Roles of museums by Hatto Fischer

The different roles museums do play and assume over time, reflects in turn many changes occuring in type of organization and management model followed, as it shall require a typology of visitor expectations and other demands in need to be met, in order to understand what all these museums have in common and share in terms of local and international experiences.

Roles of Museums

Museums make their unique contribution to the public by collecting, preserving, and interpreting items of past and present cultures and cultural heritages and through active use make them accessible.
Museums offer more insight and reflection than most other media, which tend to offer merely digested opinions to the public.
The museum is often in competition with these other media for the favour of the public. But here it is important for museums to have the media and politicians recognise the museums’ potential and attribute the right support and role to them when addressing and fostering cultural understanding.
Although diverse in their missions, museums have in common their non-profit form of organization and a commitment of service to the public.

Aims and means

Their collections and/or the objects they borrow or fabricate have to be based on sound research, while exhibits and programs should be designed so that the public feels invited to participate.
As memory institutions they ensure all stories are told and perceived in a just and fair manner, and by linking human creativity to ongoing development show value of human life on earth.
By preserving and promoting cultural heritage (both tangible and intangible), they articulate and strengthen cultural identities.
By bridging cultures, they further “cultural understanding” in times of conflict, tension, globalisation and multicultural challenges to the social structures of societies and nations.
By offering formal and non-formal education through their collections and knowledge, they give to participants and the general public a unique opportunity to address individual, social, cultural and political issues and even to challenge false self understandings.

Museum’s root values

“Although the operating environment of museums grows more complex each year, the root value for museums, the tie that connects all of us together despite our diversity, is the commitment to serving people, both present and future generations.” - Code of Ethics for Museums (AMM)

Organizational models

While legal forms can be: public (national, regional, local), private, public-private, corporate, the organizational form must adopt to the original set-up, aims and forms of realization.
The organizational set-up includes:
- Board
- Personnel / paid staff
- Volunteers
- Advisory groups
- Friends of the museum
Good governance requires: sound management, professional museum practice, spirited communication, networking, evaluation and link with the community.

Set-up and operational principles

Strategic guidelines:
- Develop vision, values, mission in the ‘spirit’ of the times
- Realize the area in which the museum wishes to be known by as valid source of knowledge and inspiration for present and future
- Develop program ideas and novel ways of displaying things in interrelationship between the permanent and the temporary
- Consider the best practices to fulfill ‘ethics’ of museums in all domains of operation and services
Operational guidelines:
- Secure resources and define financial objectives
- Unpack the archive or collection to give access to future work
- Define phases of implementation / benchmark performances
- Create interesting environments (for meetings, events, etc.)
- Work with community, communicate beyond museum walls

Management principles

There exists no simple formula for good management
Good judgment is most crucial, but also intuition and a common sense
Thorough knowledge of the work environment is needed
Clear identification of policy options and anticipation of future developments
Major duty: balancing stakeholders expectations
- Government / regional and local authorities
- Other and key board members
- Visitors (see profile and museum as civic space)
- Friends of the Museum
- Experts
Ability to handle both internal and external controversies were they may arise.
Maintaining the high profile of the museum in public.

Principles of program development

Use spaces of the museum to allow for new developments (inner/outer relationship, content – building – location linkage, materials used, atmosphere etc.) with emphasis on accessibility, visibility, sound, shapes
Adapt structure of building to house collection already known versus learning to use the space anew – fresh view of new visitors.
Build up of collection to acquisitions e.g. give staff regular responsibilities
Offer activities and services in support of ongoing programs (art trips, lectures, workshops, curriculum facilitation, education / training programs)
Museum products linked to programs (gifts, guides, publications)
Infrastructure requirements / multi media accessibility (web based services)
Improve staff performance and upgrade knowledge of museum practice
Maintain link with visitors, community and international world
Secure future programs to ensure the museum is an ongoing experience

The Museum needs to leave behind the aura of being a sacred temple and becomes a place which is alive.

Program development – outer conditions
The role of the Museum is subject to re-thinking and re-shaping its responsibility to the community in response to changing framework conditions:

demographic developments
changes in cultural values
economic development
changing profile of social income of groups likely to visit museums
competitive environment / other museums
e-challenges and other technological changes
changing needs for education and training
changes in museum practices and roles

All these changes call for constant re-balancing of inner / outer requirements while having to respond in a novel way to reality.

Types of models

Public museums operate in support of official governmental in respect to their corporate values e.g. Te Papa National Museum of New Zealand
Foundations have greater independence because they do not rely on governmental funds, are more project and network orientated, special services to the community e.g. Eugenides Foundation
Private Museums e.g. Benaki – most successful in terms of differentiated donation and contribution possibilities while offering a model of dynamism in different strands (archive, civilizations, exhibits)
Private Public Models: operating costs covered by government - co-financing in return for services, contingent of tickets etc.; main activities around key collection; commercial gallery; gift shop
Corporate Museum (e.g. OTE telephone museum)

Public-Private Partnership model:

Franz Gertsch Museum in Burgdorf by Bern

Five pillars will sustain and finance the enterprise.

By negotiation with the public hand aim for coverage of running costs. Swiss law allows coverage of these costs by means of co-financing if 50% contribution comes from private side. These subsidies are offered for services in return e.g. use of space for conferences and a contingent no. of tickets for free entry.
Membership in the circle of friends is differentiated for a public of interested lovers of art and promoters all the way to companies. With regards to this there is being made a differentiated offer an services made in return. They include art trips and purchasing of art works.
Not explicitly but as an additional source of income, money from entry tickets and transactions in the shop will be a further pillar. The 5 pillars take consciously away the pressure from the institution to measure alone its success by the number of visitors.
The commercial gallery is a separate business venture from the museum – the art park management AG – and will realize special exhibitions of contemporary art. Whether or not pressure of having to be successful is taken of from need to shape contents of the programme, that remains to be seen. At the very least it is not left on its own. The business contacts of Willy Michels should bring also a financially interesting public to Burgdorf.
The benefactor remains available for shaping and establishing the museum.

