Museums were more trusted than the daily newspaper before the pandemic – and now they’re even more so.
During the pandemic, we watched and monitored as trust in museums (and zoos, aquariums, gardens, historic sites, and science centers, among other cultural organizations) increased in the United States and throughout the world. As we all continue to learn to live alongside the coronavirus, this dramatic rise in trust perceptions remains one of the biggest and arguably most impactful findings from the last three years.
We first published data concerning trust in museums in 2017, and then again right before the pandemic – highlighting elevated trust perceptions even for people who do not visit museums. We were thrilled to see these trust perceptions increase in 2020 even as the world grappled with the pandemic. There were several reasons for elevated trust perceptions at that time. Critically, many cultural organizations changed up their messaging during coronavirus closures and began proving their relevance beyond their walls. They posted on social media about how they were continuing to execute their missions (missions that have become increasingly important over the past few years); published educational resources for parents who were suddenly leading educational activities from home; and provided virtual opportunities for tours, curator talks, expert insights, animal feedings, and other engaging content that underscored the inspirational and educational benefits of these institutions.
Exciting, right?
But here’s the most exciting part:
Elevated trust perceptions secured during the pandemic have held up.
It’s time for a data update, folks.
Museums and other exhibit-based cultural organizations are trusted by more people than they were pre-pandemic.
This data comes from the National Awareness, Attitudes, and Usage Study, which currently includes a representative sample of over 231,000 adult respondents in the United States. The chart below shows the percentage of people in the United States who agree or strongly agree that these entities are trustworthy.
Here, the “museum” category includes all nonprofit, exhibit-based visitor-serving organizations in the United States including various museums, aquariums, zoos, botanic gardens, historic sites, science centers, and the like.
An impressive 73.3% of Americans (both visitors and non-visitors) agree that museums and other exhibit-based cultural organizations are trustworthy. In a divided nation, these numbers are particularly impressive. Over 70% of Americans agreeing on anything is impressive! For context, 82.7% of Americans agree with the statement that “ice cream tastes good.”
You’ll note that previous articles measure only the strength of conviction that museums are trustworthy. And indeed, the strength of the conviction that museums are trustworthy has remained elevated. For this article, however, we’ve decided to show the percentage of the population who believes that museums are trustworthy. Greater conviction that museums are trustworthy is fantastic – but greater numbers of people believing that museums are trustworthy can have terrific additional benefits for the sector. This belief can help inspire additional funding, add members and supporters to our membership communities, and aid in expanding audiences.
More people believe that museums are credible sources of information.
Prior to the pandemic, trust and credibility metrics were durable throughout the years. Because the data has such a large sample size, it is not as skewed by outliers, and there tends to be less volatility in these numbers year over year. Before the pandemic, shifts were typically not statistically significant year over year or even when grouping years. The “NGO” category below is a good example of the kind of durability that we used to see with this metric before the pandemic.
The rate at which museums and other exhibit-based cultural organizations are believed to be credible sources of information increased by 9.5% as of the end of 2022 when compared to before the pandemic. This is a notable increase in the percentage of people looking to museums and other cultural entities as reliable and credible sources.
Nearly three quarters of Americans believe that museums should suggest behaviors to support their missions.
It’s one thing to be a trusted and credible source of information, but it’s another to elevate these perceptions such that people look to cultural institutions to provide direction on how to take action to make the world a better place.
While the growth in the percentage of Americans who agree with this statement is impressive, what’s most impressive may be the statement itself. We currently live in a country in which people particularly dislike being told what to do. This makes it all the more noteworthy that nearly three quarters of Americans are looking to cultural entities to tell them what to do… at least as it relates to their missions.
People began spending more time on the web during the pandemic. When a notable number of potential visitors steered clear of crowds for fear of catching COVID over the last three years, many organizations met their audiences online (and continue to do so). Articles, resources, virtual talks, emails, and social media posts went up underscoring these institutions’ important work, even when numbers were down, or revenues were reduced.
People do not generally believe that museums have a political agenda.
Alarmingly, one of the most common justifications we hear for organizations not standing up for their missions is the concern that the entity will be viewed as having a political agenda. We still see this excuse pop up periodically when a science museum refuses to acknowledge climate change or a historic site ignores the realities of slavery, for instance. But are these kinds of organizations even viewed as having a political agenda in the first place?
Only 37.3% of Americans believe that exhibit-based cultural organizations have a political agenda. Of course, some entities are seen as having a political agenda more than others. However, on the whole, people do not believe that museums are pushing political agendas.
This is great news because it helps organizations understand that they are expected to suggest behaviors that support their missions. Because they are considered to be credible and trustworthy sources of information, cultural entities are where the US public generally looks to hear from experts on an organization’s mission. (Of course, we’ve seen a few museums go a bit off-script toward a political push that the public feels is not aligned with the museum’s mission, such as taking a political view for the sake of it in a way that’s not related to history, science, art, conservation, or the organizations area of expertise.)
During the pandemic – while aquariums were conducting virtual talks with aquarists, zoos were doing live giraffe feedings, art museums were posting educational coloring book resources, science centers shared do-it-at-home experiments, and history organizations began to speak more openly about our country’s difficult past in light of the uprising against racial injustice – the people were watching.
They noticed.
They are still noticing.
Museums, zoos, aquariums, and other exhibit-based cultural organizations are trusted sources of information that an increasingly large percentage of the US public looks toward to inform their opinions and behaviors. These perceptions of trust and credibility increased dramatically during the pandemic and have remained elevated through the end of 2022.
These data represent an incredible responsibility on the part of cultural institutions. In a divided nation, these organizations have a rare opportunity to patch the split and provide meaningful information.
IMPACTS Experience provides data and expert analysis to many of the world’s leading organizations through its workshops, keynote presentations, webinars, and data services such as pricing studies, market potential analyses, concept testing, and Awareness, Attitude, and Usage studies. Learn more.
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