in 2019 October 18 MO Museum welcomes the first birthday and sums up the results of the year. Almost 200 visitors were received and an annual loss of almost EUR 000 is planned. Even though it is private, MO Museum has from the beginning set itself the goals typical of public museums - to be as open as possible and to satisfy the public interest as widely as possible through cultural education activities. Therefore, the most important thing in the first year was to establish a dialogue with the public, to open the museum as a place of quality leisure, where it would be good to get to know art for a very diverse audience. This was achieved and the first year is considered extremely successful, and the results have been achieved. The question of budget sustainability remains one of the challenges that will continue to be addressed in order to balance the support of the city, state institutions, business and private individuals and as development MO Museum efficiency of activities.
"Prior to the opening, there was a lot of anxiety about whether the new art museum would be needed by Lithuanian society. With almost 200 visitors, we have received confirmation, but we are not stopping and will try to maintain the relationship we have established. We are glad that we received many evaluations. Positive comments that MO burst into the Lithuanian cultural world like a meteorite, and recognition that we were able to show a different creativity and approach to how an art institution can build a dialogue with the audience. We have also received criticism that we will become commercial, our success will be short-lived. MO's motto is have your own opinion. It's good that we encourage diversity of opinion. We believe that active discussions mean interest and draw even more attention to art", says Milda Ivanauskienė, director of the MO Museum.
To know and experience art
During the first year, MO organized 2 large ("All art - about us", "Animal - human - robot") and 4 small ("Passing everyday life", "Starting point", "Cohabitation", "Our selfie") exhibitions, 7 art projects and installations were presented. In exhibitions, we try to raise questions and talk about important topics, the axis of which is identity in the broadest sense. Both MO collection and works of foreign artists were presented.
The exhibition "All art - about us" revealed the creative themes characteristic of Lithuanian artists, reflecting the structure of Lithuanian identity. In the second major exhibition, we turned to a topic that is extremely important at the moment - humanity's activities on earth, coexistence with other species. With small exhibitions, we deepened the themes of the big ones and experimented - in "Starting point" we collaborated with experience designers, and the exhibition-laboratory "Togetherness" was realized with artists and scientists of Weimar Bauhaus University.
MO continued its publishing tradition and in the first year presented 2 detailed books of the major exhibitions - "All art - about us" and "Animal - man - robot" - which expand and complement the questions analyzed by the exhibition. The book of poetry "The animal that is called (n)esu" was published especially on the initiative of MO founder Danguolė Butkienė.
The collection was supplemented by 19 new works by 465 authors. Now the collection includes 5 works by Lithuanian creators of modern and contemporary art.
The museum is a platform for lifelong learning
"MO attracts a wide variety of people, even those who have never been to an art museum. This is amazing, because offering an art museum as a leisure alternative is one of the most difficult tasks. Since its opening, we have aimed to make MO a living museum. I think that we fulfilled this promise in abundance", says M. Ivanauskienė.
She also adds that MO aims to be a place where art can be used for lifelong learning. Exhibition e-books are created and publicized for each major exhibition. guides in Lithuanian and English, which are freely available online for anyone interested. Even 30 percent joined to listen to them. museum visitors. During the year, more than 800 excursions, 33 lectures, 16 meetings with artists and cultural professionals, 28 family Sundays, 20 interdisciplinary events, and as many as 280 movie screenings took place at the MO Museum.
"In order to develop the habit of perceiving the museum as a place of knowledge, we start from the smallest and aim to break the stereotype that art museums can only be relevant in the context of art classes. We conduct education in three areas: visual thinking, emotional intelligence and integrated lessons. The museum is an excellent platform to educate the most important people of the XNUMXst century. competences: creativity, critical thinking, development of social and emotional skills", adds the director.
It is estimated that in the first year almost 7 children participated in the education held at the MO Museum. Nearly 000 Lithuanian schools participate in the TEACHER'S Passport program run by the MO Museum, and 250 percent of them are from the regions.
Recognition in Lithuania and abroad
This year, the MO founders were declared People of the Year, they were awarded the title of honorary citizens of Vilnius. The museum was chosen as the Initiative of the Year and named the gift of the century to Lithuania by President Dalia Grybauskaitė. The marketing campaign for introducing MO to the market was awarded, the video "Creation of the World" was recognized as the best video for the Internet, the integrated communication campaign and visual identity of the MO Museum were evaluated and awarded.
Abroad, the museum was included in the TOP-10 most worth visiting museums in the world and the TOP-5 most anticipated museums. In the international architecture competition "Architizer A+Awards", the MO building competed with the branch of the famous British V&A museum in Scotland. MO paid attention to the creation of the museum JAV, Polish, German, Italian and other foreign media.
