Exponent of independence
Interview with Mark Taylor, director of the Museums Association, publisher of Museums Journal
MúzeumCafé 24.
Founded in 1889, the London-based Museums Association is the world’s oldest museum federation and is maintained entirely from the subscriptions of its 5200 individual, 600 institutional and 250 corporate members. MúzeumCafé spoke with the association’s director, Mark Taylor, about its principles of operation, financial independence, the importance of professional ethics, its annual conferences and its seven different museum publications. “It has to be stressed that not all European museum associations work in the same way. The main reason is that different countries apply different norms to the workings of museums. The Museums Association is not a public body but an independent association within the museums sector which deals with various tasks. One of our most important basic principles is independence, which we can only maintain as long as we receive no state support. I should add that we don’t need any, since the association manages to survive from subscriptions and our basic approach is commercial. Thus we don’t have to defend ourselves against state cuts, as we are not subject to them. This is a typically British affair – here independence in many respects has historical traditions. In our case we can look back on a past of 120 years. Such a time was necessary for these principles to become embedded. We don’t concern ourselves with academic matters and for us the fate of individual art objects or even collections is not the most important. Our task is to bring museums together. We represent their common interests. We organise training and conferences, naturally sometimes seeking support for these when necessary. In addition, an important mission for us is to ensure that different museum collections don’t remain in cellars. Our aim is for there to be as many high-standard exhibitions as possible. “Every year in a different country there is a NEMO (Network of European Museum Organisations) conference, where the museum associations of various countries can agree about common interests and openly lobby. The first such conference took place in 1992 in Copenhagen. Today there are 32 countries with NEMO membership and every year each country sends two delegates to the conference. The next meeting will take place in Athens in November. There were more than 600 participants at last year’s event, including politicians and ministers. “This year our own annual conference is taking place in Brighton on 3-4 October. One issue will be how museums can cope with the financial pressures currently being experienced in many places. Among the three main themes will be the application of business and management models, seeking creative solutions within individual museum budgets, and the issue of how important it is to bring together museum staff and exhibition visitors. The latter will touch on the question of how to get the most out of social media and personal contacts. During the two days, apart from plenary sessions there will be numerous workshops and presentations. There’ll be exhibitions, too, and participants will be able to get acquainted with Brighton’s new exhibition pavilion.