Fact checking

Next week I'm talking at Whitecliffe College of Arts & Design in their seminar series about careers in the art world.

I'm going to talk about my own trajectory, but I also want to tackle the question of whether we're currently in a 'golden age' of female leadership in the visual arts, or whether this could be as big a blip as 2005/06 turned out to be, when the five most powerful positions in New Zealand (PM, Governor-General, Speaker, Chief Justice and - sign of the times - CEO of Telecom) were all held by women.

As part of that I'm trying to grok some figures on museum and gallery leadership. For the purposes of this exercise I am focusing on the larger council-funded organisations (not artist-run, CNZ or university) that have been around for 25+ years.

I'm also interested in how many women have held multiple directorships across these institutions.

Corrections and additions are MOST WELCOME, either in the comments, or via email or twitter.

LEADERSHIP IN LARGER INSTITUTIONS

Auckland War Memorial Museum
8 directors, 1 woman

Auckland Art Gallery
10 directors, 1 woman (most recent)

Waikato Art Museum / Waikato Museum of Art and History
X directors, 2 women

Tauranga Art Gallery
I director, 1 woman

Govett Brewster Art Gallery
10 directors, 3 women

The Sarjeant
4 directors, no women

Whanganui Regional Museum
12 directors, 2 women

Manawatū Art Gallery / Te Manawa
9 directors, 3 women
*Note: Mina McKenzie at the Manawatu Museum pre-Te Manawa

The Dowse
6 directors, 1 woman (most recent)

Te Papa
3 directors, 1 woman

City Gallery Wellington
5 directors, 3 women (most recent)

The Suter
3 directors, 1 woman (most recent)

Christchurch Art Gallery
6 directors, 1 woman (most recent)

Canterbury Museum
10 directors, 0 women

Dunedin Public Art Gallery
9 directors, 3 women

Otago Museum
8 directors, 0 women

WOMEN WHO HAVE HELD MORE THAN ONE MAJOR DIRECTORSHIP

Priscilla Pitts - GBAG and DPAG (plus Artspace)
Cheryll Sotheran - GBAG, DPAG, Te Papa
Jenny Harper - NAG-that-was and CAG
Elizabeth Caldwell - DPAG and CGW (plus Robert McDougall Art Annex)
Rhana Devenport - GBAG and AAG
Julie Catchpole - Te Manawa and Suter

While we're on the topic: an oldie but still a goodie from Over The Net: length of director tenures.