Everyone keeps talking about this. It's an article in The Economist about how business has taken a turn to being a bit art-obsessed. And I don't mean what's hanging in their lobbies.
The interesting part to me was talking about the fact that artists know how to tell stories and that is an important marketing tool to business. I naturally thought to myself "but museums also know how to tell stories!". I've written about museums expanding to function as community centres, and bulking up their bank accounts by going in more commercial directions. The thought of museum exhibition designers being loaned out or freelancing to help marketing agencies is an interesting one. An even more pressing issue, however, is internal cooperation.
One of the complaints I've heard from staff who work in admin is that they feel a bit disconnected from the actual work of the organisation. The more accountants, marketers, development workers and other professionals who don't work directly with exhibits and day-to-day operations can gain input, the better. If a curator can help the marketing staff tell a story, they should, just like accountants rely on budget justifications to know why departments spend what they do. It's so important with our shrinking pool of resources to work as a team. So maybe next time you have a staff meeting, try sitting next to someone from another department, or ask someone from another team to lunch. Or maybe something like this award-winning program for staff at an American regional museum.
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