name

The 1st Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art Council Meeting in 2011

agenda

(1) Report 1: Results of business conducted in 2010
(2) Report 2: Budget and major projects for FY2011
(3) Report 3 Other
(4) Agenda Item 1: Evaluation of the Operation of Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art

Date & Time

Tuesday, August 2, 2011
2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Location

Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Main Building B1F Auditorium

Name of person(s) present

committee member

Commissioner Hiroki Yoshitake
Commissioner Toshio Yamanashi
Commissioner Chizuru Kawanami
Commissioner Mana Oshima
Commissioner Hiroko Koga
Hiroshi Sekino, Committee Member
Commissioner Mihiro Nagatsu
Satoshi Matsuei, Member of the Committee

secretariat

Yukiharu Nishimura, Director, Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art
Nobuyoshi Ishimoto, Deputy Director of the Museum
Shigetaka Nakao, Director, Museum Extension Division
Shuji Kera, Director of Museum Extension
Museum Curatorial Section Chief Takayuki Nasu
Tsukasa Odaguchi, Director, Museum Branch
Haruka Fukutomi, Museum Promotion Section

Summary of Agenda

After reporting on the results of FY2010 operations, the FY2011 budget, and major projects, the committee received comments on the evaluation of the Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art's operations.

progress

chairman

Now, the secretariat will begin with an explanation of the report.

secretariat

Explain "report."
(1) Results of the 2010 Business Implementation
(2) Budget and major projects for FY2011
(3) Others

chairman

Do you have any questions in response to what I have just explained?

committee member

What does "Other (e.g., architectural exhibitions)" in the table of visitor numbers mean?

secretariat

This is a count of visitors who entered the architecture exhibition and art library in the small exhibition halls.

committee member

Are the materials that the museum has on display there, and are the art library and small exhibition rooms separate?

secretariat

The small exhibition room was formerly called the Architectural Exhibition Room Corner, but is now a section that can be changed to introduce the architecture of Kitakyushu City or to display posters.
The museum may display materials owned by the museum, or architectural models, panels, and documents owned by the city's Department of Architecture and Urban Development.
It is separate from the art library where you can browse library materials.

committee member

Does the museum plan that exhibition?

secretariat

Planning is not limited to museums; in the case of architectural exhibitions, decisions are made in consultation with the Department of Architecture and Urban Development.

chairman

How do you count the number of visitors?

secretariat

For the Collection Exhibition Room, Special Exhibition Room, and Civic Gallery, the actual number of visitors is counted at the reception desk. The "Others" section is calculated by multiplying the number of visitors to the Collection Exhibition, etc. by a certain percentage based on historical data.

committee member

Is the budget for the Museum Concert and the Wakuwaku Art Museum project included in the exhibition expenses?

secretariat

Expenses for the "Wakuwaku Art Museum Project" are included in the budget line item "Maintenance and other expenses".
In addition, the Museum Concert is organized by the Friendship Association, and expenses are paid for by the Cultural Promotion Division other than the Board of Education, and are not included in the museum's budget.

chairman

We will now move on to the agenda item on the evaluation of the operation of the Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art. The secretariat will provide an explanation.

secretariat

This is the first time that the Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art is conducting an evaluation of its operation. The evaluation was conducted using the evaluation sheet in the "How to proceed with the museum operation evaluation system" decided at the last museum council meeting.
The procedure was based on the results of the FY22 administrative operations, which were self-evaluated by the secretariat by the end of May, and then externally evaluated by the committee members during the month of June.
In the handout on page 15, I would like to collectively explain evaluation items A through E and then ask for your questions or comments collectively.
《Explanation of Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art Operation Evaluation Items A through E》 《Explanation of Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art Operation Evaluation Items A through E
Thank you for your consideration and approval.

chairman

We will move on to the discussion. First, I would appreciate any questions or comments you may have regarding evaluation item A, collection and preservation of materials.
The purpose of the explanation was that we would like to conduct a point-by-point conservation condition check of the collection. I think this is reasonable from a practical standpoint, but what about the overall check?
We would like to ask the members of the museum-related committee for their comments on how they implement the checking of materials at their respective museums, in light of each other.

