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Leon Paroissien in his paper "Museum governance and funding: International issues requiring local analysis and informed solutions" [LINK] says "ICOM's [International Council of Museums]own Code of Ethics for Museums (2006) remains quite brief in its coverage of the responsibilities of governing bodies. It states the most basic principles and conditions required for a museum to be an institution that serves the public interest:
Institutional Standing
1.1 Enabling Documentation The governing body should ensure that the museum has a written and published constitution, statute, or other public document in accordance with national laws, which clearly states the museum's legal status, mission, permanence and non-profit nature.
1.2 Statement of the Mission, Objectives and Policies
The governing body should prepare, publicise and be guided by a statement of the mission, objectives and policies of the museum and the role and composition of the governing body."
This would seem to firmly establish the ground rules for 'industry best practice' and a backdrop against which comparisons between institutions can be made. Increasingly, public museums and art galleries are publishing detailed information relative to their governance and policy sets. It can be assumed that they are doing so, at least in part, to comply with ICOM's Code of Ethics and in order to be open and transparent institutions so as they can be seen as being accountable.
"[Museums today are contested spaces and] necessarily require a rethinking of the way museums have engaged and connected with communities, stakeholders [Communities of Ownership & Interest] and media in the past and how these modes of engagement can be extended and transformed to embrace the special relationship required for the proper engagement of potentially controversial subjects. To read more click here ... Fiona Cameron – Transcending fear - engaging emotions and opinions - a case for museums in the 21st century ...
In order to start to draw some comparisons it is useful to establish the status quo at the QVMAG. Given that the QVMAG's institutional standing is ambiguous in ICOM terms, published governance models elsewhere should provide useful references for the QVMAG to comply with the ICOM Code of Ethics and 'industry best practice' – albeit that 'industry' is not the best way of understanding the paradigm museums and art galleries operate within.
The issue at hand is one on compliance rather than one of discovering or inventing a functional mode of governance for the QVMAG. Compliant institutions elsewhere offer models from which the QVMAG may borrow in establishing its 21st C governance model. Some are:
• The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery is the first and obvious one in that it is the QVMAG sister institution in Tasmania, is governed by Board of Trustees (BoT) that meets ICOM standards ... click here for an overview
• The Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory is often compared with the QVMAG because the institution is both a 'museum and art gallery' and one of the three that are often compared with each other – TMAG, QVMAG & MAGNT.
• Te PapaTongerawa Museum of New Zealand is a useful reference in regard to the handling of sensitive cultural property and the consequences of this in museum governance and management.
• The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney is a useful reference in that the institution's website is an exemplar of openness and transparency in regard to articulating its governance structure, policies and reporting – by comparison the Art Gallery of NSW is relatively opaque.
• The Australian Museum in Sydney is a useful reference in that the institution's website is an exemplar of openness and transparency in regard to articulating its governance structure, policies and reporting
• The Getty Trust (USA) is a useful reference in that the institution's website is an exemplar of the level of openness and transparency relative to governance structure, policies and reporting that can be achieved online.
• The Art Gallery of Ballarat is a particularly useful reference, albeit that the institution does not provide governance information online, given that it has recently reviewed and updated its constitution. Essentially, the constitution conforms quite closely to the article of association for almost any incorporated not-for-profit organisation and at the same time reflects the intent of the Govt. Acts, constitutions, indentures, charters etc. for larger and comparable institutions – which is largely as it should be.
• Museums Australia is a key reference for professional standards in museum management that reflect the standards of governance museum professionals need to work with.
An exhaustive investigation might well be launched to thougherly test one exemplar against another. However, in the QVMAG's case there is a lack of a formal constitution that states the institution's purpose for being and the objectives that have been set for it to achieve a more profitable exercise would be to take one exemplar and test it against the QVMAG's circumstances.
On the face of it the recently revised Art Gallery of Ballarat constitution seems to offer a workable exemplar that would fit the QVMAG's circumstances albeit that there would need to be adjustments made for it to truly do so.
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