In cities like New York, an expanded target audience necessarily includes people who have no direct experience with institutions of high culture as well as public school children, a significant number of whom are considered at risk of dropping out of school because of economic pressures, violence, teen-age pregnancy, and drugs. Contact with this other public can be risky business for a museum.
Exhibitions featuring student projects often lack the sophisticated finish of professional art.
Yet if one important function of the museum remains the sanctioning of particular objects and images through the exercise of a rarefied taste, then the democratically minded museum-educator gradually comes to feel like an outsider within the institution. In theory, such challenges to the museums' authority might even have unforeseen economic repercussions, thanks to the highly subjective process of establishing value within the art industry. Despite the growing profile of the art world, the emergence of a broadly accessible and truly democratic culture remains an elusive goal. It is, however, one that will continue to be battled over, both inside and outside of the museum, for the foreseeable future. Privacy Information Stay connected to the news that interests you with free e-mail alerts from The New York Times.