Gaurav Kapadia: belief

Transcript context

…They still should be larger. What’s the most common fundraising mistake that art museums make? I think it’s worthwhile . . . When I was looking at the Marginal Revolution comments, I think people may not understand how museums work and operate. One of the ways I think about my schema of the way museums work is that they’re a public good that’s largely financed by private capital. Almost all museums operate at an operating deficit. That’s the number one thing that I think people should realize, which is, these amazing cultural institutions all over the world are financed by people who want to bring that more into the world. It’s not a for-profit endeavor. It really is a part of a public good. Within that, there’s obviously fundraising that you need to do. That pressure has gotten way more acute over the last, I would say, previous administration, but just in general. Inflation has taken a toll. Admissions are a relatively small portion of the operating budget. There’s going to be more and more pressure on doing a few things, including deaccessioning work, so selling works that are in the collections, raising capital from large donors. I think the biggest mistake a museum could make, especially a public institution, is to have fundraising override the mission. To have donors, including donors like me — who I think my judgment is pretty good in these matters — overly influence program, overly influence community. I think that is the biggest mistake that institutions make, and over time, they always regret it. Should museums put more works out on the walls? I see so much blank wall space, and I know it’s low status to put pictures on the way to the men’s room, but I want them to do it. Should they do it?…

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