New York (AFP)
Forced to be imaginative with the pandemic, a growing number of museums are offering paid virtual tours, a new source of income of still uncertain magnitude.
Interactive walks, video games, podcasts: since the start of the pandemic, museums have been competing for initiatives to mitigate the effects of closures, openings with reduced capacity, or the apprehension of visitors worried about contamination.
This offer was initially free, but some institutions are now daring to pay.
Since January, Graceland, the home of the late singer Elvis Presley, has been offering guided tours by specialist Angie Marchese.
For 100 dollars per head, she will make you discover the secrets of the place for two hours.
Some 300 people - the maximum expected - flocked for each of the first two virtual tours, which included the must-see but also objects and anecdotes specially chosen according to the questions of the audience.
At the end of December, Barbara Brown-Abolafia and students from Bergen Community College, a small public university in New Jersey, took the virtual route to the famous Met, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, for a discovery of the exhibition "A New Look at Old Masters "on the old masters of painting.
This time, the guide did not roam the museum, as in Graceland, the Met saying it was constrained by the health measures linked to Covid-19.
"It was a format with visuals, so it looked more like a class," recalls Barbara Brown-Abolafia.
But the quality of the presentation, the personalization and the interactive character, with questions answered, have made it possible to compensate, according to this English teacher, who knows the famous New York museum well.
"Is it the same as being inside the Met? No, sure. But it was intellectually stimulating," she said.
Before this paid visit, the one who is also a guidance counselor had explained the profile of her students to the guide.
"She adapted, by not going too far, but without over-simplifying either (...) It was so interesting that we exceeded 20 minutes the hour", says Ms. Brown- Abolafia.
- "Something unique" -
The Met embarked on paid tours in June and, between July and December, conducted 116 virtual tours, for more than 2,800 visitors in total.
Price: $ 300 per group of 40 adults maximum, $ 200 for students.
In addition to adults, the Met also hosted, by interposed screen, nearly 4,000 schoolchildren between July and December, including foreign students.
And demand is growing, the institution told AFP.
Other New York museums, such as the Guggenheim, the Frick Collection, or even that of September 11, have also invested in offers of paid visits.
On the other hand, the Parisian Louvre, the most visited museum in the world in 2019, has not yet started.
But the subject is "in reflection", according to a spokesperson.
The Louis-Vuitton Foundation in Paris recently offered a paying "live micro-visit" of its exhibition dedicated to Cindy Sherman, while in London, the Design Museum allows you to browse its exhibition on electronic music for 7 pounds per person.
Besides the museums themselves, private operators, sites or travel agencies have added their own personalized virtual tours to their catalog.
Will this offer grow after the pandemic?
As encouraging as the first paid results are, the Metropolitan Museum says it is "important that the Met continue to provide free programming, for everyone."
With the coronavirus, Zoom, Teams and other videoconferences have completely become commonplace, underlines Michael Burns, design director of Quatrefoil Associates, an American firm specializing in the arrangement of exhibitions.
"The idea of experiencing something unique, the private side, I think that's something people are willing to pay for."
Even if nothing replaces direct, physical contact with a work, the potential of a virtual paid offer is significant in an increasingly globalized world, where the demand for culture continues to grow, according to him.
“Site visits will always be the core of our offering,” says Debbie Miller, marketing manager for Elvis Presley Enterprises, which manages the Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee.
But "we are aware that a lot of people cannot travel to Memphis," she said.
Demand is expected to "hold up once things get back to normal," she says, "as this provides a convenient and affordable way to bring Elvis fans around the world (virtually) to Graceland."
© 2021 AFP