Paper presented at the conference Art Museums and the Price of Success; an International Comparison, held at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on December 10 and 11, 1992, and organized by the Boekman Foundation, Amsterdam.

... [the author] analyzes the consequences of the Conservative ideology with its cutbacks in government support for all kinds of institutions including art museums, and wonders whether art has once more become the prerogative of the rich and powerful. He questions the commercialization of art museums which seem to develop like a propaganda tool for Big Business, holding exhibitions as if they were corporate playgrounds - which he finds a disastrous development. [He] pleads for increasing democratization of museums in which people are not just seen as consumers but as critics and creators. He thinks that museums should pay attention to diverse audiences and to debates around cultural diversity, to the questioning of the legitimacy of the Western cultural canon and to the untried possibilities of democratic participation. In short, museums should play a stronger role in the development of cultural and art museum policies. (General Introduction, p. 14)

CONTENTS
Introduction.
Art museums as business?
Market orientation and professionalization.
The future.
Notes.

Paper presented at the conference Art Museums and the Price of Success; an International Comparison, held at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on December 10 and 11, 1992, and organized by the Boekman Foundation, Amsterdam. (from abstract)