committee member

It is not impossible to check 1500 points per year, but it is important to have a policy of checking.
Every museum regularly checks the condition and number of items in the entire collection. That and the amount of time and effort involved in the checking process differ depending on whether you look at the details and even determine the need for restoration. I think it is a good idea to simply set a goal for the number of items without setting a policy.
Also, you should not "fumigate" once a year. It is common knowledge in recent conservation science that annual "fumigation" of a certain work will damage the work.
We should consider adopting a method that is adapted to the actual conditions of the museum after investigating the concept of conservation science, rather than simply once a year.
Also, you state that you will restore at least one work of art per year, but I think it is quite difficult to give a number as an expression of the project goal. I would like to suggest that you give this some thought.

secretariat

I think you are right, but the evaluation item A is an important evaluation item in making the arts and sciences work subject to evaluation, so we are quantifying the target, although we are finding it very difficult.
As for checking the collection, as you pointed out, it is possible to check 1,500 items just by counting or checking, but the number we set as a goal is based on the assumption that the items will be restored. In this regard, we believe that the 700 items checked in 2010 were also unreasonable.

committee member

Are records kept of whether the collection is in need of restoration and has it been checked?

secretariat

We have been reviewing past materials once again from scratch, and have newly created a database for the past three years. In addition, we are also starting a new preservation condition checklist from scratch, with the number of new checklist items to be started at 300 per year.

secretariat

I would like to add a few words. On the evaluation sheet, there was an opinion that we should ask for part-time jobs, for example, to conduct the evaluation.
By FY 2009, the museum had hired temporary staff to check approximately 7,000 items, and has created a database of the list of items to be restored to preserve the records.

committee member

This check is a curatorial task, so it should be done with the eyes of a curator, not a temporary staff member.

secretariat

As for the "fumigation," we are considering the direction we should take, such as having our staff participate in training regarding the protection of artworks.
In addition, the museum had not conducted fumigation for a long period of time. Therefore, in order to make sure that the fumigation is done properly, we have been doing it one by one in each of the three storage rooms since last year.

committee member

The evaluation method is based on a comparative evaluation of the achievement goals, which tends to result in a point reduction. Therefore, we had to mechanically assign a "B" or "C".
This is especially true for administrative facilities, so it would be good to include a point-earning evaluation item somewhere and allow free evaluation.
In addition, the data provided to us as a basis for judgment does not reveal the background problems and issues that have emerged from the inspection of the collection. Similarly, the results of the face-to-face survey, "what is known and what is not known," is information that leads from Do to Check and then Action in the PDCA cycle, but I think it is difficult for the evaluators to understand this point.
As a future issue, we will not know the basis for setting new goals in the next step unless we can sort out "what we know and what we don't know" as a result of doing this for each individual item.
For example, the fact that the target number of inspections was reduced from 1,500 to 300 gives the impression that without a backbone, such as an organization of issues and policies, the target setting can be changed at any time depending on the person in charge. In that sense, I think it would have been easier to evaluate the overall results if the issues behind the numbers associated with the results of the implementation were known.

secretariat

Thank you for your suggestion. I think there is much to consider regarding the evaluation method itself.
The following is a breakdown of the 300 items in the collection. The museum holds collection exhibitions four times a year and exhibits an average of 70 works per exhibition. We check at least 70 pieces in preparation for each exhibition, so the total number of pieces is 280. In addition, we also conduct research on works that will not be exhibited, which adds up to approximately 300 items.
In addition, we set a goal of properly checking at least 300 items, including checks associated with the lending of artworks.

committee member

Earlier, you pointed out that compared to the ideal "A" rating, the results of project implementation tend to be rated B or C. I think it is fair to say that you have pointed out that the evaluation method should be reviewed.
For example, regarding the FY23 goals, the premise is that there are medium-term goals that are five years from now. I have heard various discussions, and if all of them are accumulated, they will lead to the five-year goal, and I would like to link this perspective to the comprehensive review.
It is also important to connect the database, which you have been working on for the past three years, to the goals of curatorial research and publication of the bulletin.
Curators spend years researching many of the works in the collection, preparing new catalogs and research reports, and attempting to organize a comprehensive exhibition in the future. At that time, the curator's mindset will not be to mechanically check 300 works in the collection every year, but to have goals and plans for activities that will emerge from the accumulation of work.
If there are explanations and materials about the parts that can be accumulated and connected, such as the planning of art exhibitions, surveys and research can be done consistently because of that base, the numbers that can be inevitably connected from there would be a clear evaluation standard.

