THE ROLE OF MUSEUMS IN PROMOTING WELL-BEING

The purpose of the project coordinated by the National Board of Antiquities is to develop new kinds of leadership and cooperation models for the museum sector, as well as tools for customer-oriented service creation. The models will be piloted at the Maritime Centre Vellamo in Kotka and in the Linnanniemi museums in Hämeenlinna. The results of the pilot project will be freely available for utilisation throughout the museum sector.

The project seeks answers to the topical questions of: How to secure museum services as part of well-being services in a situation where the public economy is under increasing pressure? How can museums meet their customers’ diversifying needs and expectations? How to encourage the customers, along with those working in the sector and various service providers to develop services together? Is it possible to increase the importance of museums as a source of creative economy and innovations?

The project life cycle covers 18 months from 2011–2013. Administered by the National Board of Antiquities, the project will be conducted as a joint effort with Sitra’s Public Leadership and Management Programme and the cities of Hämeenlinna and Kotka. The project includes the creation of comprehensive leadership and operating models for groups consisting of several museums. The models will be piloted at the Maritime Centre Vellamo in Kotka and in the Linnanniemi museums in Hämeenlinna. In both of these locations, museum services are provided by the state, the local authorities and other parties.

The purpose of the pilot projects is to offer museum personnel, visitors and partners new ways of participating in the development of museum services by means of workshops, for example. The project also utilises international comparison data on the best practices of museums in the Nordic region and the UK in particular. National examples will also be utilised.

Sitra’s Public Leadership and Management Programme is particularly interested in vertical management, or the promotion of leadership methods based on a group structure, as well as changes in customer thinking in the field. The pilot experiments and development work are expected to be of use for the public sector as a whole as other fields also face similar challenges.

The goal is to create common tools for museums, as well as means for planning services that will better meet the needs of customers. The results will be presented in a series of regional workshops arranged at the end of the project at the beginning of 2013. 

Further information

Ulla Teräs, Project Director, National Board of Antiquities
firstname.lastname@nba.fi, tel. +358 40 128 6013

The role of museums in promoting well-being
(Project page on the National Board of Antiquities website)