Museums" issued by nine ministries and commissions including the Central Propaganda Department, National Development and Reform Commission, and Ministry of Education proposes to actively integrate the museum business into the overall national economic and social development and explore the construction of a "museum city" in areas with abundant cultural resources. ""Museum Town" and other cluster settlements.
Beijing, Xi'an, Datong, Nanjing and other historical and cultural cities have started the construction of "Museum City".
Pay attention to people's feelings and needs
Culture is the soul of a country and a nation, and it is the soft thing that touches people's hearts most.
Each city also has its own unique culture.
The museum is not only a container of urban history, but also a carrier of urban spirit and culture, highlighting the cultural taste of the city.
Economic development is the foundation for the prosperity of the museum industry.
Since the reform and opening up, with the accumulation of wealth and technological progress, new cultural relics, new cultural museums, new cultural tourism, new cultural education and other businesses have developed vigorously, and related concepts, categories, connotations, and extensions are constantly changing and innovating.
People’s understanding of the boundaries of museums has been greatly expanded, which is reflected in: from focusing on the scarcity and value of historical “things” to focusing on the feelings and needs of people in current life; expanding from a fixed museum building space To museums, including the witnesses of human activities and the natural environment, as well as the all-round vision of linear, planar, and space; the museum becomes a way of thinking for people to insight and perceive the world and future development from a multidisciplinary and open perspective The exhibitions of the museum not only involve intuitive dimensions such as art and aesthetics, but also a materialized embodiment of the integration of concepts such as sociology, anthropology, and management.
In the construction of the "Museum City", it is necessary to coordinate the three aspects of ruins, heritage and relics, and organically unify the protection of tangible cultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage, physical cultural heritage and living cultural heritage.
In other words, we should not only protect old houses and buildings, but also the characteristic living conditions of local people should be an important part of the construction of the "Museum City".
Take Beijing as an example. The entire old city of Beijing can be seen as a huge open-air museum that blends ancient and modern, humanities and nature. Therefore, when Beijing is building a "City of Museums", it must consider the ancient buildings in Beijing’s old city as a whole. , Modern facilities, people’s lives, etc.
In a nutshell, museums are accompanied by the local temperament and characteristics. The definition and scope of museums are becoming broader and more diverse, and the degree of tolerance is getting higher and higher.
The activities of the museum involve value orientation and academic thinking, and need to be guided by the core socialist values, highlighting the attributes of public welfare and social benefits.
"Soft power" is more important than "hard indicators"
In the construction of the "City of Museums", although the "hard indicators" of the number of museums and the exhibition area are very important, the "soft power" is more important than the "hard indicators".
In the construction of "Museum City", it is necessary to reflect the concept of museum collection history, witness the present, and reveal the future. It is necessary to highlight traditional culture, but also to demonstrate the modern urban fashion characteristics that young people love in an innovative way, so that young people are willing to approach And walk into the museum.
For traditional museums, they should not be alone in admiration but should go to the public, and it is best to go straight to the daily lives of ordinary people.
The key to judging whether a museum is good or not depends on whether it has established and improved a public participation mechanism and whether it can attract a large number of repeat customers.
The museum is also a carrier of humanistic feelings and a platform for people to dialogue with history.
People feel the past, think about the present, and look forward to the future in the museum. The appeal that reaches the hearts of the people is the most precious soft power of the museum.
Therefore, judging whether a museum is good or not depends on whether it can have an impact and a profound impact on the audience's values.
Currently, the number of museums across the country is rapidly increasing.
In the construction of the "City of Museums", while making increments, it is also necessary to improve the quality and efficiency of the stock, that is, under the premise of respecting history and nature, the existing museums should be refined and optimized, and the service efficiency and services should be continuously improved. Quality, enhance professionalism and attractiveness.
A good museum can become a beautiful business card of a city, and can enhance the city's popularity, attractiveness and influence.
Museums around the world are rethinking their roles and positioning to better integrate into the local social and economic life.
Therefore, evaluating museums should look beyond the museum to see the museum, that is, not only look at the museum itself, but also look at the comprehensive empowerment of the museum to the entire city and community.
Establish a donation and feedback mechanism for museums
The construction and maintenance of the "City of Museums" requires a large amount of sustainable funding. The government alone is not enough. It is necessary to mobilize all sectors of society to participate.
