Museum management

Anna Balch ’21, an art history major, interned at the Witte Museum this summer, cataloging and maintaining the Texas art collection.I am intern this summer at the Witte Museum in San Antonio, Texas, as an intern in art collections under the direction of Witte Collections Director Leslie Ochoa. I started my 10 week internship by organizing the works on paper in the Texas Art Collection at the Witte Museum through the rehousing of artwork and updating the museum’s online database. I had many opportunities here and really learned a lot from my internship. I have gained a better understanding of the organization, management and maintenance of a museum’s collections since my time here with the Witte.

Working in a non-profit museum means everyone helps, no matter what their expertise, and for that reason I had the opportunity to help remove exhibits, clean exhibits, take care of preserving works on display in galleries, taking inventory of works of art in galleries and learning the process of lending art to other museums.

My goal during my internship at the Witte Museum was simply to learn the proper procedures for managing the museum’s collections, but what I learned here is far more important. I was able to connect with a multitude of staff, museum donors and the President and CEO, Marise McDermott, of the Witte Museum. I am extremely lucky and grateful to have had the opportunity to interact and speak with these people as they gave me great advice and different perspectives on running a museum. The collections department taught me a lot about the inner workings of an art museum and the importance of curating and organizing works of art and building strong links between donors and other museums. Thanks to these interactions, I have a better perception of the administrative aspect as well as the conservation aspect of what makes the success of a museum.

I overcame the obstacle of feeling too inexperienced to be entrusted with all these responsibilities within the care of the different collections. However, my supervisors are extremely nice and make every task an opportunity for me to learn, such as the proper procedures that take place in museum management and the vocabulary needed for the conservation of art, which has really benefited me. my storage reports. During my internship, a group of interns were able to sit casually with McDermott and we talked about leadership, passion and even feelings of doubt. McDermott gave us words of encouragement when he felt unskilled, stating that you can’t learn anything unless you try it yourself. She also encouraged us to surround ourselves with creative people who will know how to support you and help you overcome the obstacles of doubt.

McDermott gave us words of encouragement when he felt unskilled, stating that you can’t learn anything unless you try it yourself.

The biggest advantage of an internship at the Witte Museum is the passionate staff; all of the members I have met love their work at the museum because of how inclusive and creative each is. I have spent a lot of time working in the collections department, and although they are always busy, they never complain about the tasks at hand due to the passion they feel for their work. Working alongside these people strengthens my love for art, and I look forward to exploring other artistic opportunities.

My internship allowed me to deepen my knowledge of the history of Texan art and the way in which it has greatly contributed to the construction of Texan culture. Through different techniques, styles and genres of Texan art, I applied my previous knowledge of art history to my internship and learned new concepts about how Texan culture introduced new techniques in different artistic style movements. During my stay at Le Witte, I have met many different people who are in one way or another entangled in the art world, whether by choice or by accident. Two career paths that intrigued me the most happened when I discovered different art curators and art curators, each sounding like an incredible path that I would like to explore more after graduation.

Hands-on training in museum and arts management where you will learn crafts, performing arts, organize and run an exhibition, all on your own. Sounds interesting, right? This is what DakshinaChitra will offer you if you are selected for an internship in museum and arts management which is taking place for the fourth year in a row. The number of places available this year is ten and it is a one-year internship. The deadline for submitting applications is May 31, 2019.

The interns would work with the different departments of the museum. “This is a unique type of learning. They will be trained on conservation, exhibition, education, cultural tourism, libraries, exhibitions, museum collection, guesthouses and also festivals. from South India, they will learn all about how a museum works, ”said Sharath Nambiar, Deputy Director of DakshinaChitra.

Besides the above training, there are other additional conferences that trainees can attend. “They have two conferences a week on art, history, Europe and art, Indian art and museology,” he said.

