Assessing and Improving the Effectiveness of Private Art Museums

Abstract

This chapter addresses a practical managerial problem—how to design a performance framework for private art foundations—and aims to construct a model using balanced scorecard (BSC) architecture, which integrates quantitative and qualitative criteria and examines performance and accountability expectations from both an internal perspective and an external, public-oriented perspective. In this way philanthropic funders can better define, assess, and improve their effectiveness—and, as a result, their intended impact. The application of the balanced scorecard approach to a private museum is discussed in detail and conclusions regarding the use of the balanced scorecard in a not-for-profit organization are presented. The appendix gathers together interviews with renowned museum directors and sheds light on their attitudes toward performance assessment. The interviewees are: Julia Peyton-Jones (Co-Director, Serpentine Gallery), Lars Nittve (Director, M+), James Bradburne (Director, Pinacoteca di Brera) and Elizabeth Macgregor (Director, MCA Australia).

Appendix

1.1 Lars Nittve

Lars Nittve has been Executive Director of M+, a museum of visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District of Hong Kong, since 2011. He was Chief Curator of the Moderna Museet in Stockholm (1986–1990); the founding Director of Rooseum—Center for Contemporary Art—in Malmö, Sweden (1990–1995); Director of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebaek, Denmark (1995–1998); Founding Director of Tate Modern in London (1998–2001) and Director of the Moderna Museet in Stockholm (2001–2010). Lars Nittve studied at the Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm University and New York University.

Alessia Zorloni

As a leader of a non-profit arts and culture institution, what are some of the unique challenges you face?

Lars Nittve

The single and unique difference compared to any type of business is of course that you in a non-profit arts and culture organization do not have a single, well defined goal to work against. In any business, you have to create a return on investment. It may be long term or short term, but there is always someone expecting a return on investment, and this is the ultimate success criteria. In a cultural organization there are always many and often conflicting goals and success criteria involved: a large audience; critical recognition; international recognition; local public trust; reaching new audiences. They may be defined by the government or funder, the history of the institution or the present management. The only way to lead in such a maze of conflicting success criteria (and they are often many more than the above) is to move away from leading by goals and targets and towards a leadership by vision. The vision has to be a “story” or set of stories that can be used in all types of decision-making, from program and acquisitions to basically what kind of coffee that should be served in the museum café. And the story should be “owned” by the entire staff and be reflected in every part of the institution. To get this right is the main challenge—everything else comes after.

AZ

When can a museum be defined as successful?

LN

As a consequence of the above, a museum is successful when it reflects the vision. Of course, when writing the annual report, a statement like that may not be sufficient, so the success in realizing the vision must be broken down in a number of criteria. It may be visitor numbers; it may be the percentage of first time visitors; degree of digital access and use of the museum’s digital platforms; it may be local and international critical recognition; professional reputation; it may be financial targets which may mean that you can be uncompromising in what you show and how you do it, but also, if you are a museum of modern and contemporary art, your ability to, for example, attract a large and broad audience of “art lovers”, while at the same time being seen as a relevant and exciting place for the young artists in the city and their entourage. Most likely it will actually be a mix of all the above. The interesting thing is that we all—all of us who work in the field—actually know when a museum is successful. It is about a whole, reflected in many details. Consequently, the details can also expose a museum on the decline, before it for example has started to lose its audience.

AZ

How do you assess the potential success of a particular exhibition, given the need to balance artistic direction and business development?

LN

The moment you choose to make an exhibition for business reasons, say to save a budget, you have put the carriage in front of the horse and will find yourself on a sloping floor. The trick is to balance the program over at least a 2-year period, so you can get the cost/income ratio right. There are always exhibitions that can be both net-income generating and artistically meaningful and “necessary” from an artistic point of view. Usually these exhibitions cannot be imported exhibitions, produced elsewhere, but have to be tailor-made for the specific situation your museum is in. This requires long term planning and that the team is good at generating ideas. You can never predict the numeric success of an exhibition, and the thinking has to be similar to a good magazine editor: the successful magazine is the one where the reader, when opening the magazine says “this is exactly what I wanted to read—but I had no idea I had that wish”. It is ultimately about timing. And just as important to hit it “right’ from the broad public’s point of view with a certain frequency, it is important to be seen as taking “risks”, to be out there early, to be a trailblazer. The museum that just produces blockbusters will lose public trust over time.

