The very recognizable tote bag for MuseumNext 2015
«"What's next for museums?"
That was the question on hundreds of red tote bags seen on the streets of Geneva last week during the MuseumNext conference, which took place April 19–21. Panelists addressed the question from various angles, from finding new models of financial support to understanding leadership styles within museums to accommodating wearable technology in the galleries. As the representative from the Met, I had the opportunity to meet museum professionals from cultural institutions of all types and sizes, including a colleague from Liechtenstein (which means I've met 0.0027% of that country's population).»
Now that I'm back in New York, I've had time to collect my impressions of the dozen panels I attended, as well as the many one-on-one conversations I enjoyed with colleagues from around the world. Below are some broad themes that I found relevant not just for the Met but for the museum field in general.
Collaboration
Perhaps it's inevitable that at a gathering of museum professionals, one of the recurring themes would be collaboration (as opposed to partnerships, which I discuss a bit later). In this context, collaboration means museums creating better ways to share information, resources, and even audiences. There was an overriding message that "we are all in this together" in our effort to ensure that museums and cultural organizations in general remain relevant in this age of distraction and overwhelming stimuli. Museums should not see each other as competition—even those that are in the same city—but rather as places that offer complementary experiences to each other. The more people who go to museums—any museums—the more relevant the work of all museums will be. The collaboration question becomes even more germane within the context of visitors' online experiences if we think about how to create open access platforms for collections (and related data) so that people can enjoy a seamless online "visit" to multiple museums.
A Different Kind of Engagement
For years people in the museum sector have talked about audience engagement, and it remains very important, but what about making sure that the museums themselves are engaged in their cities and communities, and in the world in general? Tony Butler (@tonybutler1), the Executive Director of Derby Museums Trust and founder of the wonderfully named Happy Museum Project, raised the idea that as civic institutions, museums should be active citizens and be willing to talk about what's going on "out there" as much as what’s going on inside the building. He also suggested that large museums from capital cities should do more to loan works to regional areas in order to reach local populations where they are. In the same discussion, strategist Erik Schilp (@erikschilp) added that museum professionals also need to look outward in order to get different perspectives and new ideas.
Financial Support and Entrepreneurship
I was struck by how many of the attendees and panelists made references to having to find new ways to fund the activities of their museums or cultural organizations. The 2008 financial crisis continues to have a lasting effect on the cultural sector, and in many cases government support—whether at the local or national level—is still being reduced each year. For institutions that rely on government funding for the majority of their financial support, this has meant cutting back on programs and trying to come up with new ways to do more with less. The question of what entrepreneurship means in the museum context was raised in a very good panel called "Rethinking the Future for Museum Leadership," in which Janet Barnes, the Chief Executive of the York Museums Trust, gave solid advice about moving an institution forward as a leader:
Identify the public outcome, i.e., decide who it's all for (and don't lose sight of that).
Have an ambitious plan and be confident.
Pick your winners, focusing on quick wins that can be achieved with the resources you have.
Create leaders within a team; be willing to lose control and let teams work independently.
Make an impact by making sure the work/project is visible and being an ambassador for it.
Make friends with your "competitors" and share resources/audience.
Welcome constant change.
I noticed that many people discussed looking to the "outside" (i.e., for-profit) world to create partnerships in order to support new projects and initiatives. While corporate sponsorship has been common in the United States for quite some time, many of the people I met seemed to be dealing with this as a new issue. Clearly, when one source of funding dries up, another must be found, and establishing partnerships with for-profit entities was definitely a topic on people's minds.
Speakers on stage preparing to present at MuseumNext 2015
Open Everything
Several of the sessions emphasized openness—in terms of data, process, and transparency—but the most intriguing was "How to Build an Open Website," presented by Rob Gethen Smith (@robgethers), Paul Vulpiani (@forestvinnie), and Lucie Paterson (@luciepaterson), all from Southbank Centre. Their project, which was part of the Web We Want Festival, took openness to the extreme by having its web developers work inside a glass box, visible to the public, while they built a new website. (I can sense some of my colleagues getting very nervous about this idea.) During the project, visitors were invited to add their feedback and a wish list of things they wanted via sticky notes that were visible to everyone. User testing was done via one-to-one interviews, surveys, blog comments, and workshops with the public on how to build web pages. The project management tool was made public within the organization so that all staff knew what was being worked on and when. The vision for the new website was made public, as was the site's source code and designs. In short, everything was made open.
Embracing Reality
In a short introduction and demonstration of the latest in wearable-technology projects, I saw great use cases for things like Google Glass: a conservator at the Royal Ontario Museum filming her work while still being able to use both hands, a researcher recording findings out in the field. The general takeaway from this session was not about specific tech, but about how wearable devices are becoming mainstream, and museums can't pretend that they don't exist. The question is not whether or not we'll allow them inside the galleries, but how we'll be able to incorporate them into the work that we do.
Social Relevance
Finally, two of the panels I attended dealt directly with the question of the social relevance of museums, and museums' ability to act as agents of social change. The topic was also raised indirectly within other panels, so it is clearly on everyone's mind. In one panel, called "Relevance and Social Impact of Museums," France Desmarais, the Director of Programmes and Partnerships for the International Council of Museums (ICOM), made the point that social relevance is not the same as social networking; social media is a tool, but doesn’t create relevance in itself. Ms. Desmarais proposed that museums will stay socially relevant and socially inclusive through ethical museum practice, and she urged attendees to read the ICOM code of ethics for museums and to consult the 1960 UNESCO recommendations regarding the accessibility of museums, as well as the 1972 round table paper from Santiago de Chile regarding the social role of museums (PDF). Last, she reminded all of us that we need to think about serving communities rather than instrumentalizing them, and we need to engage and help other museums when necessary/possible.
In a later panel, called "Museums without Borders," similar issues were raised by Heidi McKinnon, the director of Curators Without Borders. In the most inspiring conference panel I've attended, Ms. McKinnon discussed the work of her organization, which uses museum collections as a way of teaching refugee children in locations around the world via "informal education." She pointed out the need for museums to share their collections—both physically and digitally—so that educators in rural communities and other remote situations can use the collections as teaching tools to help literacy and language acquisition, to connect people to their own cultural heritage, to empower people through understanding their own cultures, and to reduce stress within internally displaced and refugee populations. Her proposal is that museum collections can be catalysts for all of these things, and remain socially relevant by placing art at the service of "source" communities through digital information, traveling exhibitions, or 3D-printed objects, for example.
The work being done by Curators Without Borders is just one example of the amazing opportunities for museums to be truly active participants in both local and global communities. What's next for your museum?