CoMe Stronger Took Local Men to the Maritime Museum

CASS project CoMe Stronger, alongside local organization NGO Meeste Garaaž, organised a visit for Estonian elderly men to the Maritime Museum. The project aims to help improve public museum services to make them more appealing for elderly men, which would get them more active in public life.

Project assistant Kirke Laanemaa talk about the visit in a short interview.

Why did you choose to go to the Maritime Museum this time?

Estonia was a maritime country, and an Estonian man should know our history. The big argument was curiosity, because many men attached to our partner organisation had not been to this museum before. Those who had visited the Maritime Museum before wanted to go again because they liked it and wanted to see what had changed since their last visit. The choice was discussed repeatedly, and each time the Maritime Museum (alongside the Mining Museum) came up during the discussion.

The men did mention, had known then that the Racing Museum would be closed permanently soon, they would have been interested in visiting that museum as well. On the latter note, during our conversation on that, some men think it's one of the coolest museums, but also that maybe it's nice for men, but maybe it's not that interesting for women. This seems less of a factor for the Maritime Museum, as the history factor is, after all, gender neutral.

What is stopping men from visiting museums?

Many different aspects were brought out.

The interest of the museum starts at home, in childhood. If their parents took kids to museums, these kids will carry that interest into their adulthood as well.

It was mentioned that many men don’t consider going to a museum an important event, they won’t bring it up in conversation, even if they went and enjoyed it. The word-of-mouth advertising is therefore lost, and it shows a larger current attitude towards museum visits. It was also brought out that a lead figure in the community or friend group would help, who takes action and brings the others along.

What else did the group note about the Maritime Museum?

At the beginning of the tour, the guide told us that the ceiling of the museum building used to be black, makingthe whole room dark and gloomy. At some point, this was reconsidered, and local firefighters were brought in to wash the ceiling clean. The result now is quite mottled. We asked the men who had visited the museum before if they had noticed the black ceiling. They said that they think they do, and that it looks much better now, with more light in the room and the whole picture being much brighter.

One man says there should have been a net-boat exhibit, which it was the largest fishing boat used before motorboats appeared.

The group overall wished the tour included more interesting background stories about the exhibits, not just the dry facts about the things in the room. “Those just run in one ear and out the other.”

The visitors also mentioned a preference towards more interactive exhibits. “When I go with a topic, I want to see the real thing, not the screen.”