Cultural Franchises or Franchising Cultures?

Abstract

Museums franchises have been part of our lives for several decades, gathering momentum and taking the cultural world by storm. These museums ‘brands’ are a product of the changes museums have experienced in the past decades that shaped their role as a social agents, and the influence of globalisation, which altered the paradigm of the essence of what museums constitute, and ultimately their new role as diplomatic agents. This article aims to analyse the development, the characteristics and the controversies that have surrounded the Hermitage Barcelona project, which embodies the challenges and opportunities new globalised museums are facing on a museological, political, economic and social level. This project raises social debates around topics such as cultural policy, branding strategy, tourism and identity, issues that it has in common with other satellite museums all over the world, such as the Louvre Abu Dhabi or the Guggenheim Museums. This strong social component underlines the importance of approaching the analysis of new museum models from an interdisciplinary, participatory and culturally sensitive perspective.

Keywords:

• museum franchising
• globalisation
• Barcelona
• branding
• tourism
• cultural sustainability

Notes

1 Also known as the Nova Aduana (New Customs House), to differentiate it from the Antigua Aduana de Barcelona (Old Customs House of Barcelona), the current seat of the Civil Government.

2 Barcelona en Comú is a citizens’ platform, launched in 2014, to represent in Barcelona the citizens’ candidacies, with the aim of standing in the 2015 municipal elections. Established in February of that year as a political party, one of its main promoters is the activist Ada Colau, former spokesperson of the Platform of People Affected by Mortgages and, since her victory in the aforementioned elections, Mayor of Barcelona.

3 The Port Authority of Barcelona (APB) is a Spanish port authority, under the public entity ‘State Ports’ of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, configured as the public body in charge of operating the port of Barcelona. Its president is appointed by the Generalitat de Catalunya.

4 The structure of the company varies according to the source. While it is registered in the Spanish Commercial Register as ‘Onion Digital Services SL’ (Limited Company), in the ‘Identifying Information’ of the Legal Notice on its website (http://www.onionagency.es/avisolegal.html) it is shown as ‘Onion Digital Services SLU’ (Sole-Shareholder Limited Company).

5 The International Advisory Board was created under the auspices of UNESCO in 1994; it is composed of current and former museum directors from all over the world; at one point Mikhail Piotrovsky had been Chair. The Bizot Group, founded in 1992, periodically brings together the directors of the largest museums in the world to exchange and discuss ideas and recent museum news.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alejandra Linares Figueruelo

Alejandra Linares Figueruelo is a Predoctoral Researcher at the University of Barcelona. Since 2018, she has been the Technical Director of Espais de la Batalla de Mallorca. She studied archaeology (University of Barcelona) and has a Master’s in Cultural Heritage Management and Museology (University of Barcelona) and in Design and Development of European Projects (Europa Business School). She has been a member of the research project Overtourism: les cas de Barcelone et Montréal (Université Laval and University of Barcelona) since 2022. Her research explores museum franchises and the configuration processes of new museum models, their internationalisation and how they fit into the formulation of sustainable development strategies based on culture.