QVMAG AS A TRUST DEC 2019

Dec 8 2019

Reports from people on staff at City of Launceston Council have been saying that, paraphrased, "Ray Norman supports the General Manager's concept of the QVMAG being transitioned to a trust".   Well yes, but it needs to be of the kind that:

• Transforms the operation, a council operation, from being a bureaucratic 'cost centre' into it being a standalone institution: and
• An institution that is a purposeful 'Community Cultural Enterprise' that is income generative: and
• An institution that has the potential to win funding from multiple sources – Local Govt, State Govt, Research Agencies, Corporations, Private Sector, etc. : and
• An institution that has its own appointed independent, expert  and accountable 'Board of Governance': and
• That is accountable to an 'institute/whatever' that holds governance and management to account on behalf of those have invested in the QVMAG in various way over time: and
• An institution that is proactive in regard to rigorous research relative to 'place' and operates strategically in collaboration with other institutions et al: and
• An institution that has the potential to grow over time and evolve in accord with its Community of Ownership & Interest's aspirations and the quest for new knowledge and better understandings.

Worryingly the messaging coming from the City of Launceston's 'management' seems to be looking to the State Govt to take the institution "off its hands lock stock and barrel". That is little more than a fanciful dream given the institution's rudderless performance and demonstrated disinclination to be 'transparently accountable'. Rightly or wrongly it seems that there is a subliminal disposition not to succeed in such a mission given that the status quo fuels extraordinary salary levels.

Moreover, 'the elected 12' have essentially abdicated their default Trusteeship role and allowed management to operate in a way that defies accountability by-and-large under the emergency powers the Local Govt. Act's  SECTION 62.

A WAY FORWARD NOW

Based upon what I have written in the past I see a way forward in four steps as follows.

Step 1 

Take expeditious actions and unambiguous steps towards differentiating between QVMAG’s governance – policy determination and the purposeful what and why that shapes the institution – and management – the ‘how’ and the ‘means’ by which policy will be delivered.

.

Step 2 

Towards that end in the short term devolve ‘ownership’ of the QVMAG’s collections to the custody and legal ownership of an independent institute, corporate entity or the State Government given that in lore the collections are the 'cultural property 'Tasmanians/Australians. 

Furthermore the QVMAG collections are an important element of  Australia's 'national estate'. The purpose in taking this step is on one hand symbolic in that it would defuse assertions in one step that real change and accountable governance is not actually an option or ever on the city's agenda. 

On the other hand, it would protect community cultural investment in the collection and keep it available to research and researchers' operations in any future manifestation of the QVMAG as a musingplace with national & international standing. Furthermore, given funding imperatives might well focus upon the institution, and the operation, being cultural tourism asset alongside its research raison d'etre.

Step 3 

Consistent with the above, City of Launceston Councillors, the current Councillors/Trustees in consultation with the State Govt. as owners of the QVMAG collections, appoint a Commissioner, or Board of Commissioner, to take on the role of the institution’s Governor/s and over 2 (3?) years charged with the tasks of: 

Putting place a transition budget with an enterprise focus that is: 

• Based on the QVMAG's operation budgets for the past 2 years; 
• Structured to differentiate between base administration and benchmarked enterprise oriented programming; and 
• Increasingly dependent upon underwritten collaborative Guarantee Against Loss project funding – research & other. 

• Transitioning the institution from a City of Launceston 'Cost Centre' to a Regional Cultural Trust with a stand alone board of governors/trustees appointed for their relevant domain knowledge and experience – not by necessity Tasmanian residents –  that is tasked to:

A/ The focus of the strategy being to transition the institution from a Local Govt. Cost Centre to stand alone Community Cultural Enterprise with: 

• A 5 year Strategic Plan; 

• A short term Enterprise Plan; plus 

• Being charged to put in place the appropriate management structure to service the institution; 

B/ Establish a collaborative/cooperative regional governance model focused upon the Tamar Region in the broadest context and that proactively interfaces with other Tasmanian musingplaces; 

C/ Lay the foundation for the QVMAG as a standalone ongoing 21st C community institution networked with regional, national and international musingplaces plus regional collectors and research organisations and that uses peer review processes to ensure rigour in program decision making. 

Step 4 

The City of Launceston's Council in its role as the current QVMAG Trustees, initiate a ‘facilitated community conference’, supported by Internet participation and contributions, towards: 

• Engaging the QVMAG's Community of Ownership & Interest in a strategy to widen the institution's memberships and affiliations; 
• Engaging the QVMAG's Community of Ownership & Interest in the evolution of the QVMAG into a Regional Community Cultural Enterprise; 
• Exploring options and opportunities open to the QVMAG as a 21st C institution with Tasmanian, national & international; standing; 
• Identifying weaknesses and threats inherent in various potential future operational models; 
• Exploring the potential dimension/s of the QVMAG as a 21st C musingplace networked with regional, national and international musingplaces, institutions, organisations, community networks etc.

Thus far absolutely nothing that the current City of Launceston's GM in his Organisational Realignment, and that he is on the record as saying in  public, looks anything like what is set out here. Thus, without contact with me of any kind on any level, the GM claiming that what he is proposing well away from the public gaze might have my implied endorsement is nothing short of a misrepresentatio of the facts as I know themn.

Ray Norman