Scandal and Sculpture
April 19, 2017 8:17 AM Subscribe
"It was only when it became public that America’s wealthiest museum was bleeding money, its deficit on the verge of bloating to $40 million — since contained to $15 million — that trustees turned against him. “If the Met had been flush,” said one museum expert, “I don’t think we’d be talking about Tom Campbell today.” - What Broke The Met?
Campbell’s specialty, Renaissance tapestries, may have seemed obscure, but two surprisingly popular exhibitions had shown off his knack for finding undersung masterpieces and bringing out their beauty and worth.
Looks like he
*fumbles sunglasses*
...lost the thread.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:35 AM on April 19, 2017 [6 favorites]
Looks like he
*fumbles sunglasses*
...lost the thread.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:35 AM on April 19, 2017 [6 favorites]
...won't be picking up the threads
...couldn't thread his way through this one.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:37 AM on April 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
...couldn't thread his way through this one.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:37 AM on April 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
"Campbell pulled out his iPhone to show me a photo of an excavation at one of 85 far-flung Chinese sites where the show’s loaned treasures originated."
And if museum operators didn't read that line and either laugh, or say "oh crap" and go do some exhibit re-design, they're screwed.
posted by straw at 8:56 AM on April 19, 2017
And if museum operators didn't read that line and either laugh, or say "oh crap" and go do some exhibit re-design, they're screwed.
posted by straw at 8:56 AM on April 19, 2017
I'm not sure how much of this is really Campbell's fault. As the person in charge, he is obviously responsible, but so many of the Met's problems seem to be largely institutional legacy issues which are irreconcilable with current operational demands. Campbell seems to have taken steps to modernize and correct these inherited issues of unsupervised, uncoordinated fiefdoms and a passive board, and opening everything up to greater scrutiny and public accessibility -- things a proper modern museum should be doing. Is the issue that Campbell hasn't done enough or did so poorly, or is it that he is being held responsible for the legacy issues which are now catching up to current realities?
Idunno. Not to focus on one quick fix, but -- jeez, the gift shop is a mess. Bring in someone from the outside to get that back on track, and much of the deficit problems disappear, giving you breathing space for everything else that needs updating.
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:04 AM on April 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Idunno. Not to focus on one quick fix, but -- jeez, the gift shop is a mess. Bring in someone from the outside to get that back on track, and much of the deficit problems disappear, giving you breathing space for everything else that needs updating.
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:04 AM on April 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Also, if you're running the most established center of an ongoing world wide scam and can't work the system, I cant even...
(and there will be harumpfs but a crapload of really expensive "art" rides on payoffs and calculated inflation of reputations)
posted by sammyo at 9:05 AM on April 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
(and there will be harumpfs but a crapload of really expensive "art" rides on payoffs and calculated inflation of reputations)
posted by sammyo at 9:05 AM on April 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
From what I've heard, the Met has systemic problems with sexual harassment and gendered workload disparities. Women with PhDs being given all the shit work, none of the titles/prestige/bylines/raises while men without qualifications get promotions and praise up the wazoo. Women who work there know that they have no opportunities for advancement, even if they're working twice as much as men with fewer qualifications. It's an extremely dysfunctional workplace.
Related: Gender Gap Persists at Largest Museums
posted by melissasaurus at 9:28 AM on April 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
Related: Gender Gap Persists at Largest Museums
posted by melissasaurus at 9:28 AM on April 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
I'm not sure how much of this is really Campbell's fault.
Well, there's this:
posted by verstegan at 9:31 AM on April 19, 2017 [14 favorites]
Well, there's this:
Another problem was Campbell’s friskiness with certain women on the staff. He had been warned about it early in his tenure but still carried on. More recently a legal action was brought against him and the Met, but it was settled.How is this even remotely acceptable? (And the way it's reported here, as though it's all about 'women taking umbrage' .. ugh.)
The former administrator says Campbell’s behavior was especially problematic because women make up three-quarters of the Met’s administrators. “A lot of them took umbrage at this,” this person says. “Inevitably this leads to the sort of grumbling where women who were not promoted or women who don’t advance for whatever reason are going to think it’s because they’re not the right type, they’re not his kind of girl—that sort of thing.”
posted by verstegan at 9:31 AM on April 19, 2017 [14 favorites]
a crapload of really expensive "art" rides on payoffs and calculated inflation of reputations
Mostly modern and contemporary art, though, which is precisely the area in which the Met is weakest. That particular form of grift is much less accessible to it than to most.
Campbell is taking the hit for some secular changes--as I understand it, corporate giving to the arts has never recovered to pre-recession levels. The logo redesign is a bust, but many of the digital and outreach initiatives seem genuinely worthwhile and are absolutely necessary in the present climate. Even the plan to build a new wing was driven by the desire to get that Lauder collection, which is huge. (The article briefly alludes to the basic problem that big donors are hard to woo with renovation plans; they want new! exciting! construction!!!) The decline in visitor revenue as a portion of museum income even as visitor numbers steadily increase truly is down to that class action, and Campbell does not have a time machine that would permit him to go back in time and re-negotiate the original deal with the city.
