Pro-Selfie Just Not Pro-Selfie Stick: The Gardner Museum Changes Their Photo Policy

Gardner Museum Courtyard in January. Instagram taken by the author.

In a surprising turn of events, the Gardner Museum has changed their photo policy to allow photographs throughout the museum. In a recent blog post, I urged the Gardner to consider simplifying or clarifying their confusing new photo policy. As you may recall, the museum changed their policy this year to allow photographs of only the first floor—basically the courtyard and its surroundings, prompting visitors to take photos of the courtyard from the upper floors, but coming to find out these were not allowed when approached by the museum’s security guards.

The policy, effective on March 10 now allows photographs throughout the museum with the usual restrictions: “The use of tripods, monopods, and selfie sticks is not permitted. No professional photo shoots for personal or commercial use or large group photos is allowed.”

While lighting is an issue at the Gardner Museum, there’s nothing a good Instagram filter can’t fix.

Tweeting in response to a visitor question, the museum said, “We’re excited about it, and hope our visitors enjoy!”

This is fantastic news and I know museum goers can’t wait to share their experience with their friends and followers on social media.

Congratulations Gardner Museum on embracing change and enhancing the visitor experience. Well done!

UPDATE: To give credit where credit is due, the “pro-selfie just not pro-selfie stick” is taken from this FastCompany article in which the Met Museum’s Sree Sreenivasan talks about how the museum is staying relevant in the age of the smartphone.