Are 18-year-olds not going to the museum? Cost has nothing to do with it: they simply don't find it interesting

There is a myth that has long hovered around our museums and that seems to be rather difficult to eradicate: that of young people not visiting art venues because they would consider it an expensive activity. A conviction that has perhaps even caught on with the minister of cultural heritage Bonisoli who, to the cry of “let’s make the hunger for culture grow in young people,” has come up with an access ticket of only two euros for young people in the 18-25 age group. Certainly, a very interesting initiative: expanding opportunities to visit is always good, and if the 2 euro ticket succeeds in becoming a spur for many young people, everyone will have to recognize the goodness of the result. But, wanting to analyze the matter more deeply, can we say that there is a relationship between the low propensity of young people to visit museums and the cost of access? In other words, and to use the minister’s own expressions: are we sure that young people’s lack of appetite stems from the fact that tickets are too expensive?

Meanwhile, a preliminary consideration: contrary to what the 5 Star Movement claimed in a Facebook post last September 13 on its official page, it is not at all true that with the previous government visitors between the ages of 18 and 25 were accessing museums “at full price.” Young people in that age group benefit from a 50 percent reduction on the entrance fee to all state museums: this is a measure introduced twenty-two years ago, with Ministerial Decree 507 of December 11, 1997, when the minister of cultural heritage was Walter Veltroni. In what terms does this reduction actually translate? Calculating the ticket prices of the top 15 most visited state museums in Italy (excluding the Reggia di Venaria Reale and the Egyptian Museum in Turin, which have special governance ), it results in an average saving of 5 euros per museum: it means that a 20-year-old boy who visits one museum a month (while moving up and down all over Italy), ends up saving sixty euros a year. Wanting instead to limit the analysis to individual cities and assuming a young person under the age of twenty-five who intends to visit the five most popular museums in his or her city, the result would be an average saving of 6.2 euros in Rome, 2.5 euros in Naples, and 6.6 euros in Florence. In essence, the measure to be introduced by Bonisoli will allow many young people to be left with some extra money in their pockets: but it is obvious that, of the savings, those who frequent the most museums will benefit most. In short: more than a measure to bring people closer to museums, it seems to be an incentive to retain the young people who already visit them. And, of course, any measure to increase participation must be welcomed: however, if we think about the effects it will have on new audiences, there is a serious risk that these may be little more than nil.

Young and old visiting Room XXX of the Brera Art Gallery, Milan.

In fact, one of the main barriers between young people and museums is not the cost of the admission ticket, but is disinterest: Istat data certify this. The latest surveys, referring to 2016, first of all show that, in the age group affected by the 2-euro ticket, the percentage of 18- and 19-year-olds who have never visited a museum during the year amounts to 53.6 percent, while it rises to 64.8 percent for 20-24-year-olds (a 10 percent increase that, of course, stems from the fact that 20- to 24-year-olds no longer take advantage of school trips to visit museums), and conversely, the percentages of those who visit at least four museums per year are just over 7 percent for both groups (8.4 percent for the former and 7.2 percent for the latter with, respectively, 0.8 percent and 0.5 percent visiting at least one per month). Moving on to investigate the reasons why young people do not visit museums, we find that only 8.1 percent of 18-19 year olds and 8.3 percent of 20-24 year olds have never visited a museum because the ticket is considered expensive.

Prices, in short, for 92 out of 100 teens are not the main problem. The vast majority (48% of 18-19 year olds and 45% of 20-24 year olds) do not go to a museum simply because they are not interested. These are percentages that taper off in the higher age groups: among 25-34 year olds, the disinterested are 42.6 percent, while it drops to 40.8 percent for 35-44 year olds and 39 percent (with only a few decimal places of difference between one group and another) for 45-54 year olds, 55-59 year olds, and 60-64 year olds. And if desired, the percentage of teens who do not find museums interesting could be extended by adding the respective 11.2% and 6.4% who consider museums boring. In short, it is clear that, for one in two young people, the problem is another: the lack of attractiveness of museums. Which at best do not interest them, and in some cases are even considered a possible source of an unpleasant experience. It comes naturally to emphasize that the size of the phenomenon is definitely relevant, but as important as it is, it is also greatly underestimated: therefore, it would be necessary to discuss communication rather than ticket prices, since the percentages speak for themselves. If we discuss the growth of the “hunger for culture” or, more prosaically, how to find ways to lower the percentage of young people who do not enter museums, the result is that investments in communication would be aimed at an audience that affects more than 50 percent of the total number of young people, while if we discuss access tickets, we are imagining measures that focus on only 8 percent.

There is little to add: the “hunger for culture” is stimulated by moving the interest of young people, and proposing discounts is useful but insufficient. If anything, it is essential to modernize the image of our museums, it is necessary to understand how young people between 18 and 25 years old spend their time (also in light of the fact that 17.9% and 24.3% prefer other ways of spending time than visiting the museum) in order to understand how it is possible to make museums enter more extensively and presently into the lives of young people, specific communication and awareness campaigns are urgently needed, which are, however, based on in-depth studies of the target audience. In essence, it is on a totally different level that action needs to be taken, and it is with policies that are unprecedented at the moment that young people need to be addressed. And so far very little has been said about these issues, or done so without having an articulate understanding of the roots of the issue.

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