MUSEUM PR ACTICE Edited by CONAL MCCARTHY
Museum Practice covers the professional work carried out in museums and art galleries of all types, including the core functions of management, collections, exhibitions, and programs. Some forms of museum practice are familiar to visitors, yet within these diverse and complex institutions many practices are hidden from view, such as creating marketing campaigns, curating and designing exhibitions, developing fundraising and sponsorship plans, crafting mission statements, handling repatriation claims, dealing with digital media, and more.
Focused on what actually occurs in everyday museum work, this volume offers contributions from experienced professionals and academics that cover a wide range of subjects including policy frameworks, ethical guidelines, approaches to conservation, collection care and management, exhibition development and public programs. From internal processes such as leadership, governance and strategic planning, to public facing roles in interpretation, visitor research and community engagement and learning, each essential component of contemporary museum practice is thoroughly discussed.
Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations ix
Editor xiii
General Editors xiv
Contributors xv
Acknowledgments xvii
Editors’Preface to Museum Practice and the International Handbooks of Museum Studies xix
Introduction: Grounding Museum Studies: Introducing Practice xxvii
Conal McCarthy
Part I Priorities 1
1. The Essence of the Museum: Mission, Values, Vision 3
David Fleming
2. Governance: Guiding the Museum in Trust 27
Barry Lord, with Case Study by Rina Gerson
3. Policies, Frameworks, and Legislation: The Conditions Under Which English Museums Operate 43
Sara Selwood and Stuart Davies
4. Reconceptualizing Museum Ethics for the Twenty‐First Century: A View from the Field 69
Janet Marstine, Jocelyn Dodd, and Ceri Jones
5. Museum Measurement: Questions of Value 97
Carol A. Scott
6. Developing Audiences for the Twenty‐First‐Century Museum 123
Graham Black
Part II Resources 153
7. Balancing Mission and Money: Critical Issues in Museum Economics 155
Ted Silberberg and Gail Lord
8. Tate and BP – Oil and Gas as the New Tobacco?: Arts Sponsorship, Branding, and Marketing 179
Derrick Chong
9. From Idiosyncratic to Integrated: Strategic Planning for Collections 203
James B. Gardner
10. Collection Care and Management: History, Theory, and Practice 221
John E. Simmons
11. The Future of Collecting in “Disciplinary” Museums: Interpretive, Thematic, Relational 249
Nick Merriman
12. Managing Collections or Managing Content?: The Evolution of Museum Collections Management Systems 267
Malcolm Chapman
13. Conservation Theory and Practice: Materials, Values, and People in Heritage Conservation 293
Dean Sully
Part III Processes 315
14. From Caring to Creating: Curators Change Their Spots 317
Ken Arnold
15. The Pendulum Swing: Curatorial Theory Past and Present 341
Halona Norton‐Westbrook
16. Planning for Success: Project Management for Museum Exhibitions 357
David K. Dean
17. Museum Exhibition Tradecraft: Not an Art, but an Art to It 379
Dan Spock
18. Museum Exhibition Practice: Recent Developments in Europe, Canada, and Australia 403
Linda Young, with Anne Whitelaw and Rosmarie Beier‐de Haan
19. A Critique of Museum Restitution and Repatriation Practices 431
Piotr Bienkowski
20. Rewards and Frustrations: Repatriation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ancestral Remains by the National Museum of Australia 455
Michael Pickering
Part IV Publics 479
21. The “Active Museum”: How Concern with Community Transformed the Museum 481
Elizabeth Crooke
22. Visitor Studies: Toward a Culture of Reflective Practice and Critical Museology for the Visitor‐Centered Museum 503
Lee Davidson
23. Translating Museum Meanings: A Case for Interpretation 529
Kerry Jimson
24. Learning, Education, and Public Programs in Museums and Galleries 551
John Reeve and Vicky Woollard
25. Reviewing the Digital Heritage Landscape: The Intersection of Digital Media and Museum Practice 577
Shannon Wellington and Gillian Oliver
Afterword: The Continuing Struggle for Diversity and Equality 599
Eithne Nightingale
Museum Practice and Mediation: An Afterword 613
Anthony Alan Shelton
Index 635
About the Author :
CONAL McCARTHY is Professor and Director of the Museum and Heritage Studies program at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Conal has worked in galleries and museums in a variety of professional roles, sits on the boards and advisory groups of a number of institutions, and has published widely on museum practice.
