Does anyone actually visit the museums?

Not unless the game compels me to, for the Painter aspiration or one of those charity galas. If my sims want to pick up intellectual types they cruise the library.

Snore. :(

If you're doing a world-building challenge or playing through historical eras, a collection of relics from your game's past could be interesting. You could re-zone your founders' home lot and call it a living history center. :)

No....in fact, whenever I start a new save, the museums are one of the first things I bulldoze. Same with libraries

Lots of good ideas in this thread. For my part, the museum is more useful the more packs you have. At least it is a good place to meet people, study art and paint but with GTW it can be used for club meetings, Dine Out, putting a bar, café or restaurant in a basement, University, putting that research computer in, Moschino, having a photography dept. or studio and show your pictures in there, etc., etc., etc. Some of the newer windows make great buildings of them too.

Nah I dont get any satisfaction in taking my sims to the museum.
There's not much interaction other than to view pieces of work.

I do for the painting aspiration, where they have to view 3 paintings at the museum, and sometimes go to the one in San Myshuno for a date. There's a little more hustle & bustle in that neighborhood, so it's not as boring. And I converted the crashed plane in Strangerville to a museum, because there's not really much else you can do with it (or at least I can't because I plum at building), but the neighborhood doesn't seem right without it. But yeah, they're pretty boring & mostly forgotten about in my game.