Museums and the Future

In the 20th C the 'typical' museum and/or art gallery in the imagination of the colonised and colonising world was an institution steeped in romantic visions of the classics, empire and hegemonic belief systems – albeit increasingly reflective visions as the century drew to a close. Overlaid on this came the celebration of the industrial era that was fueled by the socioeconomic Industrial Revolution that in turn fueled European expansionism and ultimately globalism.

In one way or another the collections held in museums in the Western world were/are essentially plunder of one kind or another that reflected 18th and 19th Century imperatives. The British Museum would be one exemplar that has set down some of the key museum protocols and practices that linger in current museology. However, by the last two decades of the century the world that museum’s were attempting to make sense of was changing at a pace unimaginable in the times, and the cultural dynamics, that shaped museums and museology practices.

In the 21st C comfortable reflections of the past no longer go unchallenged and especially so in public museums that rely on public funding to maintain their programs. There are newer sets of expectations in respect to accountability. Indeed, museology itself is increasingly of interest to researchers and once tight divides between disciplines are blurring. Against this background Communities of Ownership and Interest are looking to:

1. Engage with museums’ leadership and management;
2. Museums as a source of critically important information;
3. The institution’s set of goals as a measure of their relevance to contemporary social and cultural realities;
4. Drive museums’ programs toward strategic alliances and financial success;

"Museums are unique institutions with the potential both to develop and to explain new knowledge and its significance to the general public. By engaging society in a guided conversation about their world, museums can learn about the societal context of their knowledge. Museums have the potential to participate in shaping our collective futures by bringing their research, exhibition programming, and heritage collections together with society’s interests into integrated programs. In the face of a rapidly growing need to examine environmental, cultural, and socio-economic problems, people are turning to institutions or sources that will address global problems at local levels." Leading Museums into the Future .... read more here

In the case of museums auspiced by local government in Tasmania the Local Government Act 1993 provides for:

" Controlling authorities

(1) A council may establish a controlling authority with the following functions:

(a) to carry out any scheme, work or undertaking on behalf of the council;

(b) to manage or administer any property or facilities on behalf of the council;

(c) to provide facilities or services on behalf of the council;

(d) to carry out any other functions on behalf of the council."

.... read more here

Museums in a Local Government Paradigm

Museums in a Local Government paradigm confront a number of accountability issues. In Local Government its often the case that the roles of governance and management get blurred. The closeness of the constituency to the coalfaces of governance and public administration (management) often gives rise to contention with various players contesting an issue from sometimes conflicting points of view given their various interests.

The diagram here provides a perspective against which a situation might be assessed. In the case of a museum, a community cultural asset, it may be of some use in providing a perspective on how 'the asset' might be imagined, understood and administered on behalf of its Community of Ownership and Interest – the Local Government constituency and beyond.

Museum Strategic Planning

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Sample Strategic Plans
Click on the heading to make the link
National Museum of Australia
National Gallery of Australia
Powerhouse Museum Sydney
The Australian Museum Sydney
National Gallery of Victoria
Museum Victoria
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery

Purpose, Mission and Vision Statements

Mission and vision statements are relatively easy to write and the best of them bring people together in a common purpose. They are safe to write because they embody abstract concepts. However, typically museum staff see themselves as being on top of the management aspects. Their vision does not always concur with a museum's Community of Ownership and Interest (COI) expectations/aspirations and as often as not they often do not see 'visioning' as having a real impact on how they go about their work.

More important that the 'vision' is the institution's 'purpose'. The purpose statement tells you – institution members and its COI – what the institution must do to be relevant – and can be help accountable for. On the other hand the vision is aspirational – and some elasticity can be allowed if the aspiration is not met.

The fundamentally important thing in determining how a contemporary museum is able to shift from the status quo where it wants/needs to be is having a clearly articulated strategic plan. Refining these plans is where the roles governance and management starts to be felt by curators and the institution's COI.

At this point the status quo gives way to new imaginings and new operational sensitivities and sensibilities. While they may be similar to earlier activities by necessity they need not be the same. New sets of accountability also come into play but people need to be both reassured and encouraged by change.

Overall there needs to be a sense of pragmatism in regard to revenue and the value of previous activities in relation to the delivery of cultural dividends and the financial strength of the institution.

A GOVERNANCE CHECKLIST

A public museum's membership/citizenry/constituency – members, researchers, ratepayers, residents, donors, et al. – needs a professional approach to governance and management to protect their interests as the institution's Community of Ownership and Interest (COI).

For the purposes of this article, governance is that cluster of activities that relate to decisions that define expectations, that grant powers and that verify performance along with taking actions to assure accountability for results (or lack thereof) and the correction of systemic and other problems.

In the context of a museum, governance includes:
• Determining and/or validating community needs;
• Verifying purposes and objectives to fulfill those purposes;
• Assuring that strategies to achieve objectives are realistic – including funding;
• Acts to assure accountability by testing against results achieved – or otherwise;
• Acts to correct systemic or other problems that may be impeding results and value.

The museum's professional management team, its trained personnel, manage the operation of the museum and it programs while the decisions about community interests, value for money, affordability and standards of service are the domain of its governance.

Weaknesses or failures of governance would therefore be seen as:
• Public dissatisfaction with value for fees, subscriptions, rates and other charges
• Unsustainable – from the COI perspective – increases in inputs – fees, charges, subscriptions, rates etc.
• Optional activities taking an excessive percentage of total budgets
• Loss making activities impacting upon the level of inputs plus the quality and quantity of outputs – exhibits, projects, publications etc.

The overall impression would be an organisation that appeared out of control and unable to define or describe in any detail, how and why it was incurring expenses – e.g. unable to relate budgets to goals and activities as programs or line items – or failing to deliver planned outcomes.

Such a condition would be indicated by a lack of the normal organisational documentation that demonstrates a professional approach to governance. The documentation requirements and their purposes are outlined in the table below.

Click on the table to enlarge