AZ

In terms of measuring success, and not just in terms of counting visitors, what other indicators or metrics do you use to gauge how well you are performing?

LN

The available metrics are limited. They may be visitor numbers; visitor mix; use of the digital platform; press, both international and local and categorized and measured along a positive-negative scale; it can be number of invitations for collaborations by other leading museums; loan requests (reflecting the quality of the collection and how well recognized it is); participation in educational programs etc.

AZ

According to your experience as a museum director, what are the most important factors affecting a museum’s excellence?

LN

Getting a good vision in place, seeing it integrated in the museum’s entire culture is critical. Everything else, as a matter of fact comes out of that, including your financial strength, which of course has consequences for programme, education, acquisitions, communication etc. The building in itself is over-valued. It should be seen, not as the same as the museum, but as a tool, albeit an important one. Great museums can operate and have success in relatively modest and or mediocre buildings, and mediocre museums can be housed in great buildings.

AZ

What led you to choose this profession?

LN

My trajectory goes from academia to writing to curating to being a director. The ultimate choice had to do with the fact that I myself had a couple of, actually, life changing experiences through art, and I simply wanted to work in that field and try to create opportunities for others to have similar experiences (never believing that everyone, but perhaps just the occasional individual, would get such an experience). Moving from academia and writing to curating was just logical—I just loved the whole experience of curating, which involves the two other roles as well. Why then becoming a director? The simple answer may be that I was not so good at having a boss, so I preferred to be one myself. But I guess it also simply turned out that I actually had many of the extremely diverse skills and talents that need to be embodied in a single person in this strange and difficult role. You should, among many other things, be a respected professional in your field, you should be good with money, be social, a good communicator and writer, a leader and a manager (not the same) etc. As always, when you make a choice, you win something and you lose something. I have not curated so much in the last 17 years, after I took over my first big museum, but I have been closely involved in many curatorial processes.

AZ

What inspires you and motivates you to work in this field, a leading arts institution?

LN

My main driver is still the same—to try to create an optimized platform for the moment when art actually happens—when the art meets its beholder. To create the best possible conditions for the art and the artist, so they can realize their visions—and to do the same for the visitor, regardless of his or her background. Excellence and Access are my professional key words. We are here for the art and the artist—and for the public! My main inspiration is to see when this equation actually works out—it is fabulous!

1.2 Elizabeth Ann Macgregor OBE

Elizabeth Macgregor has been Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art since 1999. She was previously Director of Ikon Gallery Birmingham (1989–1999). Her first job was as curator and driver of the Scottish Arts Council’s travelling gallery. For 3 years she organised and transported exhibitions on board a converted bus to Highland villages, inner city estates, schools, factories, hospitals and prisons. This experience informed what has become the driving force of her career—making contemporary art accessible to a wider audience. Macgregor’s innovation and contribution to supporting artists and increasing access to contemporary art has been recognised with an Australian Federal Government Centenary Medal in 2003, the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award and the Australia Business Arts Foundation Dame Elisabeth Murdoch Arts Business Leadership Award in 2008. In 2011 she received the Australia Council Visual Arts Medal and was made an OBE in the Queen’s birthday honour list.

Alessia Zorloni

As a leader of a non-profit arts and culture institution, what are some of the challenges you face?

