Context
With 4.2 million museum visits and 887 thousand library visits per year, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation is one of the largest cultural and scientific institutions in the world. At the same time, the cultural association faces challenges of a structural and financial nature, which the German Council of Science and Humanities already identified in its report published in 2020. The aim of the current reform efforts is to adapt the structure of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation to the requirements of a modern cultural institution with a major international impact. actori supported the Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media in the reform process.
Approach
While supporting the reform process, we dealt with various complexes of questions:
Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz governance:How can management and leadership structures of the SPK look like, which allow the institutions of the foundation more autonomy and flexibility, while at the same time acting as a unifying element for them? In order to answer these questions, we have, among other things, conducted workshops with executives of the Foundation and benchmarked with other cultural associations.
Administrative structures: How can the Foundation's administration become more of an enabling structure that supports the various institutions in their work in the best possible way? As a result, which administrative areas should be bundled centrally, and which should be decentralised? In particular, we have analysed job structures and conducted workshops with Foundation staff on administrative areas, e.g. "Human Resources" or "Marketing and Communication".
Governance of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin: What can future decision-making and management structures for the National Museums in Berlin look like, now that there is no longer to be a general directorate? And how can such structures be designed to allow the various museums flexibility and at the same time cooperation? Among other things, we have conducted a series of interviews with the museums here, as well as benchmarking on governance and administrative structures of other museum associations.
Funding needs: What financial resources does the SPK need in order to meet the demands placed on it - namely, to be an internationally radiant cultural institution that works at the highest level and inspires people nationally and internationally? In order to objectively assess funding needs, we have compared the needs reported by the Foundation with an international benchmarking of comparable institutions (e.g. Smithsonian Institutions, Tate Gallery) and thus derived recommendations.
Added Value
- About the above-mentioned points, actori has identified possible solutions and the associated consequences for foundation reform or rather has created transparency in complex issues.
- The project has contributed to clarity on possible directional decisions and thus further advanced the reform.
- The realisation of the proposals optimises the SPK and at the same time creates more autonomy for its institutions.
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