Send a letter to Michael Robinson

LOCAL 1645

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It is with growing concern that I have watched developments at the Glenbow Museum over the last few years. As a concerned arts supporter, I am alarmed at the museum's reduction of staff and the loss of valuable experience.

Glenbow has a reputation: it's one of Calgary's treasures. It enjoys that status because of its legacy in the community and its rich connections to the Harvie family and a host of prominent supporters. Patrons support that reputation, but also and more importantly, they support Glenbow's continued reputation to produce high quality exhibitions and critical research. Erosion of professional positions compromises the Museum's ability to lead in the production of quality exhibits and dynamic programs. After all, Glenbow is measured by the artifacts it displays and the expertise that informs those exhibitions and programs.

Calgary's communities are diverse; there is no single community (e.g. corporate, ethnic, veteran, arts groups) that arts and culture organizations can afford to be wedded to. In fact all organizations are challenged to be relevant to a savvy and dollar-conscious population. These communities are of the opinion that the museum is better served by strategic decisions that safeguard the knowledge base and the collection. I do not believe that cuts to museum staff is the wisest or the most effective means of balancing a budget, and all other avenues must and should be considered before that step is taken.

This however, has not been the pattern at Glenbow. Since 1993, 51 staff have been lost; 51 individuals schooled in the museum's history and methods; 51 individuals who carried unique knowledge of your collections and their provenance. So much of a cultural institution's intellectual property is unwritten; it's a dynamic element that is integral to your professional staff, an element that obviously inspires and nurtures an exhibition or research project. Remove those elements and atrophy is inevitable, ultimately diminishing new and innovative ideas. As any corporate consultant will tell you innovation and initiative are crucial to an organization's growth. If you constantly jettison Glenbow's knowledge base (staff), the institution's ability to produce either element is compromised.

I acknowledge that these are challenging times for arts and culture organizations, and that difficult decisions need to be made. However, cuts to Glenbow's valuable staff should be the last consideration, approached only after all other avenues have been exhausted.

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