Serota and MacGregor: Why They Don’t Want to Direct U.S. Museums

Museum wonks (that's all of you, right?) will need to see this video [via], of a recent conversation at the London School of Economics and Political Science between Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, and Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate, who mutually pondered, in wry and witty fashion, "The Museum of the 21st Century."

One of the many compatibilities of these sophisticated cosmopolitans involved a somewhat xenophobic lack of interest in leaving their high-powered jobs in Great Britain for comparable posts in the U.S.

Here's why (about 12 minutes into the video):

John Wilson (the moderator) to MacGregor: I wonder why you didn't take the job that you were reported to have been offered at the Met.

MacGregor: I don't think there's anywhere at the moment in the world where what is possible through public collections is as various and as rich as it is in London. There's an extraordinary opportunity in London, through the collections and through the publics in London, to address issues that I don't think are possible to address in any other city through the collections.

Serota: I think that's true. I also think that the museums sit within society in a very different place than the position they occupy in America. To work here has its challenges, but undoubtedly there are rewards arising from the fact that we work for so many different kinds of people. We're not working merely for the board of trustees. We're working for everyone in this room who owns the collections that we look after, and it's an extraordinary challenge.

Wilson: If you were offered a big job in America (and I'm sure it's probably happened), is one of the problems that you would face is that there is a powerful board in America, very often fueled by money?

Serota: Money is only part of it. They're fueled by a whole range of issues. But I think that the money aspect of it and the trustees are only a small part of the challenge in America. I think the museums are nothing like as connected to their publics as we are and I think that informs the way in which they work in all kinds of ways.

MacGregor: One of the reasons why I think we both still enjoy being where we are is that being a museum director in Britain is unlike any other in the world because it [the museum] is free. You're dealing with a totally different relationship with the public. What that long tradition of real civic ownership has done is transform the relationship between the public and the collections. And there's no other city in Europe or America where that's true. That does make it an infinitely more exciting job here than anywhere else.

My own reaction is to defend the richness of collections and the diversity of audiences in big-city museums in this country as second to none. As for a sense of "civic ownership" of their art institutions---some U.S. communities evince that more than others. Free admission, with the concomitant benefits of "civic ownership," is a lot easier to achieve in a country where museums are granted large government subsidies. Our government-supported Smithsonian institutions are free, as are a number of other museums around the country. Our museums' great diversity of income streams, rather than over-dependence on government handouts, brings not only challenges but also benefits.

I had mentioned in my recent post about Professor de Montebello's Meaning of Museums course that it would be useful for Philippe to compare the European and American models, as well as the northern and southern European models.

Maybe you can do that for me: I'd be interested in receiving (and publishing in CultureGrrl) responses from U.S. museum professionals to the Brits' somewhat dismissive take on our institutions. Click the "Contact Me" link in the middle column to send your comments. (And while you're at it, click my "Donate" button!)

Did MacGregor, in the course of this 80-minute discussion, argue once again for British retention of the Elgin Marbles? Of course he did...but in more provocative, inflammatory terms than I've yet heard from a man known for choosing words carefully. COMING SOON.