Entitled "The Role of Emotions in Museum and Cultural Experiences", the 3rd International Conference on Audience Research and Development - Connected Audience Conference will be held at the Kulturforum of Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany, on 4-6 April 2019. The event is organised by the KulturAgenda Institute for Museums, Cultural Enterprises and Audiences, the Institute for Learning and Innovation and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.

Background

Emotions are core aspects of human behaviour which have an impact on learning and the development of memories. They are influenced by social factors and can help shape connections which are hugely important for cultural institutions and their audience development activities. In the past museum experiences were too much focused on the intellectual and logical transmission of knowledge - however, research shows that emotions are key to visitor engagement. So what can museums and other cultural institutions do to be more effective in meeting individual visitor needs and connect to their local communities? Can we design better cultural and museums experiences by knowing more about the impact of emotions and the whole complexity of arousing emotional responses?

Conference format and themes

In a series of presentations, small group workshops and panel discussions the conference will discuss with emotion specialists, academics, museum professionals and professionals from other cultural institutions the challenges faced in generating exhibitions and developing audience-focused organisations that talk to the many and what role emotions play in all this. Participants will have the opportunity to both contribute and learn about topics such as:

• Creating awe, wonder and empathy in museum and cultural experiences. This strand explores how exhibition design and narration/interpretation (or scenography) use (or arouse) emotions in order to create more engaging experiences.
• The role of emotions in visitor engagement and visitor satisfaction. This strand explores the role emotions play in museum education and what kind of impact they have on learning and visitor satisfaction.
• Emotion as the driver of decision-making and its potential for programming and marketing. This strand is all about decision making – why do people come to museums? But also: How can we create messages so that they speak to the a wider public but also meeting individual needs?

Furthermore, organisers are keen to make audience research and development a key component of museums work and want to showcase good practice, discuss new research findings and connect theory and research with practical work on the ground.

Further information

For additional information about the Connected Audience Conference 2019, and for registration, please visit https://www.kulturagenda.at/connected-audience-conference-2019/