How have democratization and marketization impacted on art institutions’ self-assessment ?

This thesis explores the impact of democratization and marketization on art institutions' self-assessment, from 1990 to 2013. Besides displaying and preserving art, museums have been responding to society's broader changes and stakeholders' evolving expectations. On the one hand, democratization contributes to the societal relevance of the arts, as efforts are made to foster engagement with culture among society at large. On the other hand, marketization has been developed in museums' practice as they needed to gather a larger percentage of private income to survive, facing decreasing subsidies. The present research aimed at unveiling how institutions have been coping with these influences and changes and justified their activities towards the plurality of stakeholders they have to report to. Overall, marketization's presence has reinforced throughout the years and entered the museums' rhetoric. Financial figures and sound management are arguments used to legitimize one's relevance in times of economic crisis. With respect to this phenomenon, efforts of democratization tend to be seen in the light of numbers, where a large audience might satisfy institutions' ambitions to reach publics. However, this is a reduction not always acknowledged by museums. In general, the civic mission in the discourse is not necessarily hindered by marketization, but compromising has changed how institutions justify their existence, and focusing on economic success may result in a loss of equilibrium, which leads to tensions.