chairman

Since this is our first self-assessment this year, I am sure that issues regarding collection and preservation condition checks will be sorted out as we go through the actual work.
Now, there was a comment that the evaluation tends to be a point reduction evaluation, but it makes sense to implement this as a first challenge, so why not try it in this form?
I hope that when the next 5-year plan is developed, the goals will be reviewed in terms of content, and that new ideas will be reflected there. I hope that the secretariat will keep the opinions of the committee members in mind as it works toward this goal.
Let's move on to the next evaluation item, B.

committee member

The specifications of this workflow include an ABC ranking evaluation, an external evaluation by our committee members, recommendations, issues that emerge from the recommendations, measures the museum will take to resolve the issues, and goals for the current fiscal year. I think this evaluation process is very good.
In other words, the museum even shows the measures it will take to address the issues that come up. I feel that there must be a better way to show such a series of evaluations.
And another thing that you can see when you actually evaluate them is that even if they work hard and have a good track record, you can only give them a B. So now, as a result, you only have Bs and Cs.
For example, the evaluation system of Yokosuka and several other museums includes an S rating.
An A here would probably be an S in the other pavilion, and a B would be an A. In this way, we, the evaluators, can give an "A" to the hard work we are doing. I feel that it would be good to devise a more competitive rating system.

chairman

In Kitakyushu City, are the evaluation criteria generally A, B, or C?

secretariat

There is no S in the citywide management rating.

committee member

The city does not have an S rating, but it is absolutely necessary to encourage them somewhere, not just subtract points, and points should be given for areas where they do well.
It would be good to incorporate an S rating as a mechanism to encourage good points and strengths. If it is difficult for the administrative authorities to give an S, it would be good to have the council evaluate it, for example, to make it more meritorious.

chairman

It would be good to have one sheet that looks at the whole process and evaluates it comprehensively.
For example, I do not think that just because the evaluation item for "Education and Dissemination" is rated C, it does not mean that the Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art as a whole is rated C. I think the overall level of achievement is very high because the number of "Tanken Passport" users is decreasing.
I feel that it would be good to summarize the overall situation and summarize the A, B, and C evaluations and comments with a clear focus on common issues and which areas are considered important issues, so please consider this.

chairman

Now I would like to move on to item C.

committee member

This time, the overall evaluation is down due to the decrease in the number of "Tanken Passport" users, but it is questionable to make comparative evaluations based on the actual number of users when the population is changing due to the declining birthrate.
Thinking in terms of public investment accountability, we need more citizens to use the museum.
In order to develop adults who will go to those museums, it is important to familiarize them with art as children, and it is important to measure the effectiveness of measures for children. It is necessary to come up with evaluation criteria that reflect the population, such as a percentage decrease in the number of users, rather than the actual number of users.

secretariat

We have printed 9,000 copies of the "Tanken Passport," but the problem is that only about 3,000 have been used. Since children can only visit the museum with their parents/guardians, we are planning to conduct a survey at schools to find out how we can promote the museum to their families.
With the changing population of children, we would like to include that in our discussion of how to evaluate them.

chairman

When sending the survey to schools, it would be a good idea to identify the teacher, such as the art teacher if it is a junior high school, and send it to them.
Also, one of the committee members mentioned that a bundle of tickets or a small booklet, rather than a card, would reach the parents.
Such a means might be easier for children to understand. Parents would be interested in having something that says, "If you would like to use this with your family," so I would suggest that you consider the details.

