Museum visitors are not reflective of the diversity present in communities around the nation. In this study, we investigate the racial and ethnic diversity of art museum participants as well as the potential motivations and barriers to visiting a museum. Using the General Social Survey, we examine race and ethnicity and arts participation in the USA. We find Black individuals are less likely to attend an art museum than white individuals. Certain motivations and barriers to participating may explain part of the lack of diversity. We find Black and Latinx individuals are motivated to participate in art museums for cultural heritage reasons more than white individuals, but race and ethnicity are unrelated to perceiving admission fees as a barrier. This research highlights the urgency in the field to make museums more inclusive.

博物馆参观者并不能反映出全国各地社区的多样性。在这项研究中，我们调查了艺术博物馆参与者的种族和种族多样性，以及参观博物馆的潜在动机和障碍。通过《综合社会调查》，我们研究了美国的种族，种族和艺术参与情况。我们发现黑人比白人更不可能去美术馆。参与的某些动机和障碍可能解释了缺乏多样性的部分原因。我们发现，出于文化遗产的原因，黑人和拉丁裔人比其他白人人更愿意参加艺术博物馆，但是种族和种族与将入场费视为障碍无关。这项研究凸显了该领域使博物馆更具包容性的紧迫性。