Do we need a hero? Succession planning III

A few weeks ago I posted twice on succession planning: the question of how (and who) we're preparing to take over our art galleries when the current directors leave (see also Over the net's useful diagram of directors' tenures).

Continuing on this theme, here's an interview with Malcolm MacKay, art world head hunter:

A consultant at the prestigious New York executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates, MacKay, 66, is a sort of art world superhero, swooping in whenever museums are in need of a new director.

Fortuitous update: An article on StarTribune.com, about MacKay's involvement in the search for new directors for the Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Where have all the men gone?

Danae Mossman finishes as director the Physics Room in Christchurch at the end of this week. Here's my speculative list of who will apply for her role:

• Vanessa Coxhead (Programmes Coordinator, Physics Room)
• Laura Preston (recently Curatorial Intern at Artspace)
• Marnie Slater (currently acting director of Enjoy)
• Melanie Hogg (assistant curator at the Govett-Brewster)
• Paula Booker (Publications Manager & Writer, Enjoy)
• Thomasin Sleigh (coordinator, High Street Project)

Prompting me to ask ... where are the men? In the dealer galleries and auction houses? Making art, not pimping it?

Coming this week

After a lot of tub-thumping last week (about succession planning for New Zealand art gallery directors; plans for touring art exhibitions to regional galleries; and the dearth of blogging in our public arts institutions) this week Best of 3 will be profiling some soon-to-open shows around the country (mostly).

In the meantime, check out Over the net's post on the length of 22 New Zealand art gallery directors' tenures ....

Succession planning II

A continuation of yesterday's thoughts about succession planning in New Zealand art galleries:

As reported in the New York Times, Lisa Dennison is leaving the top job at the Guggenheim, after 2 years (although after nearly 30 with the Gugg all up) to join Sotheby's as a international business developer.

This causes Marc Spiegler on Art World Salon to speculate whether these roles are now getting harder to fill, due to scope creep:

So it seems today’s ideal museum-director candidate would have a PhD in Art History, an MBA, plus several years of Foreign Service and corporate experience under the belt. ... perhaps it’s time to widen the notion of how museums are led: Splitting the job into business and art functions, rather desperately seeking candidates combining all the skills required in the modern museum era and paralyzing the institution until the ideal candidate surfaces.

Spiegler points to another recent article in the New York Times, 'Impossible Job. Here’s What You Need for It' about the Getty's Museum Leadership Institute, a yearly three-week crash course for museum directors looking for professional development, and people a level below directors wanting a leg-up. The course has been running since 1979.

Succession planning

Today Over the net notes that Paula Savage has been the director of City Gallery Wellington for the past sixteen and a half years.

The post dovetails nicely with two articles I've read this week, which have got me thinking about the way we approach succession planning in New Zealand's art galleries.

In the New York Times this week, Charles McGrath looks at Philippe de Montebello's 30-year tenure as director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and at possible successors to the 71 year old. McGrath quotes de Montebello:

“The job doesn’t even resemble what is once was,” he said, listing all his increased bureaucratic responsibilities: dealing with the legal and human resource departments, overseeing publications and, more recently, negotiating with foreign governments that demand the return of artworks they argue were acquired illegally. ...

“If we were to project forward the person I was 30 years ago, that person wouldn’t remotely be qualified for this job,” he said. “I wouldn’t want the job either, because frankly I wouldn’t want to spend so much of my time on nonartistic matters.”

Meanwhile, on the Guardian art blog, Charlotte Higgins speculates on who will replace Charles Saumarez Smith, who resigned as director of the National Gallery after 'only' five years.

In her post, Higgins notes how nice it would be if the people looking to appoint Saumarez Smith's sucessor looked beyond "the legions of more-or-less interchangeable white Caucasian men in nice suits in their 40s" and took a risk - as with the appointment of Neil McGregor (a magazine editor) to the role in 1987.

Higgins also observes that the "vast amount of money" invested in leadership development schemes for arts professionals in England (such as the Clore Leadership Programme) does not seem to have resulted in a phalanx of new contenders for leadership roles.

So - bringing this all back to New Zealand. How do we talk about Paula Savage's successor? Over one-too-many drinks after an opening? Or publicly, through an engaged media, who understands that the people who run our arts institutions imbue them with their own personalities?

And just as importantly - who's out there to replace Priscilla Pitts in Dunedin, or Savage, or Chris Saines, who would be likely to leave Auckland when (if?) the gallery's redevelopment is completed. How are we preparing for the future? And who are we preparing for it?