Should the government provide financial support for art galleries?

A few days ago, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued an opinion, clarifying that all national and provincial art galleries will be open to the public free of charge before the end of 201/kloc-0. Before the end of 20 12, all art galleries at all levels will be open to the public free of charge, which is undoubtedly an important measure to promote the construction of public cultural service system in China. While all walks of life are cheering for this, in order to make this policy better implemented, our reporter conducted an investigation and interview on this. The pace of free opening varies from museum to museum. The reporter learned in the interview that due to the different actual conditions of various art galleries, the degree of free opening at present is also different. As a national art museum, China Art Museum still needs to purchase tickets for most exhibitions. In recent years, China Art Museum is gradually expanding its free range. The recent "50 Years Donation Exhibition of China Art Museum" is a "free" art feast, which attracted more than 70,000 visitors during the Spring Festival. The queue waiting for the exhibition has been extended to the outside of the gate, and the scene is very hot. While selling tickets, the Art Museum of Beijing Academy of Painting gradually expanded its free audience by issuing a large number of VIP cards and holding free activities. "Our goal is to get people who really like art close to art." Wu Hongliang, president of Beijing Academy of Fine Arts, said. Some provincial and municipal art galleries and art galleries have been opened free of charge. Shortly after the opening of Hubei Art Museum, the policy of free opening was officially implemented, and Liu Haisu Art Museum, Shaanxi Art Museum, Shenzhen Art Museum, Zhejiang Art Museum and other provincial and municipal art museums were opened free of charge. Shenzhen Art Museum is one of the first free art museums in China in 2005. According to the staff of the museum, although it is free to open, there are still too few visitors to the museum in the past two years because of the fast pace of life of Shenzhen citizens and their lack of enthusiasm for exhibitions. The situation in Shenzhen Guan Shanyue Art Museum is similar. According to Lv Kun, secretary-general of China Painting and Calligraphy Masters Association and former director of Pan Tianshou Memorial Hall, most of the member libraries of China Painting and Calligraphy Masters Association have been opened to the public for free, such as Wu Changshuo, Xu Beihong, Pan Tianshou, Qi Baishi, Huang, Zhang Daqian, Fu Baoshi, Li Keran, Sha Menghai, Wu and Guo. The reporter noticed that the free degree of art galleries in different regions and at different levels is different. According to Chen Lvsheng, an art critic, the main reason lies in the imbalance of economic and cultural development in China and the differences among art galleries at all levels, so it is wise to gradually open free of charge. Tickets are gone, is there less money? After the free opening, the first challenge is to reduce the funds for the balanced allocation of art galleries and even self-financing art galleries. Take Shanghai Art Museum as an example. It is the unit of balance distribution. At present, the tickets are from 20 yuan. If 300,000 people buy tickets every year, they can earn millions of yuan. The loss of ticket revenue will be a great test for the operation of Shanghai Art Museum. Guangdong Art Museum has always been famous for its high-grade exhibitions in the industry. At present, tickets for Guangdong Art Museum 15 yuan, group student tickets for 7 yuan, and people over 65 are free. Luo Yiping, director of Guangdong Art Museum, said: "Ticket revenue is indeed the main source of funds for the daily operation of the Art Museum. "At present, the national finance provides the Guangdong Art Museum with a special publication and exhibition fund of 6.5438+0.5 million yuan every year, which is often spent after holding important exhibitions, and the ticket income has always been regarded as a supplement. However, he believes that the relevant state departments and the Provincial Department of Culture will definitely introduce corresponding measures to make up for it. " Free opening will not affect the exhibition level. "Luo Yiping said that, by contrast, many foreign art galleries are supported and operated by foundations and consortia. For example, the Rockefeller Foundation has supported many museums and art galleries in the United States, but a similar system has not yet been formed in China. At present, Guangdong Art Museum can apply for special funds from the government when holding some high-end and large-scale art exhibitions, hoping to try to absorb social funds in the future. " In the long run, this is an important measure to popularize culture and art education. However, the art museum is not only a place to display art works, but also a place to study, collect and popularize art education. The operation and development of art galleries need financial support. After free, it is not enough to rely solely on government funding. "Shao Dazhen, a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, is worried that some art galleries will be in trouble for free. He suggested that the state introduce supporting policies, mobilize social forces and encourage individuals and enterprises to invest in the construction of art galleries. For example, enterprises that give financial support to art galleries can be given tax care. This has been a very successful experience abroad for reference. What Lv Kun is worried about is whether the funds allocated by the state to run museums can be truly implemented. " The sources of funding subsidies for some art galleries are not clear. Is it the central government or the province, or the cities and counties? Some cities and counties are relatively poor and their financial revenues are not ideal, which will undoubtedly affect the survival and development of local art galleries. "He suggested that the funds should be earmarked and the procedures should be simple and clear to prevent the geese from plucking. How to manage the surge in people? Wonderful exhibitions and the lure of "free" will surely attract more visitors to the art museum. "Free is good, but if anyone can get in and out of the art gallery, will the environment become crowded and noisy? Can I still enjoy art quietly? "Art lover Xiao Liu spoke out the voices of many audiences. Before the free opening, most of the people who walked into the art museum were professional visitors and art lovers. After free opening, anyone can enter the art hall, and the surge of people will inevitably bring many problems in public management. In 2008, Fujian Provincial Museum opened for free on a trial basis, and received nearly 80,000 visitors in seven days, with the average daily number of visitors soaring 100, resulting in some items in the museum being damaged. This is just a microcosm of the museum's early free opening. " How