Ultimately, the factors that guide board members and museum staff through the maze of ethical considerations are a certain mix of flexibility, resilience, impartiality, and a willingness to consider different scenarios under which the organization`s mission could continue or change over the next few decades. Beyond legal and ethical due diligence, provenance research results can enrich the museum experience. Some curators have created specialized exhibits that encourage visitors to go beyond passively looking at an ancient master painting on the wall and engage with the object`s history. How did we get here? If we look at the back of the frame, what do we learn about merchant and customs stamps? Art lovers want to take this historic journey through the centuries and oceans and find out who enjoyed the object and why. One problematic area regulated by U.S. law is that of Native American articles. Under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, U.S. institutions receiving federal funding must inventory and eventually repatriate human remains, Native American saints, and grave goods and other cultural heritage objects. At the international level, the 1970 UNESCO Convention, to which the United States is a party, prohibits illicit trade in antiquities and other mobile cultural property. Nevertheless, these objects still end up in museums through a thriving black market and corrupt dealers. After BAM closed – its exhibits were dismantled, the artworks returned to their owners, the staff hired to secure the building – a big part of the board`s efforts involved listening to various museum stakeholders.
“We had to meet with over 800 museum staff, community leaders, officials and artists within 90 days of closing,” says Collette. The Board heard loud and clear from these groups an overwhelming desire to return to BAM`s craft and design heritage and showcase not only artists connected to the region, but also those with a national audience. The hiring of a third director — Michael Monroe, who was director of the Renwick Gallery, a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum — helped BAM reopen in 2005 with great success. According to Mr. Vaughan, NTHP attempts to answer this question with a set of guidelines being developed to help historic home owners and managers navigate the murky thicket of closure. (The American Association of State and Local History Museums also writes its own guidelines.) “I wish we had done it a year ago, but of course we didn`t know a year ago” that there would be a significant demand for this information due to a confluence of economic and other factors, Vaughan said. The relationship between laws and ethics is not always clear. While we have the legal right to do something, that doesn`t necessarily mean it`s ethically justified. What role does ethics play in the care of museum collections and what situations can raise ethical dilemmas? Are there ethical challenges to renting space? How should you think about accessing your collections? When is it acceptable to sell the Monet or old covers from your collection? What is a conflict of interest and when can it arise? To explore the difference between legal and ethical issues, we will examine the issue of collection ownership. The intertwined health, financial and social crises represent a pivotal moment in how museums define and communicate their missions, value systems and social responsibilities. During coronavirus-related shutdowns, many museums have used social media and virtual platforms to engage the public, including a younger, tech-savvy audience.
Hashtags #VirtualMuseum and #MuseumfromHome proliferated on Twitter and Instagram, transporting followers to collections around the world. However, digital engagement initiatives also invite a deeper examination of museum practices among an emerging generation of museum visitors and potential visitors who are more ethically conscious than their predecessors. Alistair Brown, MA Policy Officer, said: “Most museums are very successful and have a great future ahead of them. But at a time of reduced public funding, 64 museums across the UK have closed since 2010 and more are under threat. In writing this document, we wanted to make sure we learned from these closures and ensure that museums facing this type of crisis received support. We are aware that the Covid-19 pandemic has put a strain on all museums. For some, the loss of revenue threatens the museum`s ability to continue to operate temporarily (i.e., put on hold) or permanently (i.e. closed). For other museums that won`t survive this economic storm, nagging questions about the myriad of painful aspects of the closure are quickly piling up. Complicated by raw emotions and entangled in legal considerations, some of the pressing questions that need to be answered when an organization contemplates closing their doors include: What will happen to our collections and the buildings in which they are housed? What will happen to the trust that citizens place in our institutions? And what are our responsibilities – financial, heritage, ethical, cultural – to our staff, visitors, donors and communities? As author of A Practical Guide to Museum Ethics, educator and speaker, Sally Yerkovich has over thirty years of leadership experience in museums and cultural organizations. She has served as president and CEO of the New Jersey Historical Society, president of the Tribute Center, and acting director of the Museum for African Art, and has held positions at the South Street Seaport Museum and the Museum of the City of New York.
Most recently, she served as director of the Institute of Museum Ethics at Seton Hall, teaches at Columbia and Seton Hall universities, and advises nonprofits. She works internationally with museums and cultural organizations and chairs the ethics committee of the International Council of Museums. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Merchants House Museum in New York. Previously, Sally worked at the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She is currently the Director of Special Projects at the American Scandinavian Foundation. Indeed, the effects of the current financial crisis are even testing the optimism of experienced museum professionals. “There`s a general feeling in this region that there will be historic museums in this economy that are no longer viable,” said Jim Vaughan, vice president of historic sites management at the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) in Washington, D.C. The current crisis is forcing museums to adapt. Those who do so with a transparent commitment to ethics and rethink their approach to their employees and their objects are more likely to receive support from the public and their own collaborators. Such an investment in ethical practices is not only a luxury for rinsing periods. This is crucial for long-term sustainability.
The Museums Association (MA), with financial support from Arts Council England, has published Museums Facing Closure: Legal and Ethical Issues, a document outlining the legal and ethical issues surrounding museum closures. Based on research on more than 20 recent museum closures in the UK, the paper seeks to understand how boards, staff and those involved have responded. Financial difficulties and obsolete missions are not the only reasons why museums are closing. “Being a volunteer-run organization with no patronage to help us hire or retain staff has been overwhelming,” says Hilary Whitaker, who served as chair of the Pearl Museum`s board when it opened in 1997. The closure of the museum in 2008 cut to the bone. “I feel like I`ve lost a child,” says Whitaker, who, along with other board members, is in talks about what will happen to the museum`s collections, which are now in the custody of the Bead Society of Greater Washington. As the recession continues to rattle global markets, destroying jobs and halving foundations, many museums and historic sites are doing their best to survive another day. No one can say exactly when the long climb to a healthier economy might begin, or if it has already done so, but even the most optimistic in the museum world believe the estate will be littered with closed museums when it`s over. For her part, Collette recalls sitting down with each member of BAM`s board and asking everyone to consider the impact of the closure, why things went wrong — and optimistic about what it would take to reopen BAM at a later date. “I told them, `This is going to be a difficult journey, and I don`t want to ask you to do something you don`t have the stomach for.` Not all members stayed, he says, but those who did “made absolutely do,” hoping to reopen the museum later.
