Key Issues Facing Art Museums in the Context of Their Social Role
Sapfo Mortaki, Dr. Art Historian – Museologist

Abstract
This paper aims to highlight the major issues that art museums are facing nowadays in the context of their effort to become more accessible and to stabilize their social role. In the prologue the nature of art museums and their changing character is addressed, to continue to the nature of contemporary collecting, which is extremely important, as it defines their nature. Continuing, the accessibility of art museum’s collections is being discussed by using examples from the British art museum’s reality. The social role of the museums and their impact on people’s lives is extremely stressed, along with their need to create a great visitor experience, as museums have become public spaces and platforms for stimulating critical thinking. Art museums constitute a sensitive category of museums, it is not long ago that they were considered as extremely elitist, so therefore their relation to the public should be considered.

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