It is often argued that art galleries and museums should display less artworks from other countries and increase the number of traditional cultural works in some places. I think this approach would bring up positive cultural awareness for people but also decrease the profit from tourism.
Nowadays, art galleries and museums display many different topics of artworks from all over the world. Take the British museums in the United Kingdom as example, they display a huge number of cultural artworks and paintings, which not only provides plenty of educational learning opportunities for people, but bridges the cultural gap in between. In 2025, data from the British government demonstrated that more than one million tourists travel to the UK only visit the great artwork in the British museum. However, if museums only display their cultural artworks, it results in fewer chances for tourists to visit. This could reduce the profits earned for the British governments significantly. Consequently, tourism in the UK may not be attractive. This could potentially impact its economic growth.
On the other hand, if the art galleries and museums display more traditional cultural artworks in the country. It could express more of their own sense of identity, belonging and culture to the local people who visit those places. For instance, In Australia, due to the geographic reason that some local art galleries only display the artworks from the local artists. This method enables artists to show their artworks broadly. In addition, some museums even display the histories of the First Nations People works such as instruments, clothing, and painting. This could boost the younger generation’s cultural awareness.
In summary, it is clear to see that displaying more cultural artworks could bring up awareness and encourage people to learn history. But it could result in a lack of revenue for art galleries owners and museums.