Art outside the museum
According to the representatives of the museum, MO exhibitions are widely visited not only by residents of Vilnius, but also by guests from abroad and the whole of Lithuania. During the summer, the share of tourists increases to 20% of the total flow of visitors. From the regions of Lithuania, the most visitors come from schools in different cities and towns, who come in groups.
The museum continues its "Traveling Museum" activities. in 2019 MO took one of its exhibitions to Klaipėda for the first time. The series of photographs by Algimantas Kunčias "By the sea" was exhibited in the premises of Švyturys Bhouse throughout the summer. In addition, more than 8 art education publications approved by the Ministry of Education were donated to libraries and schools in Lithuania.
The project of Vilnius talking sculptures continues. This year, together with the Vilnius Municipality and VšĮ "Gatve gyvos", the sculptures of two exceptional personalities - maestro Vytautas Kernagis and composer Stanislaus Moniuška - were discussed. They added to the ranks of other talking sculptures, of which there are already 18 in Vilnius.
Both private and state support are important
According to Milda Ivanauskienė, private museums in the world differ according to their goals and scope of activities. The MO Museum chose the path that requires more resources - a public museum that satisfies the widest possible public interest. It creates more value in the long run.
The loss of the first year is still being determined, but it was planned and it is believed that it will reach up to 200 EUR. High investment costs were expected to be incurred in the first year of operation. The founders of MO are subsidizing the loss of the organization for the time being. The museum's goal is to balance the budget in order to receive support from the city, state institutions, private sponsors, as well as developing the MO Museum's different membership platforms.
According to the director of the museum, M. Ivanauskienė, the statistics of foreign museums show that it is not bad enough when the museum collects 20%. budget revenue from tickets. 2018-2019 MO Museum set itself the goal of collecting 40-50 percent from tickets. receipts. However, it is natural to expect that the flow of visitors will settle down and in the future you need to be prepared for a smaller proportion of income from tickets.
When asked what the museum's budget consists of, the MO director says that the annual budget amounts to 1,5-1,7 million. Eur. In the first year of operation, 55 percent of the budget consisted of MO activity income, 29 percent. sponsors and 16 percent state support - Vilnius city municipalities and the Lithuanian Cultural Council. "It is quite common for foreign museums to receive about 40-50 percent. state support. So in the near future it is important for us to secure at least 20-30 percent. seeking state contribution", adds M. Ivanauskienė.
Creates new traditions
Patrons and supporters of the museum are a new tradition that the museum started to create and foster in the first years. "We are trying to change the business approach to cultural objects and aim to prove that investing in culture and art is not only important, but also worthwhile. Therefore, we aim to provide the business sector with quality and the desired return", adds M. Ivanauskienė.
In the first years of operation, the museum received the support of both companies and private sponsors. MO was supported by the companies Švyturys-Utenos alus, Juodeliai, Naresta, Narbutas, and Baltisches Haus. Private individuals Vilija and Gediminas Kuprevičiai, Žilvinas Mecelis, Antanas Guoga, Živilė and Jonas Garbaravičiai, Žana and Vladas Bumeliai, Lithuanian Markevičiai and Milakni family from Los Angeles, Laima and Šarūnas Andriukaičiai, Kęstutis Juščius.
Bringing communities together is one of the museum's goals. In addition to private supporters and patrons, the community of modernists and volunteers is very important for the museum. They are supporters and co-creators of the museum, united by the desire to support the idea of an independent, modern museum. There are currently 550 Modernists and 120 volunteers in the museum.
However, as the director of the museum admits, a lot of work and time is still needed for these initiatives to become long-standing traditions.
"The founders gave the MO museum to Lithuania. Now it is the joint result and achievement of the creativity and cooperation of all of us - the team, MOdernists, volunteers, visitors, exhibition creators, patrons, supporters. We want and strive for the MO museum to become a lasting change and breakthrough in Lithuanian culture. And for that, the support of all of us is important", says M. Ivanauskienė
Birthday and future plans
On his birthday on October 18. MO Museum promises to celebrate with an unusual campaign "As much as I want, I pay". Once inside the museum, visitors will be able to decide for themselves how much they want to pay for the visit. This will aim to reflect the museum's motto "Have your own opinion".
This year, the MO Museum will present a new small exhibition "Mekas mirksi gerje". In continuation of the currently exhibited large exhibition "Emergence of species. DNA of the 90s", lectures will be held with the curators of the exhibition. And in addition to traditional events, lectures and meetings, MO also prepares a special festive program in December.
