A very common phrase in the contract language for a Director's position in
private institutions states that the Director will get a bonus if he/she
meets the goals set for him/her by the Board.  University or other
government facilities often have their salaries set by agency or
government policy though there are sometimes supporting foundations who
will provide additional support for the position outside of the
governmental commitment. Executive insurance benefits, sometimes
housing or other perks are offered executives in business and those
museums who are patterning themselves on the business model are reshaping
this position.  One trend you can see at LACMA is to make the Director a
President.  This is not secret and I have seen such language in contracts
since the late 1980's.

As regards Eric's comment about tinkering, I agree. You can tinker but
this string is called NO MORE not TINKERED WITH curators.  We can always
work to improve and the inclusion of many voices in the life of the
museum is fine.  I am sure that the accounting department is
not going to allow us to form a committee to decide how they will handle
their responsibilities, methods, techniques, or interpretations.  There
are many departments that are similarly seen as a specialty that needs
room to use its professional training to operate.

Museum folk have always been challenged with your question as whether we
serve the collections as priority.  In most cases the profession has
affirmed that committment.  The most heroic examples come from WWII and
the staffs in Russia and France. The public changes constantly while we
seek to preserve, a maddening paradigm to work within. We are preserving
the memory of civilization not free market economy or the ideals of
businessor class success. Sometimes we suffer for this by being ignored and
hanging on by our fingernails. Sometimes we become popular and get lots of
priority funding and praise.  It seems to me the challenge of it is to be
constant and weather through.  I often refer to the best Director I ever
saw and some things he passed on.  He sometimes referred to the museum as
a ship and we hired hands being there to stand our watch. An interesting
voyage. We usually aren't on board when the ship first sets sail and we
certainly are not there when it arrives, if it ever does. We sail through
time trying to make sure we don't sink her on our watch.  I think the
priorities and needs of the museum are always the same and honest people
can certainly disagree. Remember Ibsen: The majority is always wrong.

Paul Apodaca