Goodbye anti-depressants, Hello museums! Attractions as ‘medicine’ for mental health and mindfulness

COVID-19 has presented significant challenges for humanity from a multitude of perspectives. A key issue has been centered around the impact that the pandemic has had on mental health. In modern society, a host of variables and stress factors have contributed towards a rise in the reporting of mental health illnesses, even before the additional pressures of a global pandemic.

According to the NHS (2021) 1 in 4 adults and 1 in 10 children experience mental illness in the UK. In addition to medication based prescriptions, the concepts of well being and mindfulness have become increasingly prevalent in the societal lexicon and consciousness.

Patients treated for stress in the Belgian capital Brussels have been offered free visits to museums, as part of a three-month trial designed to rebuild mental health amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Doctors at the Brugmann hospital will be able to prescribe visits to five public museums across the city. The initiative was first proposed by Delphine Houba, Brussels city councillor for culture and tourism.

Speaking to the Belgian newspaper L’Echo, she said:
“It has been shown that art is good for mental and physical health. “The COVID crisis, accentuating stress has made this project highly relevant.”

The museum visits will be prescribed to patients either individually or as part of a group treatment. The latter will see between six to eight people, who are in a “stress recovery group”, visit the museums together. The results of the initiative will be monitored and published in a report later this year.

Some points to consider:

How can attractions play their part in supporting the promotion of wellbeing and mindfulness in their communities?

How are events and interpretation methods at attractions pivotal in supporting mental health?

Emotion, illusion and technology – using interpretation to capture new visitors

Originally built as an amusement park, Ravinia, in Highland Park, Illinois, US, hosts a wide variety of concerts, from pop and cabaret to jazz and classical and while visitor numbers have grown, ticket sales for its classical offerings have been dwindling for years.

Welz Kauffman, president and CEO of Ravinia from 2000 to 2020, wanted to address this. Realising that audiences were arriving several hours early for non-classical concerts, he wondered how he could take advantage of this.

Fifteen years later, the Ravinia Music Box Experience Centre has opened, featuring an immersive, 65-seat, wraparound 4D theatre with a museum gallery space and an immersive theatre experience called Bernstein’s Answer, that celebrates the life of famous composer, conductor and musician, Leonard Bernstein.

“Our key aims were to create something that would allow audiences who were already at Ravinia to see Sting, Lady Gaga, or Common, say, to have an unforgettable, transformative opportunity to ‘bump into’ classical music, and to use Bernstein’s incredible life and work as a throughline to answer a question we’ve probably all asked at some point: What does music mean?” Brad Shelton, creative director at BRC tells Attractions Management.

“We got to create an emotional installation art piece with some of the best musicians on the planet to tell a story that inspires people to find common ground and come together, at a time when it feels as though almost everything is trying to tear us apart. That’s a win, and it’s hard to imagine a better place to have done it than at Ravinia.”

Ravinia Music Box Experience Center

Voase, cited in Fyall, (2006, p156) considers ‘how do consumers actually ingest the experience generated from an encounter with a visitor attraction?’ Music has the potential to invoke incredibly powerful and emotive responses from individuals. By tapping into this prospective lure for visitors to the attraction, the use of immersive and engaging interpretation is key.

How can attractions look at matching their interpretation techniques to their target markets?

What are the opportunities and the barriers towards integrating varying types of interpretation into attractions?

https://www.attractionsmanagement.com/Attractions-Management-magazine/Museums-Play-on/35287

Bradgate Park – The tale of the unbeknown rocks…

by Imogen Hartley

Sometimes things aren’t as they seem… an unknown history, a hidden story.

These rocks being used as a picnic table by hundreds who visit Bradgate Park on a weekly basis – resting their reasonably priced bottles of beer and snacks from the local coop on them – unbenounced to the unsuspecting tourists these rocks are between 350,000,000 and 400,000,000 years old. Yes, 400 million!

These rocks are some of the oldest in Britain.

Yet, there is no signage to provide this information, so unless sought out, this fact would remain unknown to those who sit upon them gazing across the park…extinguishing their cigarettes on them…having their toddlers take small pieces of it home stone by stone, until, it is no longer what it is today.

Should the information be provided at the site regarding the rocks history, astonishing age? What are the pros and cons of managing the increased visitation this may bring and ensuring their protection?

And if so, should there be rules established and displayed in order to protect the rocks from the tourists? Or should common sense be left to prevail having provided people with the information.