Elizabeth Ann Macgregor

When I first took over the role of Director of the MCA Australia in 1999, my biggest challenge was overcoming the stereotype that contemporary art is elitist. Since then attendances at the MCA have increased substantially to just under 1 million in 2014. Balancing the business and fundraising aspects with the artistic and addressing the indifference of opinion formers in the political and business world to the importance of supporting living artists have been key facets of the job. Cultural institutions need to be entrepreneurial to supplement public funding. Costs rise and public funding stays static so the need to be constantly fundraising is a challenge. The business model needs to ensure a sufficient backbone of stable funding through commercial operations such as venue hire and store sales which can then be enhanced through fundraising and targeted philanthropic strategies. The activities of the MCA extend beyond the building to foster unique and innovative relationships between artists, the corporate sector and the community that show how productive an investment in the arts can be. One of the biggest challenges now is the changing relationship with the audience as a result of the astonishing changes we have seen in technology. Even more money is needed for the digital initiatives that are so essential. We need to work harder to counteract the demand for instant gratification and to encourage people to look at work rather than (or as well as!) take a selfie. However, social media offers unprecedented opportunities for the museum to reach young people especially. Finding a balance between funding the core business of collecting and exhibiting and the new demands of technology is not easy.

AZ

When can a museum be defined as successful?

EAM

Attendance figures are the primary indication of a successful institution but a museum has many audiences and stakeholders who may view this success in different ways. One of the MCA’s goals is to support Australian artists in an international context. This can be judged by the increasing interest in Australian art from international curators and the inclusion of Australian artists in major exhibitions overseas. It is also crucial that the quality of the art experience is maintained and that the museum does not simply provide blockbusters to gain audiences. Through careful programming the MCA aims to present better known artists alongside artists that may require more time investment and deeper engagement with the work. This introduces new audiences to a broad range of contemporary art. Another key factor indicating success is building a reputation for excellence which allows visitors, sponsors and investors to trust that the brand will continually deliver successful events and quality experiences. The museum attracts a large proportion of return visitors and a high proportion of younger visitors who respond to the museum as a social space. Building this reputation has also had a positive impact on securing and retaining sponsors and individual donors. As a contemporary museum, the support of artists is critical and the museum’s reputation for responding to the needs of artists is a key factor in its success.

AZ

At the intersection of artistic direction and business development, how do you assess the potential success of a particular exhibition?

EAM

Each exhibition is planned within an annual context that takes into consideration the different audiences and the range of artistic practice. Exhibitions are not considered in isolation and a number of factors are taken into account. The curatorial team regularly meets to discuss the program, identify areas of interest, suggest particular artists or themes and debate the merit of proposals that have been sent to the museum by artists or galleries. The proposed annual program is analysed with input from the marketing and education staff to ensure a balance of exhibitions and potential audiences. Unlike a private museum, publicly funded institution should embrace a diversity of viewpoints to reflect contemporary practice. As the names of the artists are unknown, it is often hard to predict the audience response which reinforces the desirability of a diverse programme.

AZ

In terms of measuring success, and not just in terms of counting visitors, what are some of the other indicators or metrics you use to gauge how well you’re performing?

EAM

We measure success in a number of ways. We have targets in our strategic plan for all the key areas but we are more interested in how we measure the level of engagement. Numbers of visitors we convert to members for example. Repeat visits, popularity of public programs, recommendations to others, press articles and blog mentions and website traffic are a few indicators. We undertake visitor surveys which delve into motivation as well as the quality of the experience. We rely on our front of house staff to encourage visitors to give us feedback, positive and negative, to which we always respond. We have also established a number of formal mechanisms for consultation: an Artists Advisory Group, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Group, a Teachers Council and the Director’s Circle (of general supporters). All of these groups give vital feedback in key areas and ensure that the museum stays in touch with its constituents. Demand for touring exhibitions in Australia and internationally and the museum’s ability to secure major artists are also indicators of success. Attracting international curators and collectors to Australia and arranging for them to visit galleries and studios are important measures of the museum’s role as a promoter of Australian art internationally. In relation to building new audiences, the museum’s long term commitment to projects in Western Sydney is measured by the number of partnerships which lead to opportunities for artists to engage with groups who are not regular gallery goers. The museum’s reputation among artists is another crucial measure of success. The MCA Australia prides itself on working closely with artists to ensure the best possible installation of their work. We have had countless positive comments from the many local and international artists who have participated in exhibitions. Part of the success is due to the MCA’s staff—many of whom are practising artists themselves. Another contributing factor to the artist experience is the MCA’s ability to be flexible to their needs. This in part is because we are an independent organisation that is quick to embrace and encourage artistic experimentation. We have also worked on projects that seek to demonstrate how art and artists can contribute to business development and innovation. Evaluation plays a key role in all our socially engaged projects.

