What Does it Take to Run a Museum? The Job Description Is Changing.
The New York Times Its not only about the art anymore: Todays museum leaders must increasingly confront staff revolts and calls to return looted art while navigating labor unrest and social justice controversies.
Art world luminaries gathered in the rotunda of the Guggenheim last month to nibble cauliflower shawarma, sip Prosecco and bid farewell to Richard Armstrong, who this summer will conclude his 14-year tenure as the museums director.
The Guggenheim, which is expected to announce his successor soon, is the latest in a series of major museums around the country undergoing leadership changes at a moment when modern cultural institutions are demanding increasingly complicated skill sets. It is no longer only about the art.
There is a generational shift thats taking place at a moment of intense change in the field, said Andrs Sznt, a museum consultant whose book, The Future of the Museum, was published in 2020. The traditional functions of the museum are being expanded very rapidly. In addition to collecting and preserving, now museums are expected to be community-facing, inclusive, engaged in the debates of our time.