should the art museum be managed for people who enter the art museum for different purposes? A large number of visitors will inevitably affect the viewing environment, and it is also a test of the management level of the museum and the carrying capacity of the museum hardware facilities. "Chen Lvsheng said. At present, the Art Museum of Beijing Academy of Painting has an exhibition area of only 4,600 square meters, and the lobby on the first floor is only over 200 square meters. At present, the museum focuses on the exhibition of Qi Baishi's works, which is similar to an art museum. Qi Baishi's exhibits are priceless and need constant temperature and humidity. Too many people go in and out of the exhibition hall. Not only is the humidity and temperature in the hall difficult to control, but too much carbon dioxide will also corrode the picture and affect the protection of the collection. "Wu Hongliang said. In order to ensure the safety of exhibits and personal safety, the workload of managers will increase greatly. "There must be new ways to solve new problems. For example, due to the sharp increase in the flow of people, the carbon dioxide produced will be corrosive to paintings and calligraphy works, and effective measures must be taken. Masterpieces of calligraphy and painting can't be damaged in our generation, and we should be responsible for future generations. As for anti-theft and fire prevention, it is even more foolproof. "Lu Wei said. Liang Jiang, deputy director of China Art Museum, told the reporter that in order to ensure the visitors' visiting effect, the "50 Years Donation Exhibition of China Art Museum" adopted a combination of online booking and on-site ticket collection during the Spring Festival, which effectively controlled the total number of daily visitors. After being completely free in the near future, China Art Museum will launch a new service scheme to control the flow of the exhibition hall through the real-time monitoring system of the number of visitors to ensure the safety of the visit. For an art museum like Shanghai Art Museum, which is a state-level cultural relic protection building, it is undoubtedly a severe test to ensure the safety of the building itself and the exhibition works. Uneven public quality is a hidden worry. During the interview, many museum managers and experts mentioned public quality. They are worried about not only the surge of people, but also the quality of some viewers. For various reasons, art education has been lacking for a long time in China. Many people simply don't know how to appreciate works of art, respect the artist's work and understand the basic rules of exhibition viewing. "In summer, people who come to the art gallery to enjoy air conditioning benefits will you let him in? Someone came in wearing a shorts vest and waved a fan. What would you do? There is a bathroom in the art gallery. Some people come in just to go to the bathroom. What do you do? Issues such as this are issues that managers must consider. " Chen Lvsheng said. In this regard, Wu Hongliang felt the same way: "The Art Museum of Beijing Painting Academy is located in a residential area. The museum has air conditioning and free drinking water. After the free opening, if some people don't come to see the paintings, they will regard the art museum as a cool and relaxing place, which will affect the mood of the audience. " "I once went to an art exhibition with a boss who drives a Mercedes. The boss is worth hundreds of millions, but he refuses to buy a ticket at the gate of the art museum. Instead, he called an acquaintance at the art museum and asked for free tickets. In fact, a ticket is only 10 yuan. " Printmaker Ying Tianqi said, "In my opinion, this boss doesn't really like art.. At least he didn't respect the artist's work and the work of the gallery staff. Seeing the exhibition seems to give face to galleries and artists. "The quality of some art lovers also needs to be improved. The reporter once saw that in the art museum, some visitors ignored the "safety line" set by the staff, watched and even touched the paintings at close range. Someone is making a loud noise in the art gallery, which affects others' viewing of the exhibition. In order to protect the rights and interests of exhibits and artists, many art exhibitions are not allowed to take photos, but some viewers still secretly "sneak shots" after repeated reminders from the staff. As we all know, "free" really benefits the public. At present, most art galleries not only have to buy tickets to see exhibitions, but also have to pay venue fees for artists to hold exhibitions in art galleries. The wool is on the sheep, but the "wool" on the audience can't be pulled out. Will the artist's exhibition fee go up? Wu Lintian, an art critic, said: "The charge for holding exhibitions in art galleries means that rich painters can show their works regardless of the quality of their paintings, and show inferior art to the public for free, which is tantamount to misleading the public's aesthetics." Chen Lvsheng believes that running an art gallery well is for the public, and free admission is also for the public. How to increase the number of visitors without reducing the quality of service is also a key issue for the art museum. Fu Zhongwang, director of Hubei Art Museum, said that the museum has a set of mature systems and measures for public services. "According to different exhibitions, we will assign lecturers, distribute exhibition brochures, provide audio guidance equipment, and set up an audience guest book in the exhibition hall to listen carefully to the opinions of the audience and correct them in time." Fan Dian told reporters that the China Art Museum will continue to increase its services to the audience, including improving the exhibition level, providing tour guide services in important exhibitions, and holding expert lectures, artistic practice and other forms of public education for primary and secondary school students. "The Beijing Academy of Fine Arts is studying new policies. We will learn from the practices of some museums and art galleries that have been opened for free, such as controlling the number of people in the form of tickets, improving safety protection measures, improving service levels, etc., to ensure that tourists visit in a comfortable environment and ensure the safety of collections. " Wu Hongliang said. In the initial stage of free opening, there will inevitably be some disadvantages, such as the lack of various services and the low civilized quality of some tourists, which also makes the museum realize that long-term comprehensive free opening still needs further preparation. We should look for new ideas and methods in light of new situations and problems. Lv Kun said: "After the free implementation, different venues and exhibitions can be treated differently, allowing some fees and limiting the number of visitors. Some venues without constant temperature and humidity can be partially opened or even closed. In short, we must ensure that people are comfortable and the collection is assured. "