Resignation and Deaccession: Last Week's News

Emilian Robert Vicol - https://www.flickr.com/photos/28958738@N06/6816851356/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=80252779

Two news threads sparked the museum world's collective consciousness last week: One, Charles Venable's resignation from the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and the second, the Metropolitan Museum's announcement that it will take AAMD up on its COVID loophole, allowing art museums to put deaccession funds towards collections care as opposed to acquisitions. Both represent a tangle of hubris, classism, and self-importance that are sadly emblematic of the museum world in 2021.

For those who missed the Indianapolis debacle, it took place on the 100-plus acre museum campus known as Newfields. A year ago the Museum posted a position with the Oppenheim search firm, which included the line that the museum sought a director who would "maintain its core white audience." The job announcement has been public for 10 months, but somehow only surfaced last week. That five word phrase may be the tip of an iceberg though. In July 2020, Keli Morgan, an associate curator who is Black, resigned barely two years into her tenure, citing the Museum's toxic and discriminatory culture. Morgan'a resignation coupled with the horrendous job announcement makes you wonder. Couple that with Venable's own strangely-worded response in an interview in The New York Times where he stops short of an apology, pointing to the use of "core white audience," as intentional, meaning he wanted the white art museum audience to know the Museum wouldn't abandon them. How do we unpack a situation where a 21st-century museum director felt the need to reassure its wealthy, privileged white audience? And in a job announcement whose primary audience isn't the local community, donors or longtime audience, but presumably museum professionals most of whom are alert to the huge sea-change taking place in the field. The only good news was the Museum Board's letter. In contrast to Venable's waffling, the Board was contrite and direct, spelling out the changes it will take going forward. So what are the "tells" and take-aways in yet another blunder in pandemic museum leadership?

The "Tells":

1. While anecdotally at least more and more BIPOC staff are being hired for directorships and senior leadership, stories like this one demonstrate how deeply ingrained the culture of racism, hierarchy and patriarchy is in museum culture, particularly art museum culture.

2. Clearly the Board knew where to turn to craft a statement that was authentic and apologetic, but where were they as their museum culture devolved? How many boards really understand their roles, not only the Byzantine non-profit rule variations from state to state, but what governance actually looks like? How many actually read AAM's Core Documents?

The Take-Aways:

1. To quote President Truman, as a leader the buck stops with you. That said, you aren't alone. The more eyes on decision making the better, including search firms you hire to speak for your museum. They represent your organization in the world so they must know you well, starting with your organizational values.

2. The Internet is like a nuclear wasteland. Information may move around, but it never dies, and pretty much everything you've ever made public is available. Think about it.

3. DEI isn't only about hiring Black or Brown employees. It's actually about white folks, seeped in privilege, doing the work, and that work is ongoing, not something you learn in a weekend workshop or by leaving White Fragility on your desk.

4. Maybe this calls for a bold statement? Maybe the Indianapolis Museum of Art should take a page from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland and hire LaTanya Autry to help them re-center, bridge build, and create a new face for the museum? Now is the time for Indianapolis to prove it isn't neutral.

The Metropolitan Museum made the news when it announced its $150 million deficit stemming from the pandemic. Many museums closed all or part of the last 12 months are in the red, but everything about the Met is huge and so is its debt. What was different about its announcement was the indication that it is in conversations with auction houses, and considering using the AAMD's COVID window to utilize deaccessioning profits for direct care of collections. The announcement set social media tongues wagging. Why? Are people really worried the Met will deaccession something famous, well-known and much loved? Or is it because museums with gigantic endowments aren't supposed to run a deficit? To quote Erin Richardson of Frank & Glory: "We can’t treat museums like we do Americans seeking public assistance - in that they must have liquidated all assets before receiving SNAP or welfare. Boards are fiduciaries not banks. Their role is to govern the organization on behalf of the public trust. Sometimes the trust beneficiaries (us) don’t like the trustees decisions."

Deaccessioning is largely an art museum problem, meaning the majority of US museums, even if they felt it was a way to raise money, don't have collections that would net enough on the auction block, nor do many have collections with the depth, that were they to weed, would allow them to raise significant money. But for some reason the Met's announcement pulled the recently-healed scab off the deaccessioning discussion once again. So what are the "tells" and takeaways here?

The Tells:

1. Deaccessioning is a tool many museums use, but disastrous scenarios like the Berkshire Museum's $53.5 deaccessioning in 2018 left everyone with PTSD. Not all deaccessioning is alike or to put it another way, every deaccessioning decision is different.

2. There is a theory that as the Met goes so goes the field. The Met is the largest American art museum, but art museums represent only 4.5-percent of all museums. Is the Met an influencer? Maybe, but perhaps not here. Somehow the Brooklyn deaccessioned $31 million worth of art last fall without causing a ripple.

3. Deaccessioning is complex, but if you're involved in museums, it's worth understanding. Once again, AAM delivers with its Direct Care of Collections pdf.

The Take Aways

1. Make sure your policies and guidelines are up to date. Know what they say. If you haven't read them in a while, it might be good to take a look, just in case someone thinks the way to financial salvation is monetizing the collection.

2. Knowledge is power. Read Steven Miller's book Deaccessioning Today or find his guest blog post here, and share with your board.

3. Collecting is a process, an expensive one. Every single piece or living thing in your collection represents a percentage of the care and attention of one or more people, not to mention the people who publicize and raise money for it. Collections aren't just things. They represent people too. Think about it.

Museums have a world of problems these days. Many haven't seen their audience except through Zoom in almost a year. Many face huge deficits. Underlying it all, social media beckons, inviting us all to rant, pontificate, and rave. Museum staff--those who are employed--work hard, often for inequitable salaries. Sometimes they are overworked, bullied and harassed, and find themselves in situations where they have no recourse, and yet they are the folks who help make the thousands of objects, paintings, and living things speak. Without them, museums are big warehouses with expensive climate control. I'll close with a quote from the inimitable Nina Simon, which, as far as I'm concerned says it all: "When you prioritize the safety and welcome of people, who have lower access to power, you are working for equity and inclusion. When you prioritize the comfort and preferences of people with higher access to power, you are working against it." Hold that thought when you make leadership decisions, when you write on social media, and when you place objects before people.

Joan Baldwin