u A new way of looking at old things - Susan Pearce

u The V&A: a look back at change - Robin Cole-Hamilton

u Corporate sponsorship: a sea change for French museums - Georgina Oliver

u A delicate balance: museums and the market place -  Victoria D. Alexander

u Hungarian museums in transition - István Gedai

u Transformation in South Africa: a legacy challenged - Amareswar Galla

u Managing change or Navigating through turbulent times -  Nancy Hushion

Practice

u Children in African museums: voices of the Commonwealth - Lois Irvine

Profile

u At the cross-roads of cultures: the museums of Marseilles - Laurence Alfonsi

Summary of Articles

The Glenbow Museum, Art Gallery, Library and Archives in Calgary, Alberta, has, over the years, become one of Canada's top cultural institutions with an international reputation for exhibitions, programmes and publications. Robert R. Janes, its President and Chief Executive Officer since 1989, is known as a leading voice in the changes taking place in Canada's cultural institutions. His most recent book, Museums and the Paradox of Change, is a candid approach to controversial changes in a major cultural organization and speaks to the vital need for a shift in thinking as museums enter the twenty-first century. It received the Outstanding Achievement Award for Publication from the Canadian Museums Association and the Award of Merit from the Alberta Museums Association, and led to numerous speaking invitations, including a keynote address at the Smithsonian Institution on the occasion of its 150th anniversary. In this article, he sets out some basic premises for change in today's museum context.

u A new way of looking at old things collections
Susan Pearce

According to Susan Pearce, the museum as a social construct, a purveyor of ideologically charged notions of knowledge and historical truth, must evolve into a 'reflexive, exploratory' cultural space where 'existing collections speak in new voices'. And to her this implies a major shift in management practices and attitudes. After working on the curatorial staff in the Antiquities Department at National Museums on Merseyside and Exeter City Museums, she joined the Department of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester in 1984, becoming Professor of Museum Studies in 1990 and Dean of Arts in 1996. She served as President of the Museums Association 1992-94, and has written and edited numerous books including Museums, Objects and Collections (1992), On Collecting: An Investigation into Collecting in the European Tradition (1995) and Collecting in Contemporary Practice (1998).

u The V&A: a look back at change
Robin Cole-Hamilton

London's Victoria and Albert Museum is widely considered to be the world's finest museum of the decorative arts. Founded in 1852, the V&A, as it is popularly known, is home to 145 galleries and some 4 million objects, ranging from Constable paintings to oriental ceramics, the finest collection of Italian Renaissance sculpture outside Italy as well as the most impressive collection of Indian art and artefacts outside the subcontinent. With a total of approximately 800 full-time staff and many part-time staff and volunteers, it is indeed a venerable institution. When a far-reaching management overhaul was initiated in 1989, the repercussions made headlines throughout the international museum community. Robin Cole-Hamilton explains what exactly took place and what may be gleaned from the experience. Since 1991, he has been Head of Public Services at the V&A where his responsibilities include education, exhibitions, design, marketing and visitor services. His career in museums goes back to 1973 when he joined the Royal Scottish Museum as a designer. He was Head of Design at the National Gallery in London between 1978 and 1984 before leaving to pursue a marketing career in industry.

u Corporate sponsorship: a sea change for French museums
Georgina Oliver

Long known for its unstinting government support to cultural life and institutions, France has now embarked on a vigorous and dynamic approach to private-sector partnerships, a new direction that spells major changes in the way museums see their role and functions. A member of the committee of the Anglo-American Press Association of Paris, Georgina Oliver is a prominent arts and style columnist. Over the years, her signature has appeared in major international magazines such as Time and American Vogue as well as in specialist art publications. In London, during the early 1970s, she was already actively involved in building bridges between the visual arts and the private sector, on the board of 'Industrial Sponsors', an independent association that organized exhibitions in corporate venues.

u A delicate balance: museums and the marketplace
Victoria D. Alexander

'Museums must succumb to the inevitable, in moving towards a more businesslike model for their operations and revenue, without losing sight of conservation and connoisseurship.' So concludes Victoria D. Alexander after examining the effects of private and corporate philanthropy on museums and their implications for museum management and objectives, which must reconcile the demands of an increasingly exacting public with the constraints of steadily shrinking government funding. The author is the Foundation Fund Lecturer of Sociology at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom. She is the author of Museums and Money: The Impact of Funding on Exhibitions, Scholarship and Management (Indiana University Press).

u Hungarian museums in transition
Istvá Gedai

The epoch-making changes that shook the former communist countries of central and eastern Europe have had profound repercussions on all aspects of cultural life and notably on museums. Accustomed to stable budgets and unqualified government support, they must now seek new means of survival in a society that is still in a state of flux. István Gedai, Director of the Hungarian National Museum, describes their problems and sheds light on some of the deep-rooted questions posed by major social transformation.

u Transformation in South Africa: a legacy challenged
Amareswar Galla

Rarely has any country made such radical changes in all aspects of its life as post-apartheid South Africa. The museum and heritage community was seen as a principal actor in bringing about a new democratic society based on a truthful, unflinching examination of the past and a creative, participatory approach to the future. These efforts are described by Dr Amareswar Galla, Director of the Australian Centre for Cultural Diversity Research and Development at the University of Canberra and founder of a national programme for interdisciplinary and holistic studies in heritage management. He has spent a substantial part of the past five years as a specialist adviser and facilitator for new policies, corporate plans and transformation documents in the cultural and heritage sectors of South Africa, including the National Parks system. His work earned him the South African Museums Association inaugural presidential award for outstanding service for transformation planning and training in 1997. He is also a Director of Australia's Board of Special Broadcasting Service, Chairperson of the Asia Pacific organization of ICOM and Chairperson of ICOM's Cross-cultural Taskforce.

u Managing change or Navigating through turbulent times
Nancy Hushion

Reactive or proactive? How museums answer this question may well be the key to their survival as the demands of the public and the marketplace increasingly impinge on their day-to-day activities and their long-term goals. Nancy Hushion is a well-known independent Canadian museologist in the field of museum planning and management. She is a former member of the ICOM Executive Council and the new Chairperson of the ICOM International Committee for Management (INTERCOM).

u Children in African museums: voices of the Commonwealth
Lois Irvine

Making museums 'children-friendly' is the goal of anew movement within the Commonwealth Association of Museums (CAM). Lois Irvine is Secretary General of CAM and is also a museum consultant, working independently after twenty years of experience in one of Canada's major museums, the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. She is Chair of the Canadian Museums Human Resource Planning Committee and has contributed articles to a number of museum journals. She is Past President of the Alberta Museums Association, a former President of CAM, and member of several professional organizations, ICOM, Canadian Museums Association, American Association of Museums, and is active on the ICOM International Committee for Training of Personnel (ICTOP).

u At the cross-roads of cultures: the museums of Marseilles
Laurence Alfonsi

With their originality and their diversity, the museums of Marseilles symbolize the plurality that is so characteristic of the city itself. What is more, there are some, in terms of design and development, that are at the forefront of efforts to reinvigorate the cultural life of the city. Laurence Alfonsi, who lives in Marseilles, holds a doctorate in the humanities (Docteur en Lettres et Sciences Humaines) and is the author of a number of articles that have been published in international journals on such subjects as the sociology of film, the work of François Truffaut, the effects of globalization and the new technologies, and future-oriented studies.