“World’s Best Science Museum”

Oh Lord. Paul Orselli, I feel for you. Here’s a snippet from his meeting with a group of board members.

“We want to build the world’s best science museum.”

“Well, what do you mean by best?”

Silence.

Silence and blank stares. It was like being in a meeting with an oil painting.

“What about learning to build up internal capacity, so that staff and resources could be allocated to be able to create things locally, both internally, and collaboratively, with folks from local communities?”

A new round of blank stares.

This gives me shudders just imagining being there. Paul then gives three little tips (free consulting!) from his experience that got me thinking. If this came from a curatorial department, I would think the museum would be doomed. Unlikely, as curators tend to be qualified professionals.

So I think about museum boards. These people at the very “top” of the museum, acting as overseers and financial benefactors. I can find very little aimed at the future strategy of museum boards. If a museum is lucky, they’ll have board members with relevant knowledge and experience (and, hopefully, resources). But doesn’t it panic you when a board like the one Paul met actually get to run a museum?

There seems to be this whole segment of the museum world that isn’t criticised and analysed like the rest. Except in the scope of the recent trend of economics when a museum is shutting down or selling up.

Can anyone answer or put forward a theory? What is the future of the museum board?