Art Museum Directors And The Association Of Art Curator

Ethics is a much-debated issue in American society. Often people are led to question the decisions, actions, behaviors, and even the structure of a company or business at some point in time. After all, the constant stream of reports on corruption, greed, and bribery are headlines the public is all too familiar with. It sounds cynical, however, we live in a society where ethics plays an important role and is heavily weighted. Meaning companies and organizations, whether small or large; public or private are scrutinized regarding if they align with societies ethics and values. The ideology of doing what is right versus what is wrong is a philosophy people want to see they are a part of at their work and support in an organization. Furthermore, …show more content…
Simply, these set of principles are used as an expression of the answering the debate regarding the responsibilities that museums owe to society. In looking at the Association of Art Museum Directors and the Association of Art Museum Curators ethics and values there seems to be a pattern. Each association’s outlined principle reiterates their mission. Essentially, the ethics and values are being bused the method of achieving over all mission as an organization. For example, the Association of Art Museum Director’s mission statement is “advance the profession by cultivating leadership capabilities of directors, advocating for the field, and fostering excellence in art museums. An agile, issues-driven organization, AAMD has three desired outcomes: engagement, leadership and shared learning.” A strong and commendable goal, however, when looking at the code of ethics, the values state how the organization lives out this mission by the actions it takes. For example, its value and fundamental principles outline as …show more content…
Meaning many of the decisions art museum personnel have to make are not as black and white. Furthermore, some of the principles discussed above are not always regarded equally, where one option may be valued over another. And “this holds true for every aspect of museum work; from collecting policies and conversation to store priorities and exhibition” (Gazi). The code of ethics set into motion by an organization such as the Association of Art Museum Directors and Association of Art Museum Curators, urge museums to give the appropriate consideration to maintain ethical actions. In the museum world, ethics are generally seen as a set of guiding principles of good practice that museum professionals are advised to adopt in their various activities. “Museum ethics have no enforcement power - they are intended as a way of thinking, as a set of ideals that is shared by museum personnel and helps them to judge existing practices, discourage wrongdoing, and make decisions” (Besterman). Museum ethics are about personal commitment and a sense of moral accountability to the various groups that museums