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Barriers to Youth Engagement in Museums: A Study of Visitation, Participation and Interaction
Baeshen, Basmah
Baeshen, Basmah
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Abstract
Engaging youth is pivotal to museums’ sustainability and social mission. However, persistent gaps remain between museum offerings and youth interests and leisure practices. This mixed method study investigates youth engagement barriers in Jeddah via an in depth case study of The House of Islamic Arts Museum. Data were collected from two parallel surveys, one onsite instrument by 261 visitors during their visit, and one offsite instrument distributed across community centres, shopping malls and youth clubs with six observational sessions inside galleries and nine semi structured interviews with museum staff.
Descriptive statistics reveal high satisfaction among onsite youth (85%) rating the experience “Excellent”, strong revisit intentions (72% yes), showing clear preferences for history and interactive elements. Offsite respondents report lower visit frequency (70% rarely/never), identifying lack of interest, limited awareness and insufficient publicity as key barriers. Observations recorded brief dwell times at some exhibits with sustained attention and discussions at others, actively sharing and occasional technological use (QR codes and VR). Interviews emphasise marketing reach, guided interpretation, programme design and pricing as improvement areas, highlighting evolving practice aligned with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.
The study argues that engaging youth in Jeddah is limited more by awareness, access, interpretive mediation, and programme relevance than culture. It recommends youth centred engagement strategies blending community partnerships, tiered pricing and passes, co-curated interactive programmes, multilingualism and sustainable influencer digital outreach. The study contributes a scholarly based portrait of youth museum relations, proposing practical frameworks for Islamic Art museums operating in transformative cultural ecologies.