As one who straddles the bean-counter world and that of the museums we love,
I thank you, Indigo. Your argument is well-reasoned, and thank goodness I
grew up as the kid of a successful businessman, so that I got the business
sense, and a teacher, so I knew that I had to go through many years of
school to get the preparation that was needed so I could do my job well. I
firmly believe in continuing education for myself and my fellow list
members...

An "oldtimer" who learn my lesson a long time ago,
Laura West

-----Original Message-----
From: Indigo Nights [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2004 3:53 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Trickle-down Stickiness


Let's add another twist to this discussion.  I feel
the pain of those who are "museum professionals,"
those who "grew up in the museum world," those who
"were educated to work in museums."  It has to be
tough when "an outsider" comes in and takes the job
you might have aspired to in your long-term career
development.

It must be harder, still, to see them make "ignorant
mistakes," mistakes made because they don't know "the
tried and true practices and principles of museum
work."  I can empathize with you greatly.

However, I'd like you to step back and look at the
world of museums in 2004.  Clearly, these topics
aren't totally foreign, but I feel compelled to play
devil's advocate here.

Museums are folding, and collections are being
disbursed because of lack of funding and/or sound
business practices.  People "in the real world" are
not making charitable contributions as they once did.
The economy tanked, and countless jobs went away.
Companies that were inclined to make gifts to
institutions are now turning their funding elsewhere,
if they fund at all.

Money is tight and not guaranteed.  So an institution
brings in "a good business manager" to count the beans
and make sure there are enough to make a good pot of
chili when all is said and done.  Only the business
manager doesn't know the particulars about "solid
museum practices" and, for all practical purposes from
the perspective of a museum professional "doesn't know
what the hell he's doing."

Do I have the story right thus far?

If yes, then I have to ask you:  Are solid museum
practices going to save your institution from the
chopping block?  Is doing x, y, and z as dictated by
AAM going to keep your institution going and preserve
your job?

Or is it going to take the machinations of an
outsider, a bean counter, a chili maker to keep the
resources within your institution and to manage the
tight resources now available to you?

In a perfect world, museums would have lots of money
to spend as they deemed necessary to protect the
things we all love.  In a perfect world, museums would
not be folding, and there would be suficient resources
to protect and preserve the assets.

But the public is only willing to pay so much for what
they get out of a museum, and right now, "the
customer" isn't buying.

Is it better to bring in a bean counter--for now--who
can put some "business spin" on the institutions to
keep them solvent, or is it better to go with the old
methodologies we used when there was some money
discretionary money to run them all?

Think about it.  What is happening is different from
what you knew and what you believed to be right.  But
is this the right thing for THIS time in THIS economy?

You and I put significant value in all that is
museum-related.  But what about the public "out
there?"  Can you get them to pay more so you can go
back to what you knew as the status quo?

I realize this is skunk at the picnic kind of talk,
but I'd like you to consider it from a different
perspective and come back with the justification as to
why what you now believe is correct?

Change is tough.  You can be like the tree in the
wind.  You can stand rigid and refuse to go with the
flow--and collapse--or you can be flexible and sway
with the wind, thereby surviving.

In the less than perfect world of today, a good bean
counter and a good museum professional would talk to
one another and not judge, but forge together for the
good of the institution--something greater than the
sum of its parts.  Alternatively, a good museum
professional (with all those degrees) would add the
letters MBA to their credentials.

I'm ducking now . . .