Interested applicants should submit an application and are asked to send a two-page Expression of Interest emphasizing their interest in the field. “We insist that the candidate has a minimum degree. But we really want people who are passionate about the arts and interested in making it a career choice,” he said.

There is no age limit. Applicants receive a stipend of Rs 10,000 per month. Transportation is provided from the Besant Nagar office in DakshinaChitra.

In addition, trainees will visit different museums, galleries and also attend workshops. The highlight of this internship is that they receive hands-on training which would be useful for their career as there are fewer qualified people in the field. “New museums and galleries are emerging. So there is a huge demand for qualified students and trainees. Many of our students have already gone to work in major museums in India and some are working abroad. Some have started to do their doctorates in the arts. A few of them have also created their own cultural institutions, ”Nambiar said.

II DID NOT TAKE a lot. A theatrical die-in at the New York Guggenheim Museum in February; a threat from Nan Goldin, a photographer, to remove her works from the National Portrait Gallery in London; a warning about unspecified “guerrilla actions” against UK museums. Since mid-March, the Guggenheim, the National Portrait Gallery and the galleries of the Tate have all cracked. None will accept future gifts from the Sackler family, prolific philanthropists who own Purdue Pharma, a company that created an opioid, OxyContin, and claimed it was not very addicting.

Western museums will therefore be a little poorer. They might also have less to show if a different type of campaign prevails. In November, a report commissioned by Emmanuel Macron, the French president, argued that museums should return works of art acquired by force or “under unfair conditions” to the former colonies. Colonialism being inequitable, this implies that France must return almost everything (see International section).

For museums and their supporters, this is all silly – a reckless attack on cultural temples by a generation all too easily outraged. But the countryside must be distinguished from one another. The arguments for making art acquired in a dubious way are stronger than the arguments for making money.

To take a blatant example of looted art, Benin’s bronzes were stolen from a royal palace in present-day Nigeria during a punitive British expedition in 1897, then flogged to finance the raid. They ended up in European and American museums. Because the raid cannot be defended, and because the bronzes would make more sense as a group, they would have to go back.

Some would say that returned items are likely to be poorly preserved, stolen or destroyed by jihadists, as has sometimes happened. Besides, if you start rendering things, where do you stop? The first is a concern. The risk can be minimized, but not eradicated, by making copies and returning items only to reasonably stable countries. Nigeria are close to qualifying. The Democratic Republic of Congo does not.

The second argument is wrong. It is already accepted that recently stolen objects must be returned, such as when, in February, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York delivered to Egypt a golden coffin which turned out to have been looted in 2011. It is now admitted that art taken from the Jews by the Nazis should be returned to their descendants. It shows that a line between the intolerable and pretty much tolerable, between the past and the distant past can be drawn – and shifted – without a free-for-all in which vast amounts of art are suddenly up for grabs. Items obviously stolen in colonial times belong to the intolerable side of the line and must be returned.

Campaigns against corrupt philanthropy are weaker, however. If the money was earned legally, museums should in most cases feel free to accept it. Is it better for humanity to return a bag of money to the Sacklers, or to spend it on bringing culture to multitudes? Of course, museums should not accept stolen money. And if they decide that the reputational risk of taking a particular donation isn’t worth it, fine. But they should remember that controversies can be fleeting, and their successors can curse them for their disgust.

Those who speak out against the laundering of corporate reputations through charity are forgetting something: it does not work well. Not all of their good works prevented Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller from being called back as thief barons. The Sacklers are the butt of protests in part because the last name appears on so many buildings, not despite it. Big donors seem so suspicious that it is sometimes said that Henry Tate, a sugar baron who established the London Museum, profited from slavery, although he did not. (Indeed, he was an unusually kind employer.) People donate to museums in the hope that they will be remembered. All they really accomplish is remember.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the title “Culture vultures”

Following protests over labor issues at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, MoMA Local 2110 union announced this morning that it had reached an agreement for a new contract with the management of the institution. The five-year contract will include a new structure to offer certain employees salary increases and salary increases as well as changes to the MoMA healthcare plan.

