[BCMA] pros/cons of being a Municipal Museum/archives.....

Tue Dec 20 00:15:24 PST 2011

Here are some comments from one who has worked for several societies, for
several municipalities, as well as for federal national historic sites and
parks. I also went through a transition between society and municipal
governance for museums and in another case was on the scene a few
years after such a transition had occurred, clearing up loose ends.

*PRO MUNICIPAL GOVERNANCE OF MUSEUM & ARCHIVES
** Steadier funding
* Union wages usually for the staff.
* Manager/Director may well be Exempt Staff, meaning they are outside
of the Union, so that in event of a strike they can the cross-picket lines
to ensure that the collection and facility are safe.
* Good wages usually.
* Note that Exempt staff are *NOT* protected - no matter what they may say
about an "Old Boy Network of Managers" backing each other up. I have worked
as both a Unionized Curator and as Exempt Manager.
* Annual union negotiated pay increases possibly. Some municipalities have
wage freezes on, so it varies. Many try to at least keep up with cost of
living.
* Good benefits - Dental, medical, paid vacation, stat holidays (if full
time.) Auxilliary i.e. part time staff, usually get about 12% in lieu of
benefits.
* Pensions (This beats having to save 1.5 million or so dollars for
retirement on a Society Curator's wages)
* Access to Capital Project funds (Usually one-shot projects usually over
$5,000 to $10,000 such as a new building or new roof) In a city, capital
funds are usually by department and there are limits. Kind of like a
Christmas shopping list -  a little present for everybody or somebody gets
a new bike this year, and someone else gets one next year instead of each
getting unicycle.
* There is always money in the bank to pay salaries - main condition is you
are supposed to stay within budget. Surprisingly one is not supposed to
have large amounts of unspent money either. One is expected to come in on
or just under the budget.
* More stable governance - The senior people one deals with in a City staff
are professionals, though with human frailties. They are used to dealing
with big budgets, often including multi-million dollar budgets.
* A Union means rules for proper treatment of staff and far fewer arbitrary
actions such as dismissals. In a society, one may have professional
business people on the Board and one is almost certainly going to have
amateurs who may be excellent or .... well, the opposite. For example one
Society President I served under as Curator was a retired coal miner. He
was elected as President the same evening that he joined the Society. When
later told that the museum's annual budget was $25,000 ($20,000 for me and
$5,000 for all other museum expenses) he freaked out and announced to me
that he would work to raise the $5,000 for the museum but that he expected
me to raise my own salary! At the same museum I had 5 Presidents of the
Board in 3 years. One was the Mayor who was professional in his approach
due to his years of experience in municipal government, then there was a
good President, a bad one, a good one and finally another bad one. The
final one refused to consider any fund raising ideas and laid me off. None
of the staff could understand why ... until after I had moved on to an
Executive Director position at a National Exhibition Centre, the President
of the Board hired himself as the Curator! It had been a rough
roller-coaster ride - I was doing the same quality of work (e.g. attendance
went up over 1,000% in 2 years) but was portrayed as a great success or a
great failure by the good/bad Presidents.
* Within a Society governing a museum and archives, one can easily end up
with cliques on the Board. These best solution is a good strong President
but staff have no control over this though they can sometimes influence
matters by helping to train Board members etc. A bad President can be a
huge problem too however.
* People serving on Boards of Societies can mean well, or they may be on
the Board for selfish motives - e.g. power, prestige, to have a high
community profile especially if they have political aspirations or a desire
for hands-on operation of the museum and archives (something Board members
should not do normally). Education of Boards is critical. The most
simplistic version of the role of boards is that Board members should Give
money, Get Money or Get out. In reality in addition to raising money to
operate the facility, they should also set the policies (ideally with
professional staff advising them), hire a Director/Manager and then step
out of the way. By the way - to Educate Boards you usually have to bring in
outside consultants, who will usually say exactly what the staff have been
saying all along, but because they are "consultants" and not employees,
they are listened to.
**
*CON MUNICIPAL MUSEUM & ARCHIVES
** Some grants are not accessible directly to municipally run museums e.g.
BC Gaming grants. The BC Arts Council does not like funding municipally
governed museums but depending upon the governance model, they may agree to
do so - It is best to talk with them in advance.
* If there is not enough money in the bank, you can't be paid your wages.
(Been there, done that. It is hard to feed a family that way.)
* Some municipalities have community grant programs (e.g. New Westminster)
but municipal organizations may not apply. Societies such as a Friends
Society probably can apply.
* If the Museum/Archives has a problem with Management of the City
department, there may be no group to lobby on its behalf. "You can't fight
city hall" and if Management in the municipality is stacked against you,
the political wing is a dangerous option.  The usual choice is one of staff
moving on or retiring if that is an option.
* Museum is more expensive to run e.g. summer students paid at union wages
not minimum wages.
* Museums in a municipal system have to compete with aging municipal
infrastructure e.g. swimming pools and community centres for limited
capital funds. A city may prioritize and say only projects that deal with
safety issues or prolong the integrity of a building (thus a restoration of
a heritage house room being "cosmetic" and not safety or essential
maintenance, might not qualify and gets deferred for several more years...
again.)
* "Meetings bloody meetings" as a training film starring John Cleese says
in its title. Very true!
* A lot more bureaucracy! Many reports, budgets, plans etc.
* Museums and archives are not only the "little fish in the big pond" but
also tend to be the salamander in amongst the fish. Sometimes they are
respected and well treated, sometimes not as they are an odd breed in
amongst sports oriented facilities for example. A lot depends upon the
Director of the Parks (or whichever) department. Under one Director of
Parks, the Burnaby Village Museum was well respected and welcomed. This
changed under a subsequent Director.

