What should we do with museums?

What should we do with museums?

JAKARTA (JP): A few days after the appointment of the Seventh
Development Cabinet, which caused much discomfort among artists,
Director of Museums Tedjo Susilo said museums could "be merged
into the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture" because they
"were more suited... to cultural tourism".

His statement serves as a worthy introduction to the case of
museums, as it highlights one of the confusions posed by the
establishment of the new ministry.

Determining which department an institution should be placed
can be done according to the characteristics of the institution.

Museums are fundamentally educational institutions. Their main
function is to exhibit their collections and undertake further
research so they remain interpretative institutions.

Therefore, due to this interpretative role, they should not be
placed under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and
Culture. Instead, matters regarding museums should continue to be
handled by the Ministry of Education and Culture.

It is time for this Ministry to support the institutions that
should be the spearhead of fine art knowledge.

This ministry, through the National Museum, should only be not
an "ivory tower" for the leadership of narrow-minded
intellectuals or just a coordinator for academic learning.

Instead, it should sustain the institutions that are the
public's primary resource for developing their fine art
knowledge, for example through exhibitions and other
interpretative activities.

The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture can support the
development of museums by promoting them so that more tourists
visit them. This can be done by providing more news about art and
cultural events, especially exhibitions, in calendars of events
and through both the print and electronic media.

If post and telecommunications remain under the Ministry of
Tourism, Arts and Culture, the promotion of art can be done
through stamps, first day covers, telephone cards, and the like.

The Ministry of Tourism can also support the management of
peripheral parts of museums that give them added value, such as
cafes, gift shops, and similar facilities.

Foundations, as supporting fine arts institutions, need to
take a leading role in sustaining appreciation of arts while
keeping their creative and interpretive functions independent.
Therefore, foundations do not yet need to employ curators for
their own collections.

At the moment, it is perhaps more useful for foundations to
sustain museums' acquisitions programs. Foundations can help
museums, for example, acquire works of art that the curators
consider extremely important but cannot purchase themselves.

This will certainly be more useful than if foundations formed
their own collections that might not be displayed very often.

Foundations can form "friends of museums" organizations whose
members would contribute to the development of the institutions.

These organizations also have to increase the number of
museumgoers through promotion and marketing efforts, and also
support continuous art activities. Foundations can also support
the development of fine arts by offering scholarships, publishing
books and producing souvenirs.

In essence, what they organize are pro-appreciative
activities. And as they support the development of art
appreciation, such foundations should be under the auspices of
the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.