An alternative and sustainable management model for museums: no over-tourism, yes to networks

The research project of Fondazione Brescia Musei and School of Management of Politecnico di Milano aimed at giving birth to a new model of outcome-based management and control of cultural realities was presented yesterday in an online meeting. The search for new sustainable management models for museums has become, especially due to the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, a necessity: in fact, the coronavirus has challenged the museum model based on “rents of position,” deriving in particular from the exploitation of over-tourism, thanks to which museum attractors had continuous flows of visitors that guaranteed economic sustainability without, however, incentivizing the improvement of museum services, with a view to value growth in the territory to which they belong.

The crisis resulting from the emergency we are currently experiencing has highlighted the reasons for the collapse of this model, at least in the short term, and museum management realities are called upon to find new sustainable tools for the future, and to do this it is essential to assess the impact that a cultural institution produces on its stakeholders and together with them.

The museum management model developed by Fondazione Brescia Musei and Politecnico di Milano has at its center the relational dimension, and the research results open new possibilities for monitoring cultural strategy, based on the co-creation of value between the museum and the territorial network. The project was born with a specific goal: to develop a new management model based on two features, one relational and one outcome-based. The first characteristic element of this model is the aspect of relationship, of networking with other actors and stakeholders. The second aspect is the desire to act on outcomes, thus identifying the concept of value as a reference point. Looking at it in detail, the model consists of four macro areas: the mapping of stakeholders and relationship; the value proposed by Fondazione Brescia Musei; the monitoring dashboard; and the mapping of the value co-created by Fondazione Brescia Musei with its stakeholders.

Regarding the mapping of stakeholders (which can be identified among individuals, in the community, among staff and collaborators, and at the institutional level: entities, associations, schools), the model, mapping the area of action of Fondazione Brescia Musei, identified 127 local connections that include companies, other institutions, educational and research entities, and associations/foundations; and then again 18 relationships with regional entities, 42 with national institutions, and another 18 at the national level. The public is also a part of the stakeholders, and the research showed that the Foundation’s programming is able to intercept a wide heterogeneity of target audiences (most of the activities are aimed at a youth and adult audience overlaid with an audience of experts in the field, with 30 activities, mostly related to exhibitions and special events, but much importance is also given to educational activities involving children, families and schools, in this case with 36 activities). Thanks to ongoing analysis, it was possible to see the unexpressed energy of economic operators in the area that could be involved in cultural identity operations. Culture Alliance procured an increase in the network of 41 stakeholders including institutions and local businesses for a total fundraising revenue value of about 3.6 million over the three-year period 2020-2022. The pact took shape in a twinning between the Foundation and some 30 stakeholders who join in intent for three years in a sharing of common goals for the enhancement of the area.

The second element of the model, the value proposition, was surveyed through interviews with key stakeholders of Fondazione Brescia Musei, which include companies, cultural institutions and entities, research and educational institutions, and citizens’ associations. The objective was to investigate what values of uniqueness are recognized in Fondazione Brescia Musei. The results mainly bring out Fondazione Brescia Musei as a promoter of cultural value, linking it to the richness of its heritage and the effectiveness of its enhancement activities. Fondazione is also recognized as a bearer of identity value and a link of citizens, companies and institutions, with the Brescia area.

Again, the third element is the monitoring dashboard, the tool for measuring results. This is a key tool because it integrates a dual perspective to the measurement: the internal perspective, which is of particular managerial interest to the director and the Foundation staff, and an external perspective, which is linked to the relational aspect and is very valuable for the director from the perspective of planning new strategies and impact on the territory. Operationally, it is a tool that supports both internal management and communication and external reporting, to various stakeholders. The dashboard, in other words, is a system of indicators divided into four areas, which monitor related aspects: economic sustainability, resources, publics, and development. From the point of view of sustainability, it was found that the Brescia Musei Foundation has a good self-financing capacity (more than 25 percent), to be linked mainly to the activity of exhibitions and events and then to ticketing; up 11 percent between 2018 and 2019. As for resources, both human and digital resources were taken into account. For the former, efficiency was calculated, measured with the Full Time Equivalent metric. Most resources are dedicated to the management of services and offerings to the public (42 percent), as key activities of the museum. Regarding these, an increase in efficiency (11%) in the management of dedicated resources also emerges between 2018 and 2019. Regarding digital resources, which are becoming increasingly important in both the management and enhancement of the heritage and visitor experience, Fondazione emerges above the average of other respondents, in all areas of digital application. Fondazione appears to stand out particularly on ticketing (0.83 vs. 0.22 of respondents). As for audiences, surveys conducted on the three sites managed by Fondazione (Museo di Santa Giulia, Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, and Parco Archeologico) reveal how the institution offers a very varied cultural experience, involving different target audiences (who rate the experience positively: between 83 and 94 percent satisfied comments). Finally, development is given by the breadth of the network, which in turn measures the extent of Fondazione Brescia Musei’s impact.