AZ

According to your experience as a museum director, what are the most important levers affecting the museum’s excellence?

EAM

The visitor experience has been essential to the success of the MCA. By focusing on providing an accessible and enjoyable experience, the MCA has been able to open art up to a wide demographic. Not by changing the art we show but by changing the context in which it is shown. The MCA provides a welcoming environment for people to explore the complex world of contemporary art. We make challenging art accessible to broad audiences, not by ‘explaining’ art but by providing the kind of information that curators get from dialogue with artists. The balance of the program is critical—with exhibitions that focus on the needs of the artist balanced with exhibitions of wider popular appeal. Digital technology offers opportunities to deepen the visitor engagement, with visitors encouraged to access information about the artists before, during and after a physical visit to the galleries. Ultimately though, any museum’s success must be gauged principally by its program and its reputation among its peers.

AZ

What led you to choose this profession?

EAM

Until I was 16, I wanted to study music. Then my maths teacher told me this was a shocking waste of a good brain! I ended up at Edinburgh University to study languages but quite by chance discovered Art History and fell in love with it. I went on to a post-grad diploma at Manchester University but found to my frustration that the curatorial studies program was more concerned with connoisseurship than public engagement. My first job was as curator/driver of the Scottish Arts Council’s Travelling Gallery, a bus which was converted into a mobile exhibition space. I drove exhibitions on board the bus to remote areas of Scotland where there were no galleries and in winter we toured the major cities, reaching people who may have had little opportunity or indeed inclination to go to art galleries. I got to know artists, which sparked my interest in the contemporary. This experience of working with artists and being in direct touch with the audience inspired a life-long passion to break down the barriers that prevent people engaging with contemporary art.

AZ

What inspires you and motivates you to be in this field, atop a non-profit arts institution?

EAM

My career mantra has been to work closely with artists to bring their work to a broad audience. I never cease to be inspired by artists and delighted by the ways in which audiences of all backgrounds respond. I believe that art can change lives. Taking the MCA from near bankruptcy to being regularly voted Sydney’s favourite attraction has been challenging but immensely rewarding. I am fortunate to work with a team of very talented and highly committed people and building a supportive board has also been critical. I am not a fan of expanding buildings, preferring to focus on programming, but for a variety of practical reasons we had to undertake a renovation. The MCA reopened to the public in 2012 after a major building renovation and transformation. What is most rewarding is to see so many people in the galleries, looking at art, talking to our staff, and taking part in workshops in the new National Centre for Creative Learning. The museum really is a social hub—our programs for teenagers are packed out. There is a huge public interest in contemporary art. The redevelopment admirably answers our brief to make the building more accessible and enjoyable to visit, a social experience where informal learning is as important as formal. Most important of all, artists are at the heart of all we do. As well as exhibiting, we employ artists as educators, as installation crew and as front of house staff. Our late night events are curated by artists. I’m now focusing on building the national and international standing of the MCA Australia to secure its place among the best contemporary art museums in the world and to increase the profile of the many wonderful artists who live and work here.

