10 Great Reason to Visit a Museum

This Article written by Colleen Dilenschneider,  provides a wonderful and brief summery of all the reasons that Museums have a valuable place in society. I loved the embedded video. We had already watched it in class but I made sure to watch it one more time just to remember some of the small details.Just to reiterate some of the points she made I will list them below with my own explanations

1. Museums make you feel good: Do you remember the way you felt the last time you were in a museum? I do, one of my favorite places in the world is the DIA. The ambiance of the marble halls and classical architecture, can make you feel like a sophisticated, cultured adult. At least, that is how it makes me feel. No shopping trip to any upscale retailer has the same affect on me as to when I step into a Museums
2. Museums make you smarter: The main purpose of Museum to give as much knowledge to their visitors as possible. They want to provide all museum patrons with the tools to learn for the sake of learning. There might not be any grades to prove it, but when you leave a museum you will always leave with more inside your head than when you entered
3. Museums provide an effective way of learning: Interactive learning is really the best way to go. When a person can be in presence of something real, they are more likely to retain it, than if they simple heard about it in a lecture or textbook. When I went to London this summer, I came face to face with portraits and paintings that I had only seen inside my history textbook. It had a huge impact on me and I was able to better understand what exactly I had read about.
4. Museums are community centers: The primary focus of Museums is to teach and educate its community. Many have summer programs and after school learning opportunities for children in the community. They are also a place where the community can hold events and celebrations.
5. Museums inspire: They sure do! I was on an outing to the DIA when I decided that I wanted to make a career out of Museums. I have a love of Art, History and Culture so much, that I want to share with the rest of the world. I love museums and that could only mean that pursuing more knowledge about them would have to be part of my life. Museums are places where your all five of your senses are allowed to work all at once and simultaneously. You can absorb so much and put your new found knowledge to creative use. 
6. Museums help bring change and development to communities: Museums that can engage communities can educate that community and make it a better place. Online access to archives and research material allow for great spread of knowledge
7. Museums are a great way to spend time with friends and family: Some of the best memories that I have are going to see exhibits with my mother. We would bond quietly over art and historical artifacts. This past summer I spent a week in Paris with my parents and the majority of our week was spent inside the halls of the Louvre, Le Musee D'Orsay, L'Orangerie and Versailles. It was an amazing trip, one I will never forget.
8. A museum may be your next community partner or business endeavor: I do not know much about this yet but The museum is great place to hold events and benefits. My high school held their prom at the African American Museum in downtown Detroit a few years ago.
9. Museums are free… sometimes: Need a cheap date or low cost family outing? Museums are much less expensive than going to the movies or shopping spree!
10. There is a museum close to you: Being so far away from Detroit, I had no idea what to expect when it came to how close the nearest museum would be. However I gladly found that I am surrounded by Museums! Not even three blocks from my place of residence in East Lansing is the soon to be completed Broad Art Museum, and only a ten minute walk from my house is the MSU Museum on Campus. Knowing that there is not only one, but two Museums so close to me is sigh of relief.

Outside the Gates of Versailles with my Mother

At the Musee D'Orsay

The Louvre

Works Cited
   Dilenscheider, Colleen. "10 Reasons to Visit a Museum." Know Your Own Bone. N.p., 30 July 2009. Web. 11 Sept. 2012. <http://colleendilen.com/2009/07/31/10-reasons-to-visit-a-museum/>.