From connoisseur to the good manager. Perspectives in managerial curatorship from Canada and Brazil

Abstract

Managerial curatorship developed mainly, though not exclusively, as a practice and museum model in so-called society museums during the 1990s, particularly in French-speaking Canada and later in parts of French-speaking Europe. It was progressively adopted in other cultural and heritage organizations in Latin America and more recently in the UK and USA. This model involves professional project managers taking on certain curatorial tasks such as exhibition-making. This intentional deconstruction of the traditional curatorship model originally envisioned a displacement, or in some cases, a complete removal of the traditional curator figure. This paper examines two cases of managerial curatorship: one in Canada (Musée de la civilisation, Quebec City, 1988) and one in Brazil (Museu da Pessoa, São Paulo, 1991). It then puts forth two arguments. First, that there should be more focus on developing healthy teamwork by concurrently investing in community participation and career development of key staff figures. The second argument is that encouraging creativity is key to maintaining the sustainability of such a model in the 21st century.