1.3 Julia Peyton-Jones

Julia Peyton-Jones became Director of the Serpentine Gallery in 1991, where she is responsible for commissioning and showcasing the groundbreaking Exhibition, Education and Public Programmes as well as the annual architecture commission, the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, which she conceived in 2000. Under the patronage of Diana, Princess of Wales, the Serpentine completed a £4 million renovation in 1998. Since then visitor numbers have increased six-fold up to 1.2 million in any 1 year. In 2014 the Serpentine Sackler Gallery opened, renovated by Pritzker Prize winning architect Zaha Hadid. This is a platform for established and emerging artists and provides an expanded programme that runs in tandem with the programme at the Serpentine. Julia Peyton-Jones is a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art (RCA), the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and is an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE). She is also a professor at University of the Arts, London. Before joining the Serpentine, she studied painting at the RCA, worked as an artist, lectured in fine art at Edinburgh College of Art and was a Curator at the Hayward Gallery.

Alessia Zorloni

As a leader of a non-profit arts and culture institution, what are some of the unique challenges you face?

Julia Peyton-Jones

One of the biggest ongoing challenges that we face is fundraising. We are fortunate to have a number of loyal individual, corporate and not-for-profit institutional supporters. However, the Serpentine receives just 15 % of its income from public funding and has to raise more than £6 million per year to maintain free admission to the public.

AZ

When could a museum be defined as successful?

JPJ

There are a number of ways to measure the success of an institution. Critical acclaim and a positive response from both the public and the press are key indicators. Strong visitor numbers are another yardstick and being recognised as pioneering within the field together with enjoying an international reputation are similarly very important.

AZ

At the intersection of artistic direction and business development, how do you assess the potential success of a particular exhibition?

JPJ

Over and above a positive public and the press response, feedback from our peers in the arts is also very important. Attendance is another important indicator and, last but not least, a satisfied artist, architect or designer is central to the success of any exhibition.

AZ

In terms of measuring success, and not just in terms of counting visitors, what are some of the other indicators or metrics you use to gauge how well you’re performing?

JPJ

Another indication that we are succeeding is in other words the loyalty of our visitors—how often they come back, visit the Bookshop, buy our limited editions, and so on. Do members of the public, as well as our peers in the art world, make it a priority to visit the Serpentine even if they don’t already have an interest in the artist (or artists) whose work is on view? Do our visitors believe in the vision that drives the programme? To measure this, we regularly invite visitors to fill out questionnaires to judge their reception of the Gallery. Externally, the institutions that we are involved with, such as Arts Council England and other Trusts and Foundations who support the Gallery, have such measuring systems in place. Artistic assessors from these institutions periodically visit the Gallery and the results are immensely valuable in calibrating the Gallery’s performance.

AZ

According to your experience as a museum’s director, what are the most important levers affecting a museum’s excellence?

JPJ

A stable board and strong vision are key to ensuring a Gallery’s excellence. Supportive funders are central to enabling an institution to put on its groundbreaking exhibitions, architecture, design, education and public programmes. A strong sense of purpose needs to be shared by everyone involved to enable an institution to truly excel. From the artist/architect, to the board of trustees, curators, funders, as well as each member of staff, everyone involved must have a shared commitment to the institution and its foundational ideals. Excellence as their foremost aspiration and the passion and dedication required to achieve this goal.

AZ

What led you to choose this profession?

JPJ

Ever since I was a child I have always had a passion for art. Originally I trained as an artist and moved from making my own work and curating my own shows, to joining a public gallery to work in their exhibitions department.

AZ

What inspires you and motivates you to be in this field, atop a non-profit arts institution?

JPJ

A desire to communicate to the widest possible public the importance of art, architecture, design and public programs is the central driving force that motivates me each and every day. The Serpentine Gallery motto, taken from Gilbert and George’s popular maxim, is ‘Art for All’ and this belief that the arts and culture sit at the core of our society inspires everything we do.

