Dear Listers:

Last Fall, the Regional Council of Historical Agencies (RCHA), a museum
service agency based in Cooperstown, NY, developed and implemented a 3-day
retreat-style institute for new museum directors in NYS.  The project was
funded by the NYS Council on the Arts. I assisted the director of RCHA in
developing and implemented the institute (which was a great success, by the
way).

A key factor in the conception of the institute was a trend we're seeing in
NYS among small to mid-sized history (primarily) museum directors -- that
is, many have come to their directorships from other careers, some of those
careers being totally unrelated to museums.  We're also seeing a number of
these institutions going begging for directors, partly (I suppose) due to
salary, location, and general lack of vision on the part of boards and
staff to develop the potential of these museums.

The RCHA director, an institute participant and I are going to present a
panel discussion about the institute at this year's AASLH/MAAM annual
meeting in Baltimore.  To help frame the discussion, I thought it might be
useful to get a handle on the bigger picture.  I'd like to ask the list if
the trends we're seeing in smaller institutions in NYS are trends that are
happening in other states?  Do you see  a shortage of qualified  museum
leadership in the smaller institution? How critical is the problem?  What
can be done to address it?

Thanks for your thoughts on the matter.  We'll incorporate them into our
remarks in Baltimore.

Anne Ackerson, Administrator
Museum Association of New York
189 Second Street
Troy, New York  12180
518-273-3400

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