This report offers an account of the evidence we have found of social impacts arising from participation in the arts, and of some of the methods used in the research. It is the first large-scale attempt, in the UK at least, to come to grips with these issues, and our intention has not been to give definitive answers but, as Brian Eno put it in a similar context, to ask the questions more clearly (Eno 1996: 14). If others, and especially those who work in the field, are encouraged to take forward this general study into more specific areas, it will have succeeded in its purpose. The study is
In this paper, Elena Pol and Mikel Asensio of the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid discuss their research about how visitors perceive different kinds of artistic representations and which elements they interpret from masterpieces. The authors provide an overview of their work in this area, including three studies about artistic style.
In this paper, Daryl Fischer of MUSYNERGY discusses the Denver Art Museum's use of "visitor panels" to generate substantive changes in new exhibits. These qualitative studies rely on input from panelists who are representative of the museum's target audience. Fischer provides an overview of how the Denver Art Museum used visitor panels in the reinstallation of the two ares of the museum's permanent collection.