A thread on "dumbing down", ft. The National Trust

Is it just me who sees the irony that those who are furious about the National Trust's new vision to move away from "niche audiences" and to change the type of visitor experience it offers - are FROM those niche audiences?!

I've seen dozens of academics, NT members, arts professionals, and middle class white people equate this change in vision to "dumbing down" or "Disney-fication". Do you know who I haven't seen bemoaning this change of vision so much?

The majority of normal working and middle class people. Literally 90% of the population. A retail worker living in Scarborough. A stay at home mum from Southwark. A mechanic living in Lincoln. Why? Because the National Trust doesn't matter to them as much - if at all - at present

Side note: I also think it's pretty insulting to imply that people who don't currently visit the NT/arts orgs will ONLY visit if it's like Disneyland - as if they don't have the capacity to appreciate a property in its "true" form

Surely any change in interpretation or offering that makes the National Trust MATTER to more of the nation it serves is a good thing? I'm speaking purely here about the decision to diversify audiences - not to close houses and make curators redundant - noone should lose their job

Preserving and caring for the amazing collections and built heritage that the National Trust and any other cultural organisation cares for is paramount, but if the people those things matter to continue to dwindle over coming generations, what is the point?

Cultural organisations - like the rest of us - can't please everyone. They can't be all things to all people. This morning I've seen someone claim that the NT's new vision statement is a betrayal of its mission 'for everyone, for ever'.

I don't think NT is currently "for everyone" - otherwise we'd be seeing a broader, more diverse cross-section of society up in arms about it

Harry Mount, author of the Spectator article that's doing the rounds about "Tweedies/Trendies" in the NT is *literally David Cameron's second cousin*. Forgive me for thinking that this conversation is happening in a bit of an echo chamber

That being said - I don't work for the National Trust and think all of its staff (none of whom I would describe as Tweedies or Trendies ) are doing an absolutely sterling job in exceptionally challenging times and I wish the media would cut them some bloody slack