committee member

I work at an elementary school. The elementary school receives various requests for handouts from many places, including flyers, etc., so maybe not all of them are communicated to the parents.
This "Tanken Passport" had quite an impact when it started, and I think it made the parents aware of the program, but as the years have passed, I think the impression has faded.
I am in Moji Ward, but it is impossible for elementary school students to go to Tobata Ward unless they are accompanied by their guardians. Therefore, I think the key is how to convey the information to the guardians and how to encourage the children to ask their guardians to take them.
For example, if each child learns that art museums are fun and interesting places through art appreciation classes, I believe this will lead to their desire to use their "Tanken Passport" to visit art museums again.
In addition, each elementary school has assigned a teacher in charge of arts and crafts as the contact person, but the level of awareness of the "Tanken Passport" varies from school to school.
Also, since passports are small in shape, they would be confusing and difficult to use at any given time.

committee member

In order to have more children in Kitakyushu City visit the museum, I think it is very important to collaborate not only with families but also with schools. For the museum classes and art appreciation classes, it seems that the same schools are coming to the museum quite often, although they are paying for the use of the buses. How do you market to schools?

secretariat

Sales activities to schools are conducted directly by the museum for elementary schools, with requests for participation made in writing and the museum covering the full cost of bus rentals for those elementary schools that request it.
Junior high school students participate in the junior high school art appreciation classes offered by the Board of Education in the three categories of drama, music, and art.
Incidentally, 32 elementary schools participated in FY 2010 and 36 in FY 2011. In addition, 20 schools participated in both FY 2010 and FY 2011, and the cumulative total, excluding duplicates, is 48 schools, which means that of the 135 schools in the city, about one-third of them participated in the two years.

secretariat

At an elementary school art appreciation class information session, the teacher in charge of arts and crafts told us that the schools participating in the class are somewhat specified because it is difficult to coordinate the class curriculum in order to come to the museum.
In addition, there was a variation in response from school to school in terms of publicizing and distributing the "Tanken Passport".
In the future, we will make sure that the information is well communicated to parents. For example, we would like to improve the design of the "Tanken Passport" to emphasize that it is a free pass for the museum.
We also decided to conduct a questionnaire survey of teachers accompanying art appreciation classes to obtain a wide range of opinions, etc., not only about art appreciation classes but also about the "Tanken Passport".

committee member

Is there a fee for children at Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art?

secretariat

Yes, but with the "Tanken Passport", five special exhibitions are free of charge during the year.

chairman

How about making all children free?

committee member

Incidentally, in Kochi, children under high school age are free of charge for exhibitions organized by the Prefectural Museum of Art.

secretariat

We are considering this point internally.

chairman

The National Museum is now free for high school students.
Then again, I don't think that materials that are sent to the school office and automatically distributed would be of much interest.
For example, why not start by asking them to allow us to publicize specific points, such as the recruitment of supporters and junior volunteers, at opportunities such as subject study groups or study groups where teachers gather?

committee member

I think each local government has its own way of doing this, but Kanagawa Prefecture has been offering free admission to elementary, junior high, and high school students for the past three or four years.
We also had an event called "Wakuwaku Family Set" for adults, which was very popular, offering discounts for adults on the last Sunday of each month, giving prizes to families accompanied by their parents and children, and offering discounted juice at the coffee shop.
In addition to the ingenuity of the "Tanken Passport," I believe that if we look into nationwide efforts to attract families, we can find many things that can be adopted from them or newly conceived based on them.
In addition, it would be useful to find out to what extent elementary and junior high school students in other municipalities in Japan are offered free admission in order to promote free admission in the future.

committee member

As the subject of this survey, I would like to introduce a famous story about the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, which invited 40,000 children of all elementary and junior high school students in Kanazawa at the time of its opening. At that time, on a sheet handed out to the children at the venue, a "triangular lottery" was attached with prizes such as "Next time, come with an adult" or "Next time, come with your family. Then the children would bring their parents.
The museum should have quantified the effectiveness of its efforts to invite such children for free and then bring adults next time. At the time, some research was conducted on the actual number of adults who come accompanied by repeat visitors of children.
This is a case of children coming to the museum and bringing adults, rather than parents who have never been, if there is some sort of admission benefit program.

chairman

Now let's move on to evaluation items D and E.

