Brooklyn Museum - Populist Directions

Populist Directions

Attendance at the Brooklyn Museum has been in decline in recent years, from a high "decades ago" of nearly one million visitors per years to more recent figures of 585,000 (1998) and 326,000 (2009).

The New York Times attributed this drop partially to the policies instituted by current director Arnold Lehman, who has chosen to focus museum energy on "populism", with exhibits on topics such as "Star Wars movies and hip-hop music" rather than on more classical art topics.

"The quality of their exhibitions has lessened", said Robert Storr, the dean of the Yale University School of Art and a Brooklynite. " ‘Star Wars’ shows the worst kind of populism. I don’t think they really understand where they are. The middle of the art world is now in Brooklyn; it's an increasingly sophisticated audience and always was one."

Lehman has also brought more controversial exhibits, such as a 1999 show that included Chris Ofili's infamous dung-decorated The Holy Virgin Mary, to the museum.

In contrast to sinking attendance numbers, however, Lehman points out that the demographics of museum attendees are showing a new level of diversity. According to the New York Times, "he average age was 35, a large portion of the visitors (40 percent) came from Brooklyn, and more than 40 percent identified themselves as people of color." Lehman asserts that the museum's interest is in being welcoming and attractive to all potential museum attendees, rather than simply amassing large numbers of them.