Tasmania’s Auditor General’s concerns, in regard to the TMAG’s governance alerts us to serious concerns relevant to the governance and management of Tasmania’s ‘cultural estate’ held in public musingplaces and heritage properties throughout Tasmania. In respect to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) it is highly relevant that the Auditor General noted that:
- The TMAG’s legal and management framework was unclear.
- There is a need for the roles and responsibilities between TMAG and the Department of State Growth to be reviewed and made clearer.
- The TMAG had encountered some major budgetary problems during the past four years with the museum overspending its annual budget, with funds having to be reallocated from other areas of government to meet the shortfall.
- His audit identified an urgent need for TMAG to develop high-level planning and policy documents – The Hobart Mercury: “Auditor-General calls on Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery to lift its game” – Matt Smith State Political Editor … March 27, 2015
It would not be drawing too long a bow to speculate that Tasmania’s ‘cultural estate’ is exposed to a range of risks implied by the Auditor General’s findings relative to the TMAG.
Indeed, it is clear that the standards that people assume are in place to protect:
- Their cultural investment in Tasmania’s musing places and heritage properties;
- The cultural and intellectual property donors and sponsors place in the trust of, and under the stewardship of, public collections; and
- The opportunities researchers and scholars rely upon to advance their work; are not necessarily there or adhered to. Indeed the sector is in many cases the last stand for largely unaccountable amateurism – albeit that these collection managers are very often salaried.
In many ways all this is ever likely to be the case as ‘the musingplace sector’ evolves. Actually it might be claimed that this aspect of Tasmania's economy and society is the least considered, least regulated, sector despite the many many hundreds of millions, indeed billions, of dollars worth of public investment entrusted to these public collections, public musingplaces and heritage properties in the form of cultural and intellectual property.
The notion of “trust us we’re professional and credible” all to often would not stand close scrutiny. Indeed, the Auditor General has seemingly made observations in regard to the TMAG that would run contrary to such an automatic response and his observations are being tested it appears.
In a contemporary context, public museums and art galleries the world over are having to reimagine themselves in much the same way as newspapers, universities, publishers, etc. are having to. Looking ahead, the status quo is not a viable option yet nevertheless there is a reliance upon it being an ongoing option. Seemingly there are those who will go to considerable lengths to ensure that that status quo is not seriously disrupted.
Consequently it is timely that along with the TMAG, Tasmania’s musingplaces now reimagine themselves in a contemporary context and in ways relevant to local, national and international developments in musingplace practice governance and management. That is, in ways relevant to audience engagement given all that is at risk and the new opportunities that are persistently presenting themselves.
All this brings us to a point worth making in regard to Tasmania’s cultural estate – its public collections, its heritage infrastructure, their contemporary relevance and the value they add to communities.
At the TMAG clearly there are developments under way but in regard to other institutions and public collections this could not be claimed.
Against this background it can be argued that it is time to reconsider Tasmania's Museums Act and the various regulations under which public cultural collections and heritage assets (natural, built, and industrial) are held, governed and managed.
At the TMAG clearly there are developments under way but in regard to other institutions and public collections this could not be claimed.
Against this background it can be argued that it is time to reconsider Tasmania's Museums Act and the various regulations under which public cultural collections and heritage assets (natural, built, and industrial) are held, governed and managed.
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