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.

... in the Epilogue, written after the conference ... [the author] discusses the developments that may be envisaged in the near and not-so-near future. She mentions the changing nature of publics in the light of cultural diversity, and multi-culturality as challenges for art museums, in relation to notions of quality, and the polarity between high and low culture. [She] describes the difference between a qualitative and a quantitative approach of the public, and the consequences this holds for the art that is presented. In conclusion she discusses the art museum as an institution with both democratic and elitist tendencies: the paradox of museums both playing a part within and for the community versus their laboratory and aesthetic function. (General Introduction, p. 16)

CONTENTS
Introduction.
Commonalities and differences.
The elitism versus populism controversy revised?
Aesthetic quality revised?
The policies towards publics revised?
Institutional survival in austerity.
The multicultural future.
Can art museums welcome new publics?
Notes [bibliography].

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.