--- Pamela Feltus <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I'm just busy on the list today- but I saw
> Accreditation and had to jump in!
>
>
> Accreditation requires a museum to have a full-time
> paid staff member with
> museum knowledge and experience who is delegated
> authority and financial
> resources for day-to-day operations.
>
> I have extremely ambivalent feelings about the
> museums that don't do this,
> especially since I'm the Accreditation Coordinator.
> I once worked for a
> museum run by a national membership group. The
> management was
> non-professionals without much interest in learning
> how a museum can best
> operate and the lower staff were trained
> professionals trying to do our
> best. It was a continual pushing that rock up the
> hill only to watch it roll
> down and smash my car. And they definitely could not
> get accredited with
> that structure.
>
> But once I had gotten away from the frustration of
> working in that
> environment every day, I have different views.
> Museums such as this are set
> up for different purposes than public museums. They
> are there for their
> constituency- whether it's their membership,
> students, employees. And my
> museum's constituency loved how the museum was
> operated and what it did.
> Changing to meet the standards of the industry, and
> thus Accreditation,
> would not have made the primary constituency any
> happier and might have
> alienated them. True, we could have done exhibits
> and programs which would
> appeal to the local community to improve attendance
> and outreach, but the
> members would have hated it. And we could have had a
> diverse board which
> represented more than the membership of the
> organization, but that too would
> have alienated. The museum was their plaything. And
> they paid for it, so
> they were within rights to do so. Frustrating, but
> that was the museum's
> purpose and although they paid lip service to
> industry standards, they
> really made no qualms about how they were run. And
> they accepted that their
> structure meant they could not be accredited. As
> much as we hate watching
> museums operate like this, there's not much museum
> professionals or the
> general public can do to change a governing body
> that doesn't care. Going to
> such a museum you hope for the best- there are some
> parent organizations
> that are wonderful and manage amazing museum and
> other ones that don't.
>
> On the other hand, remember, accredited museums are
> not perfect. The
> Accreditation process reveals problems in a museum's
> operations and helps
> them to be corrected. Accredited museums have made a
> commitment to
> continually improve to meet changing standards.
> However, people run museums
> and they can change. Luckily in this case, the
> problems were caught (I would
> guess during the required 10-year subsequent review)
> and when the museum
> decides not to somehow address the situation, they
> could lose their
> accredited status. There will always be some museum
> which made that
> commitment to Accreditation and high standards but
> is unable to continue for
> whatever reason (some voluntary, some beyond the
> leadership's control such
> as the economy or Mother Nature).
>
> Museums grew out of the general public and have been
> run for centuries by
> volunteers (not always amateurs). As much as we hate
> seeing a museum do
> something that we feel besmirches our overall
> professionalism or museums in
> general, we have to realize that those people doing
> such things are doing
> them out of love of museums, not evil intent.
>
> Pamela
>
>
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Anna Fariello [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> > Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2004 8:44 AM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: Trickle-down Stickiness
> >
> > David, You raise an interesting point.  This is a
> problem in
> > university museums in particular where, in my case
> anyway, the
> > director answered to a dean who had little
> understanding or
> > appreciation for museum practice.  The particular
> place where I
> > worked (and left) wound up shooting itself in the
> foot.  With the
> > support of half the art department (well trained
> in art history and
> > studio practice but with little to no
> understanding of museums except
> > for having exhibited in some), created an
> unworkable organizational
> > structure that cost the institution its bid for
> AAM accreditation.
> > What continues to amaze me is that individuals,
> especially those
> > educated in related fields, think they've
> created/decided what's best
> > for THEIR institution based on a very limited
> personal experience.
> > Often they make these decisions while ignoring an
> entire body of
> > knowledge that has evolved from decades of theory,
> practice,
> > evaluation, and careful decision making.  With the
> "help" of the dean
> > (in this case, a person who functioned like the
> corporate CEO of a
> > major museum who has authority over staff with
> museum training or
> > experience), this particular university gallery
> lost its full-time
> > director, its university-wide application, much of
> its funding, AND
> > an opportunity to become one of the few AAM
> accredited university
> > museums in the state.  All this was done in the
> name of local
> > control, "local" being the art department.  While
> I am not there to
> > confirm this, I think they are proud of their
> "accomplishment."
> > Anna Fariello
> >
>
>
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=====
Indigo Nights
[log in to unmask]

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