[BCMA] pros/cons of being a Municipal Museum/archives.....Arms length with Council?

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

Catherine Cole asked a good question on Dec 22 "about whether it is
important to have an arms-length relationship to Council or not." My
earlier posting of course could not cover all aspects.

The relationship between museum staff and the governing authority - be
it the board of a society or a municipal council is I think basically the
same and like any relationship, is one that is littered with pitfalls.

Yes, there should be a form of "arms-length relationship" between a
governing authority and a museum's staff. They have different roles to play.

In my museum career I experienced examples of "cross-over of authority"
(i.e. stepping on toes) where a Chairman of the Board offered to donate his
mother's piano, fresh from England. Mutual respect had been established
previously and I was able to gently talk talk him out of that one but a new
Curator who was intimidated might not be able to do so. In another case a
Mayor made a commitment not only to accept a donation without consulting
with staff, and was so enthusiastic about the artifact that the Mayor
promised that it would always be displayed in the museum. I was able to
meet with the Mayor and explain how the system should work, so I doubt that
it will happen again, because the Mayor simply got so excited about the
donation offer (who does he think he is anyways, a Curator? ;-) but the
promise to the donor is tricky as only the donor could really rescind that
promise, ideally at the Mayor's request. Bottom line - professionals can be
over-ruled whether it be in a municipal or society run operation. An
occasional incident is usually not the end of the World, though repeated
intervention is a real problem. Don't become angry with your governing body
if they have not been educated as to how things should work, because
ignorance is not a reason to punish someone.

Gifts to the Mayor and Council are a special category. A number of
municipal museums have been tasked with receiving and storing these
artifacts. New Westminster and Richmond chose to accession these
artifacts in a distinct way. At some point there should be mutually agreed
upon guidelines, in particular retention schedules or guidelines. A plaque
from a visiting American warship in 1986, a thank you plaque from the Girl
Guides for 1973 fund raising or a gift from visiting business delegation
from China probably have minimal historic value to the municipality,
whereas the first rotary telephone in City Hall or a gift from an official
"sister city" have more relevance. In this case staff should negotiate with
Mayor and Council about what should be saved long term. An aspect of this
is that gifts to the current Mayor and Council might have a special proviso
of being retained as long as they are in office. I think Mayors and
Councils are more likely to agree to deaccessioning items that were
received by their predecessors.

I believe that the best prevention for this "stepping on toes" in
general is:
1. A good set of policies (developed by staff and the governing body,
ideally with outside professional advice).
2. Good training packages and sessions for staff and governing authority
members.
3. Clear job descriptions for staff and for governing body members.
4. A good working relationship between staff and governors where
communication, mutual trust and respect are in place.

Of course when an election happens (society or municipal) one may be back
at square one again or even behind the 8-ball, as every elected person
comes in with some form of agenda/election platform. If you think you are
the only one who has this problem, go and watch the Sidney Poitier movie
"To Sir With Love." After many trials and tribulations over a school year,
he leads his class into adulthood and a good working relationship, but then
the new school year brings a new crop of rowdy students and he has to start
all over again - but with the confidence and knowledge that he has
succeeded in the past.

If the stepping on toes continues to happen, then the professionals should
request a meeting with the offender and try to respectfully educate them in
private. Many years ago I learned as an Army officer that ideally one
should not chastise someone in public because it embarrasses them and they
become defensive and not receptive to listening or learning. If that fails,
then start looking for a new job, because as the saying goes, you can't
fight city hall.

I will say that museums in general are not as arrogant as some art
galleries. I have seen an art gallery group DEMANDING that the gallery have
100% autonomy from municipal government intervention even though they
expected to receive the bulk of their funding from that municipality.
"Artistic freedom" and "stop censorship" would be their call to the
colours. The were adamant that even though they would take the municipal
tax money that they would not tolerate municipal council having any say or
veto power over what they would exhibit. I find that to be an arrogant
attitude and feel that the above points on policy etc. should make a
workable situation. If I were a municipal councillor, responsible to the
tax payers for how their money is spent, I would never agree to a total
hands-off situation. It is too much like the unaccounted for tax money
spent on in the US on NSA and CIA covert operations. Controversial exhibits
like the "Piss Popes" would be a real test of a relationship between a
governing body and staff. If you want to do really controversial exhibits
then perhaps the building and the funding for the gallery should not come
from taxpayers' money because the Mayor and Council are accountable to the
taxpayers.

Colin Stevens
Richmond, BC


On 22 December 2011 15:59, Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. <
bcma at lists.vvv.com> wrote:

> I also really enjoyed your analysis. Maybe I should send you a cheque too
> as clients often ask me to weigh in on the pros and cons. I was intrigued
> that you didn’t say anything about whether it was important to have an
> arms-length relationship to Council or not? Have you not had experiences
> with politicians who accept artifacts on your behalf that don’t fit your
> collections policy, or who commit you to mounting exhibitions on their pet
> subjects, or who insist you remove a photo of them with a particular
> politician that they don’t want to be associated with, or who won’t touch
> subjects that are too controversial or don’t present the governing view? Is
> there a difference in your experience between politicians and governing
> boards in terms of overruling professionalism?****
>
> Cheers,****
>
> Catherine****
>
> ** **
>
> Catherine C. Cole****
>
> Principal Consultant****
>
> Catherine C. Cole & Associates****
>
> 10023 93 Street****
>
> Edmonton, Alberta****
>
> CANADA, T5H 1W6****
>
> phone/fax: 780-424-2229****
>
> CatherineC.Cole at telus.net  ****
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* bcma-bounces at lists.vvv.com [mailto:bcma-bounces at lists.vvv.com] *On
> Behalf Of *Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.
> *Sent:* Wednesday, December 21, 2011 2:37 AM
> *To:* bcma at lists.vvv.com
>
> *Subject:* Re: [BCMA] pros/cons of being a Municipal Museum/archives.....*
> ***
>
> ** **
>
> Thank you sir for those kind words. Your cheque is in the mail Dan. Oops!
> Was that in my outside voice?****
>
> ;-)****
>
>
> Colin Stevens****
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone****
>
>
> On 2011-12-20, at 4:45 PM, "Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv." <
> bcma at lists.vvv.com> wrote:****
>
> Colin has outdone himself this time; have never seen so pertinent,
> pointed, or exhaustive a set of experiences/observations/insights on
> community museum management in Canada as what he's written here.****
>
>  ****
>
> In terms of morale, we all ought to print and keep this item handy for
> those dark hours ahead - the bright ones, too.****
>
>  ****
>
> Dan Gallacher****
>
>  ****
>
> ----- Original Message ----- ****
>
> *From:* Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. <bcma at lists.vvv.com> ****
>
> *To:* bcma at lists.vvv.com ; curator at whistlermuseum.org ****
>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, December 20, 2011 12:15 AM****
>
> *Subject:* Re: [BCMA] pros/cons of being a Municipal Museum/archives.....*
> ***
>
> ** **
>
> 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****
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> 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) ****
>
> * eBay seaforth_highlander and museum_curator****
>
> ** **
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-- 
Colin MacGregor Stevens
Richmond, British Columbia,
CANADA
Captain (Retired); Museum Manager (Retired)
Researcher, collector & author
Specializing in WWII Canadian special units such as:
1 Canadian Parachute Battalion; 1st Special Service Force; Force 136 of
S.O.,E.; MI-9; Commandos etc. and Canadians on special service.
604-341-1917      seaforth72 at gmail.com      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)
* eBay identities: seaforth_highlander and museum_curator
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