In a statement, Maida Rosenstein, president of United Auto Workers Local 2110, said: “We attribute much of the museum’s retractions to the dedicated efforts and perseverance of our members, who have spent months to donate their time to our activism and in record numbers to participate in collective action, as well as the resounding vocal support of our colleagues, friends and the general public.

“MoMA has an amazing staff and we are delighted with the fair and amicable resolution we have achieved with Local 2110,” a MoMA spokesperson said in a statement. “We believe this five-year contract will keep our dedicated staff and the museum on a path to financial stability and future growth. “

As part of the new contract, MoMA will offer a seniority step program that will offer increases to workers after certain periods of time, which the museum had previously sought to eliminate, according to the union. The employee’s share of the costs of family health coverage will not increase and individual coverage will not require employee contributions. The union also said in a statement that guidelines for tuition, paid family leave, commissions and business benefits for members of MoMA’s retail and visitor engagement department have improved.

The news follows two events this summer at the museum that garnered attention – one in May at MoMA’s Party in the Garden gala and another earlier this month that started in the museum lobby. Rosenstein said ARTnews last May that negotiations between the union and MoMA had started in April and that they “were not making good progress”. During both actions, union employees could be seen holding signs reading “MODERN ART OLD SALARY“And” #WeAreMoMA. At the latter, gestures included chanting the world’s industrial workers standard “Solidarity Forever,” with updated lyrics to refer to the museum.

In a statement this morning, Megan Grann, Local 2110 Steward and Sales Specialist, said: “We couldn’t have done it alone, and we are so moved by the incredible show of solidarity throughout. along this process.

Union workers at the Illinois State Museum, closed to the public since Oct. 1 due to state budget issues, handle curatorial work and other duties, while about two-thirds of management of the museum have retired or found other work.

“The curatorial work has to be done every day, and without the public being there, that left more time for some of these things,” said Guerry Suggs, chairman of the board of the State Museum of the Illinois. “These employees who have dealt with the public are doing all they can. There is productive work to be done.

The State Museum has approximately 13.5 million objects in its collection.

Background

Without a state budget for the fiscal year that began July 1, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration estimated it could save $ 4.8 million by shutting down the state museum and branch sites of Dickson Mounds, Lockport, Rend Lake and the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago.

But a lawsuit filed in St. Clair County by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees has at least temporarily halted the layoffs of about 150 people employed at the museum and other agencies in the l ‘State. Rauner ordered employees to continue to report to work, but closed the museum and related sites to the public.

However, the administration continued with layoffs for the museum’s management team, made up of 10 to 12 members.

The Illinois Senate passed a bill in August to keep the museum open, and the House passed it last month. The bill states that Illinois will operate a system of state museums at its current sites and that the sites should be open to the public. It also requires the state to operate a research and collections center in Springfield and to maintain access to those collections.

And after?

Suggs said the bill was handed over to Rauner on December 9, and the governor had 60 days from that date to sign the bill, veto it or do nothing, after which it would become law. The legislature passed the bill with more than enough votes to override a veto.

Suggs said he believes that even if the governor signs the bill – it is currently “under advisement” – it will amount to nothing more than an unfunded tenure. He thinks it’s a long shot that the museum would reopen without a new budget.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which manages the museum system, is also hoping for action on the budget front.

“We’re still waiting for a budget to see what resources are available,” DNR spokesman Chris Young said.

Suggs said he believes the bill, if it becomes law, will help the museum in the future.

“Governors would be less likely to close the museum because the bill would give us the same status as the state fair,” he said.

If the museum reopens, Suggs said only three or four members of the management team, who ceased to be paid when the museum closed, would be available for recall. The rest have retired or taken other jobs, he said.

– Contact Chris Dettro: [email protected], 788-1510, twitter.com/ChrisDettroSJR.