Managing performance indicators in visual art museums

Abstract

Quality and excellence demand the efficient and effective delivery of high and consistent standards of performance. To achieve this, managers need to agree on how to measure performance in order to define what is being measured and how it will be measured, as well as the establishment of models of good practice to help deliver measurable improvements. Using data collected through in-depth interviews with museum executives in London, New York, and Washington, DC, this paper seeks to advance the discussion on how to measure the success of museums, and demonstrate that a performance framework is potentially useful in forging a culture of excellence that will permit museums to learn from each other's experience.

Keywords:

• museum management
• critical success factors
• performance indicators
• performance measurement
• art museums

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Nancy Fuller, Research Program Manager at the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies, and Eleanor R. Goldhar, Deputy Director for External Affairs at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, for their support and counsel during this research, as well as to the many museum executives who agreed to participate in this investigation. I would like to express my gratitude to the Austrian Science Foundation (FWF) for financial support and to the Smithsonian Institution, who supported an extended period of research and consultation in Washington, DC, that greatly enriched the inquiry. Last, I am grateful to Paul Harrison, Fiona Kent, and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the manuscript. The research for this paper was part of a project titled “Strategic Management for Contemporary Art” led by Dr. Gerald Matt and supported by the FWF. The research for this paper was part of a project titled ‘Strategic Management for Contemporary Art’ led by Dr Gerald Malt and supported by the FWF.

Notes

1. Return on Investment (ROI) measures how effectively the firm uses its capital to generate profit.

2. Survey participants: Neal Benezra, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Francesco Bonami, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo; Manuel J. Borja-Villel, MACBA; Chris Dercon, Haus der Kunst; Peter Doroshenko, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art; Danilo Eccher, MACRO; Robert Fitzpatrick, MCA Chicago; Robert Fleck, Deichtorhallen Hamburg; Christian Gether, Arken Museum of Modern Art; Ida Gianelli, Castello di Rivoli; Ulrike Groos, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; Kathy Halbreich, Walker Art Center; Andreas Hapkemeyer, Museion; Alanna Heiss, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center; Barbara Holub, Secession; Tuula Karjalainen, Kiasma; Edelbert Köb, MUMOK; Elizabeth Ann Macgregor, MCA Sydney; Gerald Matt, Kunsthalle Wien; Marc Mayer, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal; Lars Nittve, Moderna Museet; Julia Peyton-Jones, Serpentine Gallery; Marla Price, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; Laura Raicovich, Dia Art Foundation; Rafael Doctor Roncero, MUSAC; Eckhard Schneider, Kunsthaus Bregenz; Sir Nicholas Serota, Tate Gallery; Philippe Van Cauteren, SMAK Stedelijk Museum; Marc-Olivier Wahler, Palais de Tokyo, Armin Zweite, K21.

3. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

4. In USA the IRS Form 990 is the most commonly used data source about non-profit organizations and is used by the Internal Revenue Service as an indicator that nonprofit organizations are meeting the minimum requirements for tax exempt status.