Earlier today, we published a report detailing the findings from the third cycle of our Art Museum Director Survey. The latest findings offer a timely look into how art museum leaders’ priorities and strategies have shifted (or held steady) since both the 2022 cycle and the first cycle in 2020, when Ithaka S+R began tracking how these leaders’ priorities evolve as they guide their museums through economic, social, and environmental change.

This project, in collaboration with the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) and the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), and with funding from the Mellon Foundation, and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, examines how directors are navigating budgeting, public trust and engagement, collections care, and talent management. The survey also included questions related to staffing, governance and board relations, climate preparedness, and business models.

Key findings

  • Limited financial resources continue to restrict directors’ ability to execute their strategic priorities. For three-quarters of directors, a lack of financial resources is their top constraint, and a majority (55 percent) believe fundraising to be among the most valuable skills they need in their position. Respondents reported spending an average of 23 percent of their time on fundraising, grant writing, or donor engagement.
  • Museum directors are steadfast in prioritizing their museum’s role as a trusted source of information. Nearly all directors rate providing educational programming (96 percent) and serving as a trusted source of information (94 percent) as high priorities.
  • Directors are confident that they can articulate the museum’s value proposition, but less confident that they share the same vision as their boards of trustees. The majority of directors felt that they could confidently articulate their museum’s value proposition in alignment with their local communities (82 percent), as well as in alignment with the goals of their supervisors/board of trustees (86 percent). However, when asked if their boards share the same vision, 14 percent fewer directors indicated strong agreement (72 percent).
  • While museums are developing climate disaster plans, they are less proactive in reducing their climate footprint and do not see it as a priority. Most institutions have established emergency response protocols (86 percent), yet far fewer have conducted cost analyses for carbon footprint reduction (26 percent) or comprehensive climate impact assessments encompassing facilities (48 percent), storage (29 percent), investments (9 percent), and waste management (24 percent).
  • Audience insight is improving. Nearly three-quarters of directors indicated that their museums investigate who their museum is serving, as well as who they are not. Among these respondents, 59 percent have implemented strategies to reach missing audiences, up from 38 percent in 2022 and 21 percent in 2020.
  • Comparable pay and livable wages remain top of mind for directors. Ninety-two percent of directors indicated that one of their top priorities is to provide a livable wage for their staff, and 79 percent of directors indicated that providing comparable pay will be a priority for their museums within the next five years.

We are grateful to each of the directors who took the time to share their perspectives with us throughout each cycle of this project, as well as to our project advisors, and AAM and AAMD for their thoughtful feedback through the research design and reporting process. We also greatly appreciate the continued support from the Kress and Mellon Foundations on this work. We hope that this report will be useful to members throughout the cultural sector and help contribute to ongoing dialogue in the field.

For any questions or inquiries please reach out to Deirdre Harkins (deirdre.harkins@ithaka.org).