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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Why does the decree signed by three presidents still remain unfulfilled?

On the vectors of museum development and state machine malfunctions
15 December, 2011 - 00:00
Photo by Mykola TYMCHENKO, The Day

Museum development has become a very acute problem on the eve of Euro-2012. Are our museums prepared to deal with an influx of tourists and project a proper image of this country? Last week this subject was discussed at a Mystetsky Arsenal roundtable. Before this, the National Institute of Strategic Studies had set up a task force and conducted a survey among museum employees. The findings are not exactly a comfort. Most of the polled characterized the condition of museums as “satisfactory,” with nobody giving the mark of “good,” let alone “excellent.” The respondents traditionally named the following factors that slow down the development of this sector: underfunding, inadequate skills and shortage of the staff, poor logistics, absence of updated instructions about the accounting of museum valuables, and of a sound governmental policy towards museums. But have we not heard this over the past 20 years? To be fair, something has been done in the past few years, first of all, by civic organizations. In particular, the second issue of the journal Muzeiny prostir came out thanks to the Ukrainian Center of Museum Development. Besides, the website prostir.museum, established as part of the Museum Development scheme launched by the Ukraine 3000 International Foundation in collaboration with the Swiss Cultural Program in Ukraine, has been for years the most comprehensive online resource for this country’s museums.

The statement of this problem was followed by new promises. Lilia HOMOLSKA, chief of the Department for the Formation of Governmental Policies in Culture, Art, and Education of Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture, emphasized that the museum sector is, undoubtedly, a top priority for the ministry and is part of the government’s security policy. The functionary promised that the ministry, together with a high-skilled team of top managers, would address all these problems, which will mean complete modernization of the sector – from exposition to the establishment of a website for every museum, staff development, legislative improvements, additional funding of the museum sector, and other innovations. The first person who could not bear this flow of promises was Anatolii MELNYK, president of the Ukrainian National Committee of the International Council of Ministers (ICOM) and director-general of the National Art Museum. “As for altering the museum law, the problem is to put together the links of the governmental ‘chain.’ Quite a long time ago Kuchma signed the decree ‘On Additional Measures to Support the National Art Museum of Ukraine’ [No. 294 of March 25, 2002. – Ed.] which envisaged the museum’s renovation. Then Yushchenko did the same [Decree No. 781 of November 10, 2009. – Ed.]. Finally, on March 15 this year, Viktor Yanukovych signed another similar decree. But things have not got forward an inch. So, this system, this chain reaction, malfunctions somewhere. For premises, even if renovated, is not yet a museum,” Melnyk says.

Serhii KROLEVETS, chairman of the All-Ukrainian Association of Museums, added: “The museum process has long been fixated on itself. For some reason, nobody cares about that. There is no such thing as ‘gaining information; in the museum-related laws, although this is the number-one thing.” As for museum management, Krolevets noted: “Why, unlike in the West, Ukrainian museums do not have shops or cafes that belong to them only? Because this requires a heap of permits, resolutions, certificates, etc. It is only romantics and kamikazes who earn, while the smart ones draw money from the budget.” Indeed, even if a museum manages to earn something, this money goes, under the law, to the state, not to the museum. Krolevets suggests for the umpteenth time that as many powers as possible be transferred from bureaucrats to the museum staff. In other words, the museum vertical chain should be turned into a horizontal one.

It is important that the roundtable resulted in not only the discussion of a sore point but also in setting up a task force of museum employees who agreed to continue taking an active part in discussions and create sort of a “road map” of Ukrainian museum development, a guideline for further actions. Incidentally, Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, curator, art manager, and project manager of Rinat Akhmetov’s foundation “Development of Ukraine,” announced the institution of a 10-million-hryvnia grant for the next year. These funds will be made available to develop the most active museum, a “prime mover,” if you like. “This grant is being awarded for active development of human resources in the museum, advanced studies abroad, intensification of inter-museum partnership, contacts with audiences, and the launching of a program of ‘small-scale experiments,’ i.e., various individual projects which the museum could support,” Ostrovska-Liuta said.

By Sofia KUSHCH
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