In the past ten years, private museums and art galleries have grown rapidly. In many places, the development speed of private museums far exceeds that of state-owned museums.
The construction of the "City of Museums" should give full play to the role of civil forces.
In the author's opinion, it is imperative to establish a donation and feedback mechanism for museums.
Both museums and art galleries are non-profit institutions registered in accordance with the law and open to the public.
According to regulations, those who set up museums/art galleries in accordance with the law or provide donations to them will enjoy tax incentives in accordance with relevant national regulations.
At present, this regulation is relatively general, so it is necessary to further implement the "Charity Law" and introduce detailed rules for the implementation of tax incentives for cultural relics and art donations.
Social institutions and individuals donate cultural relics and artworks to non-profit organizations, and enjoy tax incentives and social reputation incentive mechanisms, which are conducive to encouraging private forces to continue to support and participate in museum construction.
Judging from the successful practice abroad, the tax incentive mechanism is an important measure to promote the vigorous development of the museum industry. It is more efficient than government direct subsidies, has a more lasting motivation, and has a wider range of influence.
In 2009, the "Interim Regulations on Tax Exemption for Imported Collections of State-owned Public Welfare Collection Units" jointly formulated by the Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Taxation, and the General Administration of Customs stated that state-owned public welfare collection units are for the purpose of engaging in public welfare activities such as permanent collection, display, and research, and accept Collections imported by means of donation, return, recourse and purchase are exempt from import link tax.
The beneficiaries of the above regulations are mainly state-owned public welfare collection units. The author recommends that non-state-owned institutions be given equal treatment. The specific suggestions are as follows: (1) Imported cultural relics and artworks are used for museum donation, collection, display and research, etc., which is important for improving the society's aesthetic education. The level is of positive significance and can be regarded as a public interest purpose. It is recommended that such cultural relics and artworks be exempted from import duties, value-added taxes and postal taxes; (2) The scope of the exemption of import tax policies is not limited to Chinese cultural relics and artworks. It also includes overseas cultural relics and artworks for the purpose of public welfare, so as to encourage more overseas high-quality cultural relics and artworks to enter our country, promote civilized exchanges and mutual learning, and enhance the internationalization of China's museum industry; (3) Cultural relics and artworks should be registered, filed and tracked, and data resources should be accumulated with the help of scientific and technological means to provide a basis for the formulation of subsequent policies.
In addition, we should also learn from the mature experience of foreign countries, and clarify the relationship between government departments, public welfare organizations, charitable organizations, foundations, enterprises, donors and museums, as well as their respective behavior boundaries during museum construction.
Promote market-oriented reform of public services
Although the museum is a non-profit organization, the operation of the museum still requires a strong market-oriented thinking.
Museums need to pay attention to market needs and preferences, explore and present the value of collections with modern concepts, promote the cross-border integration of museums with funds and resources in the fields of technology, tourism, education, media, design, and fashion, and hold a variety of activities to attract more Many people walked into the museum.
Stimulating the vitality of the museum is very important for the sustainable development of the museum industry.
To this end, the author makes the following suggestions: (1) Promote the modernization of the museum governance system and governance capabilities, encourage social capital to support the development of the museum in the form of direct donations, establishment of foundations, etc., and promote the gradual transformation of the museum into a donor and audience-centered , To form a new governance structure with a strong hematopoietic mechanism; (2) Encourage museums to operate in a market-oriented and project-based manner. For example, social funds can be introduced to jointly plan high-quality immersive, experiential and participatory projects, and through sales Tickets, derivatives, and other methods to obtain income, risk sharing, and revenue sharing; (3) Drawing on the successful experience of foreign countries, some museums with better cash flow can issue special bonds for special restoration or special activities of museums; (4) Utilization The Internet, big data, blockchain, artificial intelligence and other high-tech technologies have launched cloud exhibitions, cloud live broadcasts, and cloud forums that people love to hear, making the museum a "second classroom" for college, middle, and elementary school students, and expanding the content of museum exhibitions and activities Communication power and influence.
(Author: Huang Jun, Associate Dean and Professor of the School of Applied Economics, Renmin University of China. This article is a major project of the National Social Science Foundation of China "Research on the Development of Chinese Art Market" [20ZD07] Phased Achievement)