Can museums survive the economy?

Sad reminders of the times we live in have recently flooded my inbox. First was a plea from ACM, asking that we remind Congress that spending for NEA, NEH and IMLS in the proposed stimulus package is not "waste" as so many people want to assume. It saddens and angers me when I hear politicians complaining about the "wasteful spending" on arts programs. Do they forget that museums employ nearly a quarter million citizens? And other arts and library programs employ even more? Or do museum jobs seem less important than other jobs? Why is it that museums continue to be seen as an "extra" for society, rather than a necessity?

The second reminder just hit the Museum L list today. A plea from a manager on how to go about eliminating positions (our favored euphemism for layoffs) when she has never done so. Followed by a slew of emails with advice because they have either recently laid off staff, or recently been laid off. I don't know about you, but I was unprepared for the idea of museum layoffs, especially in the numbers I have seen. I have heard from several colleagues who have been prepping their CVs, just in case. And several whose museums have laid off staff. We've avoided that so far, but I'll admit, I worry.

AAM has created a forum to help museums navigate this scary time. http://www.aam-us.org/survivalguide.cfm 

Breaking News: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) has introduced an amendment to prohibit any funds in the economic stimulus bill from going to any museum. The language of the amendment, (Amendment No. 175, as filed) is, "None of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for any casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, swimming pool, stadium, community park, museum, theater, arts center, or highway beautification project, including renovation, remodeling, construction, salaries, furniture, zero-gravity chairs, big screen televisions, beautification, rotating pastel lights, and dry heat saunas."

Personally, I'm a bit peeved at the implication that funds would go to zero-gravity chairs, tvs, or saunas. All of these businesses, casinos included, employ people - people who need jobs. They bring dollars to the economy. Why do we continue to see this as wasteful spending? Have we learned nothing from the collapse of big Wall Street? THAT is wasteful spending - money for the arts is not.

Call your senator NOW to tell them to vote NO on Amendment 175

Just for fun!

So, I've become a Twitter-aholic. I check it throughout the day, and love posting silly things. I kept wondering, how can our museum use Twitter in a fun way.

Well, leave it to Nina Simon to come up with a great guide! She created a wonderful post about using Twitter well. (I tend to think that Twitter is the powerpoint of social networking - a soon to be overused tool that will result in too many institutions doing the same thing) 

Anyway, she posted that she'd love to see a Twitter feed about the funny things that visitors say in museums. Now, two of my other obsessions are Post Secret and Overheard in NYC. So, what a chance to combine! So, I've created a secondary account - https://twitter.com/OverheardMuseum - to post those to. Looking at ways to make this communal. Maybe by AAM or Museums and the Web we can all be posting away!

Happy 2009!

Wow, back at work and things are moving! Not sure what possessed me to close two exhibits on the same day, but its a bit of a juggle. Thankfully, the Stagehands are great, the OMSI tech is super, and our team is always awesome, so I can rest assured that all is well.

I tend to be one of those people who makes resolutions and keeps them for about a week. Lose weight, quit drinking pop, stop biting my nails, etc. So, we'll see how this one goes, but I am going to try to post to this blog more this year. I won't have my Critical Approaches class as an outlet for museum-y thinking, and this year may prove to be very interesting for me.

So, what does Sarah's year hold?

Opening TCM's newest traveler - an interesting chance to be both vendor and client. It's always gratifying to see your colleagues hard work realized.

A new welcome center and a new permanent exhibit - in light of a recent project on space and comfort in museums, I'll be interested in how the new space works for us.

A revision of our holiday exhibit - how do you do a holiday exhibit that includes Santa but isnt about Christmas? And, can two Catholics, a non-descript Theist, a Jew and two Atheists create a holiday show? We'll see, eh?

A soon to be announced exhibit that has me tickled pink. :)

And Tut. Oh Tut. 

This will be our first blockbuster exhibit experience. Its been fascinating so far, looking at the machine of the blockbuster. I'm looking forward to posting on the process and what I am learning.

I'm also planning to visit some big exhibits this year, including the Harry Potter exhibit in Chicago. Look for reviews as I can. Its always difficult for me to do a real review of an exhibit, especially one that we might be bringing in - or one created by a company we might want to work with. I'm trying to work on being honest yet positive. 

