Learning in Museums and Art Galleries in Nigeria: Exploring Arts-Based Adult Learning through Collections

Abstract

The importance of arts-based adult education in today’s culturally diverse world cannot be overemphasized. Arts-based adult learning provides some of the important cultural contexts for informal learning. Other forms of adult learning—formal and nonformal—have also been immensely enriched by this form of adult education. Museums and art galleries are at the heart of arts-based learning. Whereas learning in the museum has gained attention in western climes, adult education researchers in Nigeria are yet to focus attention on this area of research. The aim of this study was to explore how collections in art galleries and museums provide important opportunities for adult learning in Nigeria. The specific objectives were to explore what adults learn when they interact with collections while visiting museums and art galleries and to highlight how they learn from these collections. Qualitative data were collected from five participants comprising visitors and curators in Natural History Museum, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, and the National Gallery of Arts, Osogbo, Nigeria, through interviews. The data were analyzed using content analysis.