*THE TRANSITION BETWEEN SOCIETY RUN TO MUNICIPALLY RUN*
This transition can be smooth or rough. It depends mainly if it is
voluntary on the part of both parties.
Issues include:
* Ownership of the collection.
* What do do with any funds e.g. bequests and investments. In one case I
was involved in, the old Board, sat on over $100,000 for about 10 years
before transferring it to the municipality run museum.
* Staff transfer.
* Future role of the society and Board e.g. Do they continue? If so, would
it be as a governing body - not usually the case with a municipality - or
more likely as advisory or supportive "Firends" body?
* Capital projects during transition - take care of the essentials such
ensuring that the roof does not leak.

*MUSEUMS & ARCHIVES TOGETHER OR SEPARATE?
** Some municipalities put their museums and archives together under one
administration (e.g. New Westminster) whereas others split them e.g. in
Richmond the museum is under Parks and the Archives are under the Clerk's
Department. Burnaby's archives were split in three  - Clerk's (at SFU
Archives), Historical Society's archives and Museum's archives. As
Curator for Burnaby I brought all three archives together from humid
sub-standard storage sites into one facility with modern archival shelving
with the museum, but the city's senior officials lied to the city's own
museum staff and removed the archives. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa
Claus, but life is not fair.

*WHERE TO PUT MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES?
** Most cities put museums and archives into their Parks Department.
Sometimes the word "Culture" is added. A problem arises in the definition
of "Culture" as to some it means art but not heritage and even if it does
include heritage,  in some people's definitions heritage is about old
buildings and trees and does not always include museums.
Colin Stevens
Richmond, BC

On 8 November 2011 15:02, Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. <
bcma at lists.vvv.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I have a quick question.  Would you be willing to share with me some of
> the benefits and drawbacks of being a municipal museum/archives? Does being
> an entity of a municipality limit your ability to apply for grants?  Has
> there been a pronounced change in your ability to fundraise?  What's great
> about being a municipal museum?
>
> Please feel free to e-mail your comments to curator at whistlermuseum.org.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Leah
>
> --
> Whistler Museum and Archives Society
> 4333 Main Street
> Whistler, BC   V0N 1B4
> behind the Library
> Tel: 604-932-2019  Fax: 604-932-2077
> email: info at whistlermuseum.org
> web: www.whistlermuseum.org
>
> _______________________________________________
> BCMA mailing list
> BCMA at lists.vvv.com
> http://lists.vvv.com/mailman/listinfo/bcma
>
>

-- 
Colin MacGregor Stevens
Richmond, British Columbia,
CANADA

* Web site: http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net
* Military Vehicle Preservation Association # 954 (since 1977)
* Author of "The Ferret Scout Car in Canadian Service" by Service
Publications (Dec. 2009)
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