Whose Exhibition Is It?

An exhibition is for many people: the community, the staff, the donors, the visitors … I could go on.

But sometimes the needs of these groups can conflict. You are not shocked by this, oui?

When that happens, you need a better answer to the question “whose exhibition is it”? I don’t mean who is the audience, or who funded it, or who works on it. 

I mean who owns it.

When you have a conflict you can’t resolve, sometimes you must appeal to the highest power. In a project where people are paid to create, the highest power is the person paying.

Usually that name is at the top of the check that pays for your services to make it. If you work in a museum, that’s your paycheck. If you work outside, it’s the check your company gets when they send the museum an invoice.

Here’s the thing:
Exhibitions are for many people, but they only have one owner. Act in the best interests of that owner, and things will suddenly become much more clear.

Warmly,
Jonathan