JUNE 2024 QVMAG STRATEGIC INSTRUMENTS

 

Random Snaps of the Document ... Click Here

CONTEXT

In essence the current set of documents masquerading as  as the Queen Victoria Museum & Art's (QVMAG) "Strategigic Instrument" has all the characteristics of it being designed to stall meaningful change. The fact that it presents itself as being unsolicited its relevance is contestable. As always meaning is invested in the context.

Firstly, it needs to be said that the roles and functions are different and distinct and that is clearly set out in the Tsmania Local Govt Act 1993. To reiterate, 'governance' determines policy and strategic positioning and 'management' implements governance's determinations. No ifs, no buts! Governance may well seek management's 'advice' but it is 'governance' who deterines 'policy & stratergy' 'unless governance' has delegated its authority to management so to do. With the case in hand here there is no evidence that the Councillor – the QVMAG's governors by default – have delegated thier 'authority' to  management albeit that the institution's manage has taken it upon itself to put these 'instruments' in place.

As a consequence two things appear to be the case. 

• ... One being the QVMAG's management appears to be acting beyond it's authority and thus attempting to blur the roles of governance and management; and
• ... The other being that the Council – the elected 12 – on the evidence to hand, have abdicated their governance role in regard to the QVMAG. Moreover, as a consequence they are arguably in breach of the trust invested in them by the ratepayers and citizens of Launceston, and by extension, Tasmania's taxpayers and anyone who has intellectual property invested in the collections held by the QVMAG.

Therefore, the key determinations within this set of papers under the guise of being the “Transitional Governance Framework”, namely, for the transitioning of the QVMAG into another/new entity are at best questionable given that they purport to move: 

• ... Away from being a City of Launceston 'Cost Centre' with the elected Councillors effectively being the institution’s default ‘governing body’ without open deliberation and endorsement on the part of Councillors; and 

• ... Away from being a City of Launceston operation, 'owned an managed by the City of Launceston' with the Councillors effectively being the institution’s default ‘governing body’ cum default 'Trustees' without open deliberation and endorsement on the part of Councillors; and 

• ... Towards the city’s Executive Management deeming itself to have blended management cum governance function powers albeit without any apparent Delegated Authority being assigned to them so to do without open deliberation and endorsement on the part of Councillors;; and with

• ... Within this circumstance to ‘transition’ the QVMAG as a Council 'Cost Centre' to a QVMAG ‘Company Limited by Guarantee’ as recommended and determined in JUNE 2022 given the un-sustainability of the Status Quo without open deliberation and endorsement on the part of Councillors;; and 

• ... The ‘Council’ appointing an 'advisory body' upon whose advice Councillors may or may not accepted as having governance or management relevance and given that this body rarely if ever reports to Council in an open and formal context; and with

• ... Within this circumstance to ‘transition’ the QVMAG as a Council 'Cost Centre' the QVMAG will as has been the case since mid 2023 manage and expend funds without due diligence and meaningful budget controls without open deliberation and endorsement on the part of Councillors; and 

• ... For whatever reason this ‘transition’ has stalled until this point where it has been determined by ‘management’ to be some time away yet despite the institutions un-sustainability albeit without a compelling rationale for any further delay; and  

• ... For the lack of 'governance' and thus the lack of 21st C policies and strategies the infrastructure the institution occupies is undeveloped and/or under utalised in areas to the detriment of the institution realising its potential on behalf of its Community of Ownership & Interest – all of whom have significant investments – fiscal & intellectual – in the institution; and  

• ... Moreover, with the 'Instrument's' status and utility being at best ambiguous and in all likelihood self-serving managerially, projecting its relevance to 2028, and all of this without accountability to a constituency the circumstances around this document lacks both utility and credibility.

All that said, not everything in the document lacks credibility. It is just the case that it comes into being in a circumstance that lacks credibility and thus by extension the document and the assumptions in it lack utility to say the very least. For the most part this set of documents has relatively little to do with research and the 'advancement of knowledge' and better understandings – the QVMAG's foundation raison d'etre.

CITY OF LAUNCESTON COUNCILLORS AS MUSEUM GOVERNORS CUM TRUSTEES

Functionally, Councillors are ill prepared and ill equipped to be the Governors/Trustees of a cultural intuition (QVMAG) in exactly the same way as the Tasmanian Government’s Ministry is ill equipped to be the Governors/Trustees of a cultural intuition like the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG Hobart). Both institutions are 'owned' by a division of government who in fact hold their collections in trust for Tasmania's people.

Moreover, neither does the Tasmanian. government's 'Executive Officers' have the wherewithal to 'govern' and they do not albeit that they advise the relevant Minister on:

• ... Performance outcomes; and 

• ... Strategic relevance; and

• ... Funding requirements.

Acknowledging this, the Tasmanian Government ‘appoints’ a Board of Trustees. On the other hand Launceston’s Councils over time has not followed this model. 

Therefore, the QVMAG operates as a cultural intuition that functions‘ without a formal standalone 'governing body’ that has a membership with the appropriate expertise and domain knowledge. 