Finally, regarding the mapping of the value co-created by the Foundation with its stakeholders, the data confirmed the rich relational component brought by Fondazione Brescia Musei: among the values co-created in synergy, the stakeholders, in addition to reaffirming the identity value, emphasized the economic value, linking it to the relationship conveyed by the Alleanza Cultura project. The three-year research project thus stands as a further concrete step in the development of management models for the cultural sector that value not only their artistic assets but also their relational and social assets, which are configured, especially in this period, as the basis for sustainable development of the sector.

In practice, how has Fondazione Brescia Musei implemented this management model? In different ways: the focal point of the model has been the Alleanza ella cultura partnership project, a new model of support for the museum from institutions and companies in the area on the basis of a three-year program; several activities perceived as strongly identifying by the community (for example, the restoration of the Winged Victory, made possible by an Art Bonus project and a subscription of local residents thanks to which 600 thousand euros were raised in one year, or exhibition projects dedicatl to the city and its area); projects for schools, which, moreover, on the occasion of the pandemic were rethought in order to follow the indications that emerged from the research (video lectures, educational projects specifically designed for online and so on); welfare and families, with the enhancement of activities for children (for example, summer centers that hosted hundreds of children); policy making activities such as the photography festival dedicated to women’s identity, initiatives aimed at Brescia’s multiethnic community, those for the third age and the like.

“The distinctive aspect of the project,” pointed out Deborah Agostino of the School of Management of the Milan Polytechnic, “is that the model is configured both as a relational and interaction tool with the territorial system, and as a measurement and monitoring tool with a view to sustainability, based on values co-created with stakeholders. The institution also comes to be configured as a plural subject in the management tool. In fact, the very design of the management model took place in direct dialogue with stakeholders.”

“All museums constitute the best historical and demoethnoanthropological repertoire of evidence of the heritage and territorial cultural identity on which they insist,” says Stefano Karadjov, director of Fondazione Brescia Musei. “Although this evidence is evident in the content and strategic choices of artistic and exhibition programming, it has in the past been curiously disconnected from museum management and organizational choices. Instead, we need to consider this community-based aspect of the cultural institution and museum, and to do this we need efficient monitoring and control models available to the decision maker. The great work done by Fondazione Brescia Musei in collaboration with Politecnico di Milano puts the Foundation at the absolute forefront in the availability of the planning tools for new strategies that most positively impact the territory. In particular, the monitoring dashboard represents a proposal to support management and communication, reporting and control with high scalability profiles in other contexts as well, and so we hope that at such a complex time, other museums will be able to adapt it.”

“We talked about governance that is largely within Brescia Musei,” said Martina Bagnoli, director of the Galleria Estense, speaking at the presentation dlla research. “I wonder if in a future this model of governance could not be transformed into a direction between different actors and different subjects. The set of relationships is institutional-business, in the future looking at the digital model these relationships may be more and more multiplied. Here then a cultural institution more than governance must deal with a real direction to connect this multiplication and reuse of new solicitations.”

According to Claudio Bocci, managing director of Ravello Lab and former president of Federculture, “this important strategic project shows great value and could only come from a cultural enterprise, private law entities that carry out public service purposes. Participation foundations that will be a bit of the future of cultural quality in our country, and we expect a forthcoming discipline of cultural and creative enterprises distinguishing between cultural enterprises that has public purposes and creative enterprises that legitimately move in the market for their profit. Fondazione Brescia Musei’s project highlighted the network in the territory and the mechanisms of stakeholder engagement in the cultural management and enhancement activity called Alleanza Cultura.” According to Bocci, the project “could be a model for sustainability in the medium and long term of museums.”

Pictured: one of the rooms of the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo in Brescia

An alternative and sustainable management model for museums: no over-tourism, yes to networks

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