The Future of the Museum in the twenty-first century: recent clues from France

The vast majority of public funded museums are suffering severe and continuous declining resources. But we can wonder whether the economic crisis explanation is the sole credible culprit or if the current situation reveals a more fundamental disequilibrium. The traditional tripartite basis of the museum – the collection itself, its educational function, and the professionalisation of competences – is increasingly destabilised, and an increasing number of museums are asked to become ‘cultural centres' and social capital producers. Considering the recent evolution of French museums, we describe three main economic models that can sometimes overlap. The ‘Branding Museum': in this case museums are increasingly looking for new kinds of income-generating activities, such as the merchandising of by-products, publication of written or audio-visual materials, research and consulting services offering, and more broadly, exploiting their intellectual property rights. The ‘Event-driven museum': such museums organise cultural events, exhibitions, concerts, conferences, and so on in the hope of attracting both faithful and new visitors, and thus remaining financially sustainable. The ‘Empowering local community museum': resource-poor in tourism and funding, such museums are seen at best as public spaces for local meetings and debates, or as hosting places for art events of purely local interest, on the increasing basis of voluntary work.