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.