What are the pros and cons of identifying to the general public ‘landmarks’ such as this that wouldn’t ordinarily be known?

COP26 and the climate crisis… Can attractions play their part?

During the week commencing 1st November 2021, COP26 (UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties) takes place in Glasgow. The climate talks bring together heads of state, climate experts and campaigners to agree coordinated action to tackle climate change.

The UK is committed to working with all countries and joining forces with civil society, companies and people on the frontline of climate change to inspire action ahead of COP26. (Gov.uk, 2021)

A 2018 Uswitch report details the leading attractions in the world based on their sustainability performance using parameters from sustainable transport initiatives to recycling schemes and low emissions. It gives an indication of a change in culture towards sustainability gaining momentum within the attractions sector. But are wide ranging sustainability initiatives (and their associated cost) only within the range of attractions with the financial capital to implement them?

Some Points to consider:

What can attractions do to be more sustainable? Can they make a difference across the triple-bottom line?

How can attractions and visitors engage in sustainability practices and what benefits can be gained?

How can attractions educate around sustainability?

What are the latest innovations in the field of sustainability and attractions?

https://www.uswitch.com/gas-electricity/eco-attraction-index/

Sustainability: visitor attractions are going green, solar and vegan

Too dark to be acceptable?… Is the McKamey Manor Haunted house too extreme?

Mckamey Manor is an extreme haunted house attraction in Tennessee, USA with a previous incarnation of the ‘attraction’ having originally been established in San Diego, California, USA.

McKamey Manor has become infamous for lawsuits from participants claiming they were harmed – both mentally and physically – by what they endured. Visitors can expect to be bound, blindfolded, forced to eat mystery foods, dunked in or soaked with ice-cold water, bruised, slapped, and have all sense of autonomy stripped away. Some visitors, allege that McKamey and his employees went too far with their actions.

In late 2019,a petition began to get McKamey Manor shut down and moved out of its new location in Tennessee. it was alleged that the large waiver participants sign has multiple typos, including the misspelling of “liable” as “libel,” thus making it void from the beginning.

https://www.ranker.com/list/mckamey-manor-history/jodi-smith

Where is this attraction on Stone’s (2006) dark tourism spectrum?

Should this attraction be allowed to be open? Is it a contravention of human rights? Should participants wanting an extreme experiential attraction be allowed to consent to this through signing a waiver?

Would this type of attraction be allowed legally/culturally in other countries?

Faith no more? Should religious/pilgrimage attractions be classed, and used as ‘attractions’?

Mecca, the Wailing Wall, the Vatican… there are numerous sites of religious importance all around the globe with incredibly important significance to followers of specific faiths/religions/belief systems. Visitor numbers can range from dozens to millions, depending on the particular ‘attraction’, bringing differing sets of ethical and attraction management issues.

Olson (2017) asserts that “What I want to see happen is stakeholders in the tourism industry engage with religious site managers and leaders of religious faiths and make them important stakeholders in the decision-making process when it comes to tourism marketing and promotion as well as the development of tourist experiences at a destination.”

But is it as simple as this? Does visitation from those without a ‘link’ to the religious attraction E.g. their place of worship, devalue the purpose of the site? Is this tantamount to commodification? Should some religious attractions be off limits? How can visitors be educated as to appropriate behaviours at religious sites? Is it right to use religion for economic benefit?

Should Religious Sites be Commercialized? A Study – College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences (fhssbyu.com)

Will Virtual Reality become the ‘new norm’ reality?

The 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic has caused unprecedented disruption to the visitor attractions sector with attractions closing and opening in line with the tier and lockdown regulations, some attractions closing permanently and new social distancing guidelines having to be adhered to.

In many contexts, this has forced attraction managers to consider new approaches to accessibility when an attraction cannot be visited physically. Delapre Abbey have self-guided video tours of the attraction available alongside educational resources through their website. In non-pandemic times, these technologies can aid an actual visit but in lockdown they can become the visit.

Within the attractions sector, creative companies are now using tech solutions to greatly enhance the visitor experience. As David Schaefer (2020), VP of Falcon Creative, states “We’ve always put guests at the middle of the story and we’re always looking for new ways and new techniques to do that. VR and AR is the new frontier,”

Gallery

https://www.attractionsmanagement.com/index.cfm?pagetype=news&codeID=330372

Points to consider:

Is VR/AR here to stay? Is it going to be a part of the new norm? Has the pandemic hastened the need for this?

