Adrian Ellis on the Recession and U.S. Museums - Mar 13, 2009
by The Center for the Future of Museums News Department
This thoughtful blog post by Adrian Ellis surveys the financial threats to U.S. museums. Apropos of last week’s CFM blog post “the New Borgias,” Mr. Ellis points out weaknesses in relying on the support of the super rich. Such support, he points out, “has left [museums] heavily reliant on, and overly attuned and attentive to, a narrow constituency whose long-term appetite or capacity for support is highly questionable. He offers three ideas regarding how museums may respond to the fiscal challenge:
by The Center for the Future of Museums News Department
This thoughtful blog post by Adrian Ellis surveys the financial threats to U.S. museums. Apropos of last week’s CFM blog post “the New Borgias,” Mr. Ellis points out weaknesses in relying on the support of the super rich. Such support, he points out, “has left [museums] heavily reliant on, and overly attuned and attentive to, a narrow constituency whose long-term appetite or capacity for support is highly questionable. He offers three ideas regarding how museums may respond to the fiscal challenge:
- A shift in museum agendas from physical expansion and temporary exhibits to community engagement
- Exploration of ways of capitalizing collections
- Collective action, including collection sharing, joint acquisitions, pooling conservation resources, and pooling curatorial appointments