1.4 James Bradburne

James Bradburne is an Anglo-Canadian architect, designer, museologist and specialist in informal learning. He has designed World Expo pavilions, science parks and international art exhibitions. He was educated in Canada and in England, graduating in architecture with the Architectural Association and taking his doctorate in museology at University of Amsterdam. Over the past 20 years he has produced exhibitions and organised research projects and conferences for UNESCO, national governments, private foundations and museums in many parts of the world. He was Head of Design and Education for newMetropolis (now NEMO), the Dutch National Science and Technology Centre, Director General of the Museum für Angewandte Kunst (applied art), Frankfurt, and Director General of the Next Generation foundation, which he created for the owner of LEGO to promote creativity, learning and play. From 2006 to 2014 he was the Director General of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, the organisation that transformed the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence into the city’s most dynamic cultural centre. Since 2015, James Bradburne has been Director of Milan’s Pinacoteca di Brera.

Alessia Zorloni

As a leader of a non-profit arts and culture institution, what are some of the unique challenges you face?

James Bradburne

None of the challenges I face are unique. The key challenge facing the institution I direct is to preserve the autonomy of the Board, which means keeping the pressures of public and private partners in balance. The Board’s autonomy, and its trust in its professional staff, is indispensable to implementing a coherent cultural strategy over the medium-to-long term. A second key challenge is to retain an ideal mix of funding streams (public, private, earned revenue) in a very difficult economic climate. A third challenge is to find ways to motivate and support the learning and growth of all the professional staff, despite the very different contractual relationships with the institution.

AZ

When can a museum be defined as successful?

JB

A museum is successful when, in the words of Nelson Goodman, it functions “as an institution for the prevention of blindness in order to make works work. Works work when, by stimulating inquisitive looking, sharpening perception, raising visual intelligence, they participate in the making and re-making of our worlds” This means that success can only be measured in terms of impact on the user, not in terms of attendance or revenue. The museum is a fundamental part of our shared culture, and contributes best when used most. The quantitative measures best suited to museums are repeat visits and time spent in the museum.

AZ

How do you assess the potential success of a particular exhibition, given the need to balance artistic direction and business development?

JB

In a sense this is a false dichotomy, like the false opposition expressed by the word ‘edu-tainment’. An exhibition has to fulfil three criteria: (1) create new scholarship (2) conserve and restore artworks and (3) transform visitors. An exhibition is a success if it can show it fulfils these three criteria. It is taken as given that the cost of an exhibition should not exceed its revenues from all sources. There should be no need to compromise the quality of an exhibition due to the demands of business development. It is a sure recipe for failure to have a business development strategy that is in opposition to the educational/cultural strategy.

AZ

In terms of measuring success, and not just in terms of counting visitors, what other indicators or metrics do you use to gauge how well you are performing?

JB

The key quantitative measures of success are: (1) number/increase of repeat visits (2) amount of time spent in the exhibition and with individual works of art (3) the diversity of the publics reached. A museum is obliged to create the maximum cultural value for the investment.

AZ

According to your experience as a museum director, what are the most important factors affecting a museum’s excellence?

JB

The most important factor that affects a museum’s ability to aspire to excellence is autonomous, independent governance. Excellence in a museum depends on consistent leadership, vision, trust, patience and unflagging attention to the end-user’s experience.

AZ

What led you to choose this profession?

JB

In a sense the profession chose me. I have spent my life trying to find ways to better support self-initiated, self-directed and self-sustained learning, learning done for its intrinsic pleasure not extrinsic rewards. The museum is the ideal institution in which to experiment with creating settings in which someone can discover that ‘the life of the mind is a pleasure’.

AZ

What inspires you and motivates you to work in this field?

JB

The belief that in some small way the work we do can transform someone’s life.

AZ

And if you were to give advice to collectors interested in opening and managing a private museum, what would you tell them?

JB

Despite the pressures of the economy, they will be doing culture—not business. The impact of investment in culture—like education—can only be fully measured after decades. They should never be misled by short-term thinking. The key is to innovate in the service of the end-user, not to try to fulfil the needs of the existing market. As Henry Ford said, ‘if I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.’ Steve Jobs just said: ‘stay hungry, stay foolish’.