Are there issues around the use of VR/AR at attractions? Authenticity? Cost? Accessibility?

Is it appropriate for all attractions to engage with these developing technologies?

Attractions… The lifeblood of a destination?

With more attractions per square mile than any other city in the UK, York is home to everything from museums, theatres and galleries to hidden gems and must-see attractions and iconic historic buildings. (Visit York, 2020). The city is hugely popular with both domestic and inbound visitors and benefits from having the majority of its attractions in closing proximity to each other within easy walking distance.

york_economic_impact_headlines_2018Download

The PDF above, shows the value of tourism to the city of York and its various sectors.

Some points to consider:

Are attractions essential to the success of a destination? Why? How?

Should attraction managers engender a positive ethos of collaboration with other attractions and destination managers or just look after their own interests?

Can ‘blockbuster’ attractions help out the smaller ones?

How has COVID impacted the above? How could recovery and the ‘new normal’ look?

Making Sense of Place

A sense of place is a funny thing. We can’t force it, nor can we produce it. We can cultivate it though.

Think about growing crops. We need seeds, soil, sun and rain. We have to look after them, nurture them and cultivate them to create the yield and output we want.

Wheat in the field

It’s the same with places.

We need that core of the physical landscape, whether it’s a town centre, attraction or a destination (our soil). We need a vibrant and engaged network of people who bring their own experiences, activities and voices to the conversation (our seeds). We need activity that showcases and celebrates the voice and identity of the place as well as attracting and engaging both the local and regional audiences (our weather).

Crafting the voice of the place is a complex process, mainly because there are often many different perspectives to try and reconcile. It can be difficult to negotiate and get agreement on the core values, assets and approaches for a place, particularly town and city centres, and even more difficult for regions and nations. The danger here is trying to be all things to all people because nowhere and no-one can do that.

The “weather” in this metaphor can be considered to be events, experiences and entertainment. Events of all shapes and sizes animate spaces and provide reasons to come. This gives us plenty of options then to curate a programme of activity to appeal to various market segments and create opportunities for multiple repeat attendances. Events also give us opportunities to share the voice of our place and potentially the wider mission.

For example, consider the Eden Project. They have the physical location and many passionate and committed voices about their mission to address climate change through education. They have events from individual entertainers in specific parts of the site through to the Eden Sessions – music gigs for up to 8000 people in the pit itself. These events are all part of generating additional attendances, providing more reasons to come. Their events programme is their weather! What is essential about their events programme is that it is strategic and everything they do is connected to and drives forward their mission.

To continue the metaphor of growing crops, we need to harvest and reap the benefits of our work so when we’re creating the events programme, we have to keep that connection with the strategic focus of the organisation in order to generate value for the place, the business(es) and customers. It’s important to evaluate individual events and the programme as a whole to understand if it is achieving its objectives and using that to inform planning and choices for future events. This evaluation is complex as it’s often a mix of qualitative and quantitative inputs and may take some practice to get it to a stage where it is truly useful.

Creating a sense of place is complex because it is personal, yet public, and subjective, yet strategic. It takes all our tools and resources to do it well and create those opportunities for people to connect, to make that place more than just buildings or landscape.

Tik Tok… Time for attractions to clock their worth?

Every few years, a new app redefines the way we use social media. 2020 is looking like the year that TikTok takes over. The kids love it. Everybody else says it’s a waste of time, but there’s no denying its popularity (Daniel, 2020)

Like it or not, there is a great migration that happens with social media as new platforms capture the zeitgeist of culture. They offer newer and more unique ways to interact. The mass adoption of new social media platforms flows through continuous cycles. From Myspace in 2005, moving to Facebook in 2008, and then to Instagram (with a brief interlude by Snapchat) in about 2014. The move to a new social platform is always reluctant, but eventually, the popularity of the platform coerces us all to join.

Tik Tok has already had engagement and interaction with the travel industry through its recent #hiddengems campaign. TikTok is available in over 150 markets around the world, in 39 languages. The latest available official statistics show that there are 500 million TikTok users around the world (Business of Apps, 2020).

Some points for discussion:-

Does Tik Tok have value and potential for usage by visitor attractions? Why and how?

What is happening in the wider world of social media usage that attractions should/could be aware of in relation to their marketing strategies?

Could Tik Tok (and other social media platforms) be used to instead of/to enhance mored traditional platforms? What does wider research and data regarding social media usage tell us?