That's all for now. Happy New Year everyone!

How the Grinch Flayed Christmas

OK. I am all for holiday theming in museums. You wanna throw a wreath on a door? Put stockings over the hearth? A menorah in the window? Maybe, say...a red nose on a dinosaur?

Fine.

But this??? NO.

Meet the newest addition to the BW show at the O2. 

Von Hagens, you are one sick puppy. Someone's getting coal in their stocking, I think.

Top Exhibits of 2008. ORLY?

            This week, Time Magazine and CNN published their Top 10 of Everything for 2008. Included in this myriad of lists was the “Top 10 Museum Exhibitions of 2008.” The 10 exhibits chosen are:

•  Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective – MASS MOCA
•  Gustave Courbet – The Met 
•  El Greco to Velazquez: Art during the Reign of Philip III – MoFA Boston
•  Terra Cotta Warriors and the First Emperor – The Bowers and the High
• Moore in America – NY Botanical Garden
• Louise Bourgeois – Guggenheim and LA MOCA
• Kirchner and the Berlin Street – MOMA
• Bernini – The J Paul Getty Museum/Nat’l Gallery of Canada
• Tara Donovan – Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
• William Eggleston: Democratic Camera – Whitney Museum of American Art

             I have not seen these exhibits, by virtue of economics, time and geography. It would be unfair for me to make judgments on them by virtue of a small photo and a short review in Time Magazine. Nevertheless, I will now proceed to lump them into a group and talk about them.

             All ten exhibits are art exhibits of some sort (One could argue that the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit is a cultural/ethnographic/history exhibit, but it is presented as art). The brief write-ups on each exhibit focus on the content, and on the importance of the artist/culture, rather than the exhibition itself.   It would seem these shows are large – words like “monumental,” “exhaustive,” and “sizeable” pepper the reviews. 

             I would assume, unfairly perhaps, but experience dictates my assumption, that these exhibits are completely object centered, with little to no interactivity. I imagine them littered with lengthy text panels and dense quotes from the curator. I imagine that the point of the exhibit was to highlight the tremendous work done by the artist. And I imagine that for the most part, these exhibits are well outside the comfort level of potential visitors.

             In effect, all of these shows continue to lend credence to the idea of the museum as an impenetrable ivory tower, where the masses come to learn from the learned curators.  I wonder if, and indeed hope that, the top 10 list is not based on audience feedback, earned revenue, visitation, blog posting, etc, but rather on the opinions of a small group of art critics at Time and CNN. It seems more than likely. However, the public does put trust in the recommendations of art critics at such media institutions as The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Time Magazine. If the well-educated critics there think an exhibit is exceptional, it must be so, right? So, I should visit these exhibits if I can, and will try to make myself seem brilliant and cosmopolitan. Even if I really don’t get it.

             And now we find ourselves in a cycle. Museums produce more of the same – object centered exhibits, as opposed to visitor centered ones. Even Time notes that the Coubert exhibit was “old fashioned,” albeit “in the best way — rich, thorough and smart.” So, old-fashioned exhibits are lauded in the press, which gets the attention of donors, visitors, board members, etc. So if Museum A has earned kudos for this sort of exhibit, why couldn’t it work for Museum B? All the while the Community Museum of XYZ is producing groundbreaking programs and exhibits, but is all but invisible to the world at large.

            It brings back to mind the “chain” museum. These 10 exhibits are so homogeneous that they could all be on exhibit at any of the 10+ museums mentioned. There is nothing about any one of these exhibits that speaks to a specific space, community or audience. These are McExhibits. I can only hope that the smaller museums of the world begin to experience the resurgence that “mom and pop” style diners have, or boutique shops and hotels. Wouldn’t it be nice to see one of these on the top 10 for 2009?

AWESOME!

http://jumpinginartmuseums.blogspot.com/

Things like this make me happy. I wish the people sending in photos also sent photos of the reaction from security.

Can we jump in other museums?? Is this a worldwide movement waiting to happen?

Focus. Focus.

Divergent thinking -

Excellent for class discussion, riffing on a topic over a beer, and exploring the ideas of a book or paper.

TERRIBLE for writing a coherent piece on one topic.

Beating my head against a wall. Over and over.