The American Art Museum: Management versus artistic values in transition

This thesis examines the changes in museum practices in art museums over the past three decades. The values held by curators and other artistic professionals are compared to the values of museum directors and managers. In the past thirty years, art museums have experienced unparalleled growth in the most significant aspects of their structure and activity. A myriad of museums are bigger, more popular, more expensive and more complex than at any time in their history. The administration of many museums has changed from what was traditionally nonmanagement-based to one using the newest management techniques of a not-for-profit corporation. Often, these changes have resulted in turmoil for the staffs, trustees, and the institutions themselves. The purpose of this investigation is to identify the ways in which the museum profession and its institution have changed and to analyze the changes. For example, is a museum driven by its collection and its mission, or by the need to increase audiences and funding? Do art museums focus on measuring quantity at the expense of quality? The museum's structural complexity, social conditions and fiscal pressures can act as catalysts to the transformation of the art museum. Differing values within the organizations are documented and their impact examined to explain changes within the art museum and reveal expectations for the future.