Kenneth Baker of the SF Chronicle, Sunday Feb. 19th:
The Association of Art Museum Directors met in San Francisco in mid-January. Few people outside the field noticed, but discussions that took place at the convocation may affect the experiences that art museums offer visitors in the future.
To get a sense of the organization's function and the thinking behind it, I sat down with Dan Monroe, current president of the association board, and director of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass.
In 2011, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco hosted a grand exhibition from the PEM: "Dutch and Flemish Masterworks From the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection." Not long after Monroe and I met, the van Otterloos announced their gift to PEM of an endowment of his position.
Q: Just what is the AAMD?
A: It's an association of art museum directors from the U.S., Canada and Mexico. I'm not sure what the latest number is, but we have about 220 members. ... There's an advocacy arm of AAMD that works with Congress on issues of concern to art museums. There is not an accrediting function, but the AAMD does set standards of professional practice.
Q: Does AAMD have disciplinary power should members violate best practices?
A: Yes, we do. The board of AAMD has the power of censure, the power of expulsion or suspension of a member. ... The issue we care about most ... is deaccessioning art to support operations, which if it were allowed to become a widespread practice would fundamentally compromise the integrity of the public trust. We have, for example, recently sanctioned the National Academy of Design in New York. Sanctions have a significant impact because they limit the ability of the institution to make loans, and loans are the life's blood of art museums. It's very difficult to create exhibitions if you can't make and receive loans.
We've also censured Fisk University for its intent and plans to sell a half interest in its Alfred Stieglitz Collection to Crystal Bridges.
Q: How often does the AAMD board rotate?
A: The president serves a one-year term and continues on the board for a period of time after that. The president is nominated by a committee that's independent of the board, and is then elected by the membership.
Q: What topics dominate the agenda of these meetings?
A: A big topic is trying to understand and consider how art museums develop and advance over the next several years. ... The most obvious issue is the restructuring of the economic environment, which affected, I would say, every art museum in the country. ... Those museums that are dependent on city or state support are finding it quite difficult.
There are shifts in philanthropy. The technology is also changing in a variety of ways. And there's a lot of thought being given to what's the role of an art museum.
There's a lot of concern about how we ensure sustainability and about how we can discover new opportunities. One of the examples we talk about on the board is what has happened to cultural journalism and its relation to art museums. It's not just a matter of journalism but the whole nature of the way people receive information, the quality of information, how it's vetted.
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