But there are obviously big problems with his judgment. "Don't sleep with your subordinates" is much too basic in this day and age for someone at a major institution to fumble. And not having competent management at the gift shop was just an unforced error. (They can't get rid of that polyester fast enough...)
posted by praemunire at 9:43 AM on April 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Mostly modern and contemporary art, though, which is precisely the area in which the Met is weakest. That particular form of grift is much less accessible to it than to most.
Campbell is taking the hit for some secular changes--as I understand it, corporate giving to the arts has never recovered to pre-recession levels. The logo redesign is a bust, but many of the digital and outreach initiatives seem genuinely worthwhile and are absolutely necessary in the present climate. Even the plan to build a new wing was driven by the desire to get that Lauder collection, which is huge. (The article briefly alludes to the basic problem that big donors are hard to woo with renovation plans; they want new! exciting! construction!!!) The decline in visitor revenue as a portion of museum income even as visitor numbers steadily increase truly is down to that class action, and Campbell does not have a time machine that would permit him to go back in time and re-negotiate the original deal with the city.
But there are obviously big problems with his judgment. "Don't sleep with your subordinates" is much too basic in this day and age for someone at a major institution to fumble. And not having competent management at the gift shop was just an unforced error. (They can't get rid of that polyester fast enough...)
posted by praemunire at 9:43 AM on April 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Another problem was Campbell’s friskiness
I like how his harassment is called "friskiness" here. Like if he was a very violent person and went around punching people and it was described as "playfulness".
posted by Sangermaine at 9:46 AM on April 19, 2017 [22 favorites]
I like how his harassment is called "friskiness" here. Like if he was a very violent person and went around punching people and it was described as "playfulness".
posted by Sangermaine at 9:46 AM on April 19, 2017 [22 favorites]
Another problem was Campbell’s friskiness with certain women on the staff.
Don't get me wrong -- I do not mean to defend Campbell, and especially not any particular action or non-action. I only mean to say that many of these problems are institutional and larger than just the one person at the top. And that said, his treatment of women points to him being a poor manager and agent of modernization.
posted by Capt. Renault at 10:40 AM on April 19, 2017
Don't get me wrong -- I do not mean to defend Campbell, and especially not any particular action or non-action. I only mean to say that many of these problems are institutional and larger than just the one person at the top. And that said, his treatment of women points to him being a poor manager and agent of modernization.
posted by Capt. Renault at 10:40 AM on April 19, 2017
Institutions like the Met have done an exceptionally bad job of developing younger (by which I mean under 50!) donors.
There are TONS of very wealthy younger Wall Street and entertainment guys who, because their wives aren't playing the Upper East Side / Hamptons socialite game due to focus on their own careers or because they aren't good looking and outgoing enough, are completely outside the donor candidate universe ... because their wives don't care, or because they literally are never even asked. The Met to my knowledge has zero game whatever with the younger (even richer!) tech guys because a lot of them don't even know the New York socialite game exists to say the least of having wives who play in it or want to do so. (I assume the big cultural institutions in California are better at that with the tech guys, but don't know it to be actually the case.)
posted by MattD at 10:49 AM on April 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
There are TONS of very wealthy younger Wall Street and entertainment guys who, because their wives aren't playing the Upper East Side / Hamptons socialite game due to focus on their own careers or because they aren't good looking and outgoing enough, are completely outside the donor candidate universe ... because their wives don't care, or because they literally are never even asked. The Met to my knowledge has zero game whatever with the younger (even richer!) tech guys because a lot of them don't even know the New York socialite game exists to say the least of having wives who play in it or want to do so. (I assume the big cultural institutions in California are better at that with the tech guys, but don't know it to be actually the case.)
posted by MattD at 10:49 AM on April 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
That new logo literally makes my eyeballs hurt.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:25 PM on April 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:25 PM on April 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
The Met has decided to blow a 124-year tradition of public service by trying to convince the city to let it charge mandatory admission to out-of-state visitors (which I guess would mean you don't have to pay if you live in Buffalo, but would if you're a couple miles away in New Jersey).
I am increasingly convinced that it is the worst run cultural institution in America.
posted by zachlipton at 8:34 PM on May 5, 2017
I am increasingly convinced that it is the worst run cultural institution in America.
posted by zachlipton at 8:34 PM on May 5, 2017
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Whereas the former director once objected to the idea that “we should seek to demystify the museumgoing experience,” Campbell made it his mission. “Tom was very much interested in scholarship being made accessible to the average person,”
Campbell took advantage of the cuts to “renovate the staff.” Met lifers expert at rolling up an ancient rug or buttering up an elderly widow took retirement packages, taking their institutional memory with them.
Old money only shares with older money.
posted by sammyo at 8:34 AM on April 19, 2017 [1 favorite]