Getty Launches Global Initiative to Advance Museum Interpretation Practices

Getty announced today the launch of “New Interpretations,” a grant initiative to strengthen visitor-centered approaches to the interpretation of artwork at museums worldwide. For its pilot round of grants, Getty has awarded $2.7 million for 11 projects at museums and arts organizations that will prioritize and deepen connections between audiences and artworks.

The most familiar examples of museum interpretation are gallery handouts or wall text, but more expansive practices range from creating multisensory experiences and interactive displays to partnering with artists and community members on the presentation of complex or challenging subject matter. Getty’s initiative will support this work at various scales, with an emphasis on experimentation, visitor research and evaluation to help institutions learn from each other.

“Museums play a vital role in helping people explore the resonance and complexity of our shared world history and of our present moment,” said Heather E. MacDonald, senior program officer at the Getty Foundation. “These dynamic projects reaffirm the importance of museums as trusted public institutions and will help visitors access the multitude of meanings that art objects can hold.”

Grantees include Walker Art Center; Queens Museum; Leeum Museum of Art, in partnership with M+; Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester; Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; Fowler Museum at UCLA; First Americans Museum; Denver Art Museum; Baltimore Museum of Art; the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and the Association for Art Museum Interpretation.

Museums will focus on a diverse range of topics and outcomes, including several projects focused on language access. Walker Art Center will develop new models for providing interpretation in languages commonly spoken in Minneapolis, including Spanish, Hmong and Somali, to investigate how language shapes access and belonging in contemporary art institutions. The Australian Centre for the Moving Image will advance work on their recently piloted captioning technology for time-based artworks, improving accessibility for multilingual and hearing-impaired audiences. Getty’s grant will help them refine and share the software with galleries and museums of all sizes.

“Multilingual access is especially complex for time-based media, and ACMI’s long-standing visitor-centered practice, collections and staff expertise put us in a good position to help the wider museum sector adopt and implement new forms of access,” said Seb Chan, director and CEO of the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI). “Getty’s initiative will help share expertise, tools and practice-based research to institutions worldwide at a moment when new models are needed to meet the growing diversity of museum visitors and ever-changing artistic practices.”

Community engagement and visitor surveys are also key approaches for projects. Oklahoma City’s First Americans Museum, which has long grounded their exhibition and programming strategies in Indigenous knowledge and authority, will prepare insights to share with other museums that care for and exhibit Indigenous heritage. Their grant also supports a fellow who will conduct visitor surveys, with a special focus on Native audiences. Results will shape plans for an upcoming exhibition tied to the bicentennial of the Indian Removal Act, presenting historical and contemporary perspectives on the topic.

As museums navigate a rapidly changing landscape shaped by AI, emerging technologies and social isolation, Denver Art Museum will consult visitors through onsite surveys and visitor panels on how to preserve “humanness” in museum experiences. Results will be compiled in a report, along with guidance for museums interested in performing similar visitor evaluations.

Several projects will build museum capacity for visitor-centered practices at a global scale. Leeum Museum of Art, in partnership with M+, will hold convenings in Seoul and Hong Kong to build upon a growing professional network for museum interpretation and audience engagement across Asia. The U.S.-based Association for Art Museum Interpretation will conduct a field-wide study to assess current practices, trends and methodologies for interpretation programs at art museums across North America, Western Europe and East Asia. Results will inform emerging needs and identify gaps in professional and institutional support.

“We are grateful for Getty’s visionary support, which will make possible a comprehensive State of the Field survey on art museum interpretation,” said Gamynne Guillotte, Leanne and George Roberts chief education and community engagement officer at SFMOMA and president of the board of the Association of Art Museum Interpretation. "This is a defining moment for our emerging discipline, and this critical research will provide art museum interpreters, leaders and funders with the insights they need to strengthen the profession and shape the sector for years to come."

Since 1986, Getty has supported projects to advance collection interpretation and audience research, including influential reinstallation projects at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and more.

New Interpretations grants are awarded on an annual basis and are open to museums and visual arts non-profits worldwide of all sizes and types, but with a focus on visual artworks. Learn more about the 11 grant projects.