András Szántó. The Future of the Museum: 28 Dialogues (Hatje Cantz Text Book 6)

The key to sustainability is relevance. Inclusion is a proximate concern, and that is why we are talking about quality. There is a midrange concern, which is around the financial model. What will keep me excited is those two areas of focus—trying to create sustainable models for museums, with strong finances and strong community engagement. There i

You will find museums in major metropolitan areas that will be much more deeply connected to their communities.

Museums need to think desperately about their revenue models. We have retail businesses. We sell things in shops and cafés. And maybe it was you who once said this: “The best retailers in the world can’t do retail, so what makes museums think they can do retail?” When you look deeply, these functions almost never pay.

One of the constructs I try to use in management is, “Can you get someone to come for a third visit in eighteen months?” That third visit is when you turn someone from being a non-visitor to a visitor.

We need to unlearn the way we do marketing. It inhibits our approaches to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion. This is a passion of mine, and it is perhaps the key issue for museums in the early twenty-first century.*

The museum experience is not strictly about the art. It is about art in a particular space, in a particular moment in time.

It is more important than ever to have these safe democratic spaces to explore ideas together, to look at our past, and to get a glimpse of what the future may bring.

My fear is that culture, and in particular galleries, museums, libraries, will be seen as a luxury rather than for the crucial role they play. I am absolutely passionate—and I know you are, too—that these institutions need to be at the center of our recovery.

The museum when it reopens will be fully licensed through all the foyer spaces. You can grab a drink and sit in a nook, do your email, whatever. We opened up the retail space, so you can pick up a book and browse and spend time. You do not have to engage in depth with the collections or the exhibitions, but the foyer spaces are full of clues about