MiC, one third of autonomous museums are waiting for a director

Patiently scrolling through the website of the Ministry of Culture and then Consip, we discover several calls for tenders for museum services, but no trace of tenders for the vacant directorates of state museums. According to Arteconomy's survey, there are 21 institutes of major national interest with special autonomy on the list of 67 old and new ones (Prime Minister's Decree no. 57 of 15 March 2024), waiting for a new directorate in 2024. Approximately one third: three old directorates, two with fresh autonomy of the I fascia and another two of the II fascia are assigned to the Museums Directorate headed by Massimo Osanna or to the Diac Department Head headed by Mario Turetta (former Secretary General), ten old directorates will expire by the autumn - they are waiting for confirmation of the current director's appointment or a new announcement - and, another three new ones of the II fascia are waiting for an announcement. Then, on paper, the Colosseum Park still has one directorate, that of Alfonsina Russo, who, however, last July was called to head the new DiVa (Department for the Enhancement of Cultural Heritage). There is a lot of work to be done when you consider that a call for bids has a completion time of at least six months. The museums in limbo meanwhile continue their ordinary activities. Certainly not a visitor has been lost, thanks in part to the new openings on the holidays of 25 December and Ferragosto and the desire to return to museums after a still pandemic 2022 (until 1 April two years ago, it was compulsory to show a green pass to enter museums, and then afterwards there was the obligation to wear an FFP2 mask), but a museum without a directorate has no planning.

The next appointments should define, after Russo's appointment at DiVa, how the leadership of the Colosseum will be structured, which could also include the appointment of a second director in the II fascia, and will have to identify the general managerial level of the Florentine pole of the Galleria dell'Accademia - Musei del Bargello and the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (which has been passed from bracket II to I), and then also assign a guide to non-general managerial level entities such as the new Pantheon pole and Castel Sant'Angelo and many other important museums scattered around Italy (in the table) such as the monumental complex of the Pilotta and the museums entrusted to the managers appointed in March.

The Franceschini reform has created a watershed between before and after its entry into force in 2014; before, most museums lacked autonomy; today there are 67 institutes with the associated multiplication of directorates. For many experts, this reform remains incomplete because it has not given the directors real autonomy in the choice of staff, which remains with the MiC, for better or worse: the director cannot choose his team, but in the event of an emergency, such as Covid, no one stays at home as happened to the staff of American museums. On the other hand, autonomous state museums have brought about a change of pace: the director has become a public figure, when he has rooted the museum in the territory, and created a more attractive brand. It is unfortunate, however, that many good practices were shared perhaps only informally: there was a lack of direction from the MiC.

"The interims and the waits for the appointments of new directors of the most recently created institutes lead to a situation of suspension, which risks proving detrimental to the institutes involved, which cannot plan their cultural activities any longer," explains Ludovico Solima, one of the leading experts in museum management. "Due to its temporary nature, the interim takes away the possibility of strategic planning, which is fundamental for proper museum management. Defining a strategic plan for the museum that spans the entire duration of the assignment is fundamental for a director. As happens abroad, where this methodology is widely used, while it is much rarer in Italy, where most of the time it is not technically possible to go beyond the preparation of a budget for the current year'.

For Michele Lanzinger, president since 2022 of Icom Italia, it is "impossible to think that an organisation does not have a coordinating figure with the competence to prepare programmes to implement its mission. The characteristics of a director must include, as a first criterion, an excellent understanding of the mission and its harmonisation with respect to the strategic directions indicated by the owner, whether public or private". Concerning competences Lanzinger points out that it is 'essential that the director has full authority over the museum's cultural areas. Furthermore, skills are required that are capable of intercepting and operationalising areas such as education, cultural welfare, research combined with communication and fundraising activities. If the political body - minister, mayor, councillor - were to interfere with or replace the director, a conflict of competencies would emerge, that is, a flawed relationship that would corrupt the scientific and management side,' concludes the director of the Muse, Trento's Science Museum.