A hint about Corporate Museums

Involves direct cooperation with companies, i.e. museums taking on the task of building company museums, museums setting themselves up as event venues for companies etc.
There is still some reluctance regarding this kind of cooperation, one consideration being how to control ethical issues.
Critical differences: In our part of the world there continues to be a strong focus on culture as an event compared with culture in which visitors, companies and politicians expect “value for money”.
The economic potential for museums in building close bridges with the corporate culture seems so far to have been greatly overestimated in political terms.
This is, therefore, a significant issue, although it has not yet been understood in public terms what this new type of museum will mean in the cultural landscape.

Financial planning principles: diversification as key to success

Crucial is the identification of stock value, how maintained and increased over time.
Burden of success is not put on attendance, exhibition, event performance by diversification of revenue sources (e.g. a commercial gallery with profits going 100% to the museum and running costs are covered by co-financing agreement with government (the case of the Private Public Model).
Crucial is the legal framework for value creation e.g. law for foundations.
Revenue differentiation matched by proper resource allocation
Differentiated visitor profile as expression of official museum policy (individuals, students, groups of children, youth, adults, elderly people, families study groups etc.), friends of the museum (different grades) defines the ‘constituencies’ of the museum and its packages (free entry, art trip, special hosting) as indication of different treatments and types of memberships in correspondence with services in return (free entry, space for events)
Types of activities (workshops, lectures, guides, art trips etc.), gift shops, publications
Kinds of donations (additions to collection, new collection, property, financial gifts etc.) legally sound and not conditional (the example of the Benaki Museum in Athens)
the special role benefactors and what structural influences they want (avoid inner conflicts)
governmental co-financing and grants (often exerts pressure in wrong direction i.e. too much education or over expensive exhibitions, but also investments not sustainable over time)
other types e.g. fund raising campaigns for special purposes e.g. purchase of a painting or restoration or maintenance / expansion of the building
Institutional Assessment &
Monitoring
Understanding of museum practice
Quality of cooperation between board and staff
Sense of mission and purpose
Performance and achievement targets
Knowledge of profession museum practices
Team spirit and cooperation between paid staff and volunteers
Practical and long term involvement of people
Servicing the general public and community

Conclusion

Museums remain highly innovative and creative institutions if they face openly the challenges coming from both the public and latest developments.
Although multi media has provoked a search for a new identity by museums, there is a need to remain present in the realm of reality.
Museum activities become diversified if extended beyond the museum walls and are taken further (e.g. the web based narrative, but also new curriculums for schools).
While every display or item has intrinsic value, such a fact is not truth by itself but requires a context of understanding and interpretation to further the search for truth.
The context in which an art work or collection is presented contributes to how the story of the museum is told in respect to the ‘sui generis’ of art, culture and development.
Let the museums mature around a cultural understanding of their roles in society.

Points stressed:

role museums play is not merely an expression of their own self understanding but also the result on how they are perceived by the media and what role politicians ascribe to them; at the same time, museums should not follow the usual media logic but counter that kind of language in allowing for ‘experiences’ of another kind
visions and missions of museum must have a ‘unity of vision’, otherwise museum practice and knowledge of the working environment will not go together nor be sustained by good management and governance
there exists an ‘ethics of museums’ in need to be observed; connected with that is the need of the museum to be rooted in human values
successful management relies on good relationships within the structure and governance making possible diversification from treating different visitors according to needs and what they can contribute
to obtaining further donations and financial contributions the model of Benaki may be an indication of how precise analysis of the legal framework can be helpful when deciding on type of model and how to deal with potential supporters of all kinds
types of museums includes the Private Public model and the Corporate museum with the last one raising ethical issues since not merely the content of the museum itself is being conveyed, but the image of the company to whom the museum belongs

Discussion points

Andrzej Rataj: the fact that everyone has been silenced by your presentation only shows what great knowledge you have. One point he would like to stress is the following, namely the need of museums to have advisory groups. That is often not seen but of great importance. If museums are to carry on with their mission of telling a different story differently from the usual media language, then there is a need for deeper going concepts and an understanding for the value of the objects presented.

Vasilis Sgouris: he is convinced that the only model to succeed in the case of a museum for the city is a highly qualitative approach. It raises, however, the costs since you will need top people for the job and then sustain that.

Hatto Fischer: There has been already a discussion about that: top management would require also not only adequate payment and resources made available so that something really good could be done, but also there would be needed good schools for children and a perspective of life in Volos to attract such people. At the same time, the question is whether or not there are local people who given the chance could become such good managers and operators of museums. The Olympics have shown what Greece is capable of doing.

Carol Becker: In all what she heard and listened to, she is surprised that the artists have been left out of all considerations not only what shall go into museums, but how to go about it, so that people can visualize themselves these museums as a place of experience. Making possible ‘experience’ is nothing new. It is as a matter of fact a very old task but we should remember that is what museums meant to us when we were children and went first to museums, namely to make experiences.

About involving artists, it is important because they are interested in organizing visually space. One should not be afraid to include them. They don’t wish to take control of the entire process but they do want to be a part of it.

The planning of a museum should be much more process orientated, not just outcome related.

^ Top

« Presentations and discussion points at museum workshop in Volos 2005 | Volos City Museum: creating links with local society and organizations »

Ποιειν Και Πραττειν - create and do

Navigation

Roles of museums by Hatto Fischer