In a 21st C context, arguably this puts the QVMAG’s priceless collections at risk by extension. Moreover, collection policies by-and-large reflect 19th C cum 20th C sensibilities.  Clearly this is an unsatisfactory circumstance brought about by Council's Management for unfathomable reasons over time. Moreover, it has been called out as being unsustainable.

OPTIONS FOR CHANGE 

1. ...To appoint a Board of Trustees with the City of Launceston retaining ‘ownership’ of the collection and Council – ratepayers exclusively!! – bearing all the cost of providing the infrastructure, staffing the institution and maintain the collection. This is expensive and demonstrably unsatisfactory as is currently the case and it has been deemed to be unsustainable; OR 

2. ...To assign the Trusteeship of the QVMAG to the TMAG along with its collections whilst supporting program funding on site’s in Launceston This has been canvassed and it has been deemed to be unsatisfacory by CoL; OR 

3. ...Establish a QVMAG ‘Company Ltd by Guarantee’ with the infrastructure and collections held in trust by the City of Launceston and the QVMAG operating as:

• ... A standalone institution funded in part by the City of Launceston; and

• ... The State Govt providing funding for collection maintenance and research; and 

• ... The QVMAG as an institution generating funds via entrepreneurial activity, project grants, corporate sponsorships, and private donations. This option is currently being envisaged as a sustainable option.

In essence this is the circumstance the STRATEGIC INSTRUMENT attempts to documents albeit attempting to maintain the status quo against the odds at the same time and the irrelevance of doing so. 

Nonetheless, the STRATEGIC INSTRUMENT is 'management's vision' of its future rather than a 'strategic policy' document 'commissioned by governance' reflecting governance's aspirations on behalf of its constituency cum Community of Ownership & Interest. 

Other options have been canvassed and there is the possibility that something other the three above would/could be sustainable. 

THE STATUS QUO 

Clearly the status quo is totally unsustainable and that has been called out as being so. 

The current state of affairs should not be allowed to persist given all that is at risk. That is not to mention the costs being carried by the city’s ratepayers constrains the institutions ability to develop, reach its full expression, and deliver 'local research outcomes' in a 21st C context. 

This being the case there is absolutely NO sustainable argument to: 

1. ...Delay the formation of a QVMAG Company Limited by Guarantee and ideally with a different nomenclature to reflect Launceston's post-colonial circumstance in the aftermath the city's colonial histories ; and .

2. ...Delay the appointment of a Commissioner, to oversight the establishment of an appropriate ‘company membership’ of say 100 all of whom bringing a variety of experiences that will enable them to identify and appoint a Board of Governors/Trustees with the relevant skills, expertise, and experience and reflect community aspirations and aspirations regarding 'cultural landscaping' in the region; and 

3. ...Delay the appointment of a Commissioner to nominate the initial members of the QVMAG Board of Governors/Trustees; and 

4. ...Delay the appointment of a Commissioner who ideally will be the initial Chairperson of the Board of Governors/Trustees and commence the task of structuring the QVMAG(?) CLG’s operation and seeking funding. 

The boxed set of documents being passed off as the QVMAG STRATEGIC INSTRUMENTS is yet another example of 'Executive Management' stalling what should be the inevitable, while maintaining the comfortable status quo and delaying 'expansive accountability' for a just a little longer. 

A competent Commissioner should be able fulfil her/his asswigned role within say six months. 

IN CONCLUSION

This  boxed set of documents are an expensive exemplar of what is known in the USA as a SNOWjob that in this case 'the 'instrument' is notable for what it DOES NOT SAY than what it does. For instance where is the MONEYmap? 

Rather than simply dismissing this set of documents the real need is to embrace change and get on with the research, the citizen science, the environmental research, the data collecting, the 21st C cultual landscaping, the reimagining of more inclusive histories, the restructuring of cultural sensibilities and sensitivities to fit current circumstances. 

Rather than giving precedence to the19th C cum 20th C norms in musingplaces in the Western World our Australian/Tasmanian institutions should be focused upon facilitating change locally while maintaining a keen eye on our own and the world's collective histories.

Unless this is done there is absolutely no justification at all for garnering funds from Launceston's ratepayers et al. Likewise, it is especially so in the case of the State's taxpayers given the myriad of cultural producers, researchers, historians, citizen scientists, designers etc. qualified to, and capable of, delivering yet to be realised outcomes outside moribund institutions and floundering cultural edifies, direct investment in them may well be better placed elsewhere. Currently 'traditional institutions' are showing all the symptoms of being in terminal intellectual decline and 21st C cultural irrelevance.

Musingplaces, art galleries and museums, must be places where ideas are contested and contestable. Otherwise, they become cynical political devices cum entertainment centres and circuses for the underclasses. ... “Give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt.” – Juvenal, a poet in Ancient Rome.” 

Two thoughts:

"A generation which ignores history has no past and no future." ... Robert Heinlein

"A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history." ... Mohandas Gandhi