Measuring a Sense of Belonging at Museums and Cultural Centers

Better understanding guests’ sense of belonging can explain why some feel quite at home in museums while others would never consider visiting. To do so, we start by developing a model uniquely suited for and cultural institutions. Based on literature expert interviews, it includes three elements belonging: Inclusion, Place Belongingness Context the visit. This study presents an easy-to-use survey instrument designed to measure all aspects model. It adapts two previously published scales introducing Cultural Belonging Scale, newly developed these settings. We tested with 333 guests leaving science museum present results confirmatory factor analysis criterion validation. The former showed new scale consisted factors based concepts community agency. Overall, belongingness most significant difference among reported overall museum. Black or African American, Latinx Asian thought more often related their race ethnic identity. In contrast, White terms place location.