Abstract
Attracting new audiences to visit them is an important priority for modern museums. Museums are no longer places reserved for a small ‘elite’ in the society, at least they should not be that. What does it take to attract new audiences to museums? Between June 23rd and November 12th, the National Museum of Scotland housed the exhibition Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites. The Jacobite era has inspired numerous writers and artists throughout the years. In recent times the Outlander series, which is based on Diana Gabaldon’s book series with the same name, has had huge success. When I was in Scotland in 2017, I found that this was reflected in the tourist industry. The National Museum of Scotland also referred to the series in the advertisement for the exhibition, and several of the actors in the series were invited to entertain on an event hosted by the museum. This thesis deals with the question of how the direct or indirect use of references to phenomena of popular culture influence the museum’s audience. Does popular culture attract new audience groups to visit museum exhibitions? This is the question I have worked with in this thesis.