committee member

I don't think there are many museum events listed in the "Municipal News. I went to Fukuoka City's public relations department to check, and they are listed many times more than Kitakyushu City. Since they provide such good information, I think it is necessary to make great use of "Shisei Dayori" for PR.
In addition, we have published catalogs, booklets, and leaflets six times, at a cost of more than 2 million yen.
For example, the 12-page booklet for the Monet exhibition was designed for elementary and junior high school students, but for the approximately 140 yen spent per booklet, it seems very half-hearted.
It is not printed with ruby, and the 1,000 copies produced cannot be distributed to all of the elementary and junior high school students participating in the art appreciation classes. We understand your desire to make things as easy to understand as possible, but we would like you to use your budget more efficiently.
The "Enhancement of catalogs and other publications" is listed as an issue to be addressed, but since the budget will grow if we only "enhance" the catalogs and other publications, we would like you to include the phrase "devise ways of preparing the catalogs and other publications".

secretariat

As you pointed out, we would like to create not only booklets but also catalogs, leaflets, etc., in line with the actual situation by properly considering the target audience, target age group, number of copies, costs, scope of distribution, etc., according to the purpose for which they will be created in the future.

chairman

In the section on issues, it says "Improvement and enhancement of the preparation of catalogs, etc." How about "Improvement and enhancement of the preparation of catalogs, etc."?

committee member

Regarding volunteers, junior volunteers, and supporters, how are transportation expenses reimbursed?

secretariat

No reimbursement is made for expenses.

chairman

Are the volunteers members of the Friendship Society?

secretariat

Many of them are in.

committee member

Regarding junior volunteers and supporters, you mentioned earlier that we could advertise them around the subject training sessions, but I think it would be difficult for the entire city since junior high schools conduct the training by district. Also, for high schools, there are only five art teachers in the city, so training can only be conducted on a prefectural basis.
For example, in August, the museum holds a joint exhibition for junior high schools and an exhibition for high schools, and teachers gather at the museum during this time. Especially in the case of high schools, it is easy for part-time teachers to gather during summer vacation. Therefore, I think it would be a good idea to use the summer vacation exhibitions to publicize the exhibition.

committee member

Regarding citizen participation, I believe that each volunteer organization has its own meaning and has been active for many years, but I have the impression that it is difficult to understand the difference between their respective roles.
There is also the idea that the number of registered volunteers is not the only factor to be evaluated; for example, those who come to view the museum or use the museum in various ways may also be considered citizen participation.
I think it would be a good idea to consider evaluation points that take a broader view of citizen involvement from the perspective of citizen familiarity with the museum, rather than volunteerism = citizen participation.
Since the museum has the oldest volunteer system, we may be in a position to take a step forward from other museums and communities in the decades that have passed, and make recommendations on the current status and issues. When you are in a period of enrichment, the numbers do not always go right up, so it would be better to review the museum based on its history and have an idea of what it should be like at such and such a time.

secretariat

The art volunteer system was started at the time of the museum's inception, and we are proud of the high quality of the system. We are proud of the high quality of our volunteer system, which was started at the time of the museum's inception and has since been expanded to include junior volunteers and supporters.
With regard to citizen participation, we will examine what forms of involvement society and citizens can have with museums, and if there are any forms that can be considered citizen participation, we may incorporate them into the system.

director

We now have 68 art volunteers, but the average age is high and we need to train the next generation.
The training was conducted in a very precise manner, and not only curators but also various other people came as lecturers to give specialized classes on art history and other subjects.
Realistically, we are not in a position to do so with our current capabilities. In the future, when the museum closes for major renovations, we hope to invite instructors from outside the museum and together we can train new people to join us.

chairman

With this, I would like to conclude the agenda for the operational evaluation.
Basically, the operation evaluation sheet compiled by the museum will be used as a document for the Board of Education, but I would like the museum to consider whether or not to include the general comments mentioned earlier.

This concludes today's agenda. Thank you, committee members. I will now hand the proceedings back to the secretariat.

secretariat

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This concludes the first meeting of the Kitakyushu Municipal Museums Council for fiscal 2011. Thank you very much for your time today.

Other

No audience

contact information (for inquiries) (e.g. corporate phone number)

Extension Section, Museums and Extension Division, Board of Education
Phone number (093) 882-7777