Let her down easy ....

An engrossing article from New York Magazine by Andrew M Goldstein details the gradual retiring of Alanna Heiss, founder/director of P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Space.

Heiss founded P.S. 1 in 1976; in 2000 it merged with MoMA. Now Glenn Lowry is gently but firmly nudging Heiss towards retirement.

The article gives an account of the merger of two very different institutions and management styles (imagine if The Physics Room got taken over by Te Papa). But beyond that, it's a really interesting (and seemingly very honest and open) look at when and why galleries need new leadership. Lowry and Heiss are both interviewed, as are former P.S. 1 staffers and Robert Storr:

“It really is exactly the time when the institution should make the transition from its founder’s vision and mode of operation to a new generation,” [Storr] says. “Alanna has built something that is very important to New York. She should be very proud of it and she should be lauded for it, but it has outgrown her, and she needs to graciously let it go.” In the years since the merger, he adds, “it’s become a semi-museum institution, where what it really needs to be is the sexiest, fastest-moving, most dynamic non-museum institution in town.”

Succession planning was on mine and Over the net's minds last year - maybe Art New Zealand could pick up the meme?

Self-reflexive musings

A recent article on Newosaur looks at the disenchantment young staff within traditional media companies are coming to feel as they realise that while they might be the 'knowers' and the 'doers', they're not the 'deciders', and can't effect (or affect) change:

But the young net natives, for the most part, rank too low in the organizations that employ them to be invited to the pivotal discussions determining the strategic initiatives that could help their employers sustain their franchises.

“In most organizations, the people with the most online experience have the least political capital,” said one mid-level online editor at a newspaper. ...

Members of the wired generation say the process, bureaucracy and caution common to most media companies steals spontaneity and edginess away from ideas that could be appealing to their peers.

“Management is more concerned about who owns the change than they are about creating change,” said the online newspaper editor.

O'Reilly's Peter Brantley notes that this could apply to young professionals in publishing and libraries.

I wonder if this is just as applicable to art galleries? Is this what lies behind galleries' apparent slowness in coming to terms with Wikipedia, or with blogging, with starting a group on Facebook, or even with just getting on Flickr (a quick search this morning revealed a lot of lovely exterior shots when I searched on Christchurch Art Gallery, City Gallery Wellington and Dunedin Public Art Gallery, but nothing that looked like it came from the galleries themselves. Having said that, check out this great set of photos of Michael Parekowhai's Jim McMurty installed at CAG.).

I know one person who quit their job in an art gallery because they just got so frustrated about the management's reluctance to make use of technology that was cheaply (or freely) available that would help them work better. At the risk of sounding doddery, there's a generation coming through that's incredibly savvy, not just about online tools, but about building brands and networks online. So how will galleries harness this?

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.

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.