Climate Action Within the Cultural Sector

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Since launching Operationally, I’ve heard more concern about climate change from friends and colleagues in the cultural sector than ever before. Climate change has become one of the most significant and fastest growing threats facing communities everywhere, and we now seem to face a “once in a generation” climate-related event on a weekly basis.

It’s no surprise that the cultural sector is being asked to play a larger role in climate action, both within their own institutions and the regions they serve. This makes sense given the characteristics of cultural organizations - broad geographic presence, public trust, commitment to conservation and social justice, and high visibility. Climate action is a role that cultural organizations should willingly embrace.

However, this presents a catch-22 from an operational perspective. Many facilities have stringent environmental requirements with higher energy consumption compared to typical commercial buildings and campuses. Additionally, cultural organizations are responsible for significant-yet-aging infrastructure, placing the industry at forefront of climate action with limited resources and competing facility needs. Fortunately, we are excited to see emerging philanthropic support for practical steps related to climate action.

 The Frankenthaler Climate Initiative recently made news through a commitment of $10M in grants dedicated to reducing energy consumption associated with visual arts. Beyond financial support, the Frankenthaler Climate Initiative has brought national attention to the importance of environmentally sustainable operations and the organizations actively pursuing climate action. A broad set of cultural organizations received over $5M in the first round of awards with a second round coming in 2022 This award is the largest of its kind, and indicates growing philanthropic interest in climate responsibility within the cultural sector.

 Whether your organization’s energy goals include preparing for new funding opportunities, reducing expense in a mission-aligned way, or building institutional momentum towards climate action by finding quick wins, here are a few opportunities from an operational perspective.

Effectively measure energy use – A necessary first step to reducing energy consumption is measuring and understanding baseline use. This can be as simple as manually collecting and entering meter readings from past invoices or as focused as monitoring energy consumption from specific equipment. An advanced measurement strategy would explore automatically extracting and analyzing building data. Independent of method, a better understanding of energy use can enable organizations to set reduction targets, demonstrate ongoing progress, partner with civic initiatives, and make a compelling case for funding. 

Pursue feasible projects with predictable payback - New construction projects have great visibility and can lead to system modernization, technology upgrades, and incorporation of lower-energy materials. Most organizations will not have an opportunity to undertake facility projects of this magnitude, but smaller-scale initiatives can still gain visibility and while significantly reducing energy consumption and expense. Example initiatives such as LED lighting conversion, solar panel installation, and targeted HVAC improvements are projects with high feasibility and predictable payback, with many more beyond this list. Beyond philanthropic organizations, gas and electricity providers may also offer rebate programs to offset the expense of these programs. 

Find opportunity through complexity reduction – Cultural organizations can unlock indirect energy saving opportunities by working in new, simpler ways. For example, remote storage contributes to energy consumption particularly when climate controlled. Reducing the need for offsite storage through inventory reduction, space reallocation, or other methods can increase operational efficiency while reducing energy consumption. Staff and collection travel, an important component of the exhibition model, also results in additional energy consumption. Emerging “virtual courier” methodologies from both museum and commercial providers present a new opportunity to significantly reduce carbon footprint while saving staff time and expense.

Embrace staff excitement and expertise – There are countless “long-tail” opportunities to reduce energy use through simple and tactical actions – for example, turning off lights, sealing doors and windows, and recycling obsolete equipment. However, capturing these opportunities are only possible with widespread staff involvement and participation that goes beyond new signage. Collectively, staff can remember to turn the lights off, find doors that need new weather-stripping, and remove appliances that quietly drain energy. These activities also can provide pathways to staff participation, a better guest and staff experience, and rapid and visible change.

Understand rationale behind policy decisions - Environmental conditioning within museums is an important and ongoing discussion. In recent years, industry groups have released updated temperature and humidity guidelines to help museums reduce energy consumption while keeping collections safe. While these revised guidelines may not be suitable for all organizations, there may be opportunity in periodically reassessing policy decisions to incorporate new recommendations, research, and technology – particularly if more climate-related innovation accelerates both within and beyond the cultural industry.

 Energy use is one element of the broader narrative surrounding climate responsibility in the culture sector. There is no shortage of opportunity for those looking to pursue climate action. Let us know what else is happening on the cutting edge at your organization, even if it involves removing the fax machine down the hall.

Thanks for following Operationally, reach out and say hello, and until next time. 

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Security’s Newest Best Practice

Max Beckmann. Still Life with Large Shell. 1939. The Baltimore Museum of Art: Gift of William A. Dickey, Jr., BMA 1955.77.

Every cultural organization relies upon its Security teams in some capacity for mission delivery. From keeping staff, guests, buildings, and collections safe to engaging with guests, donors, contractors, and emergency services, Security teams are expected to perform in every situation without error or fanfare. Never has this been more true than over the past 18 months, as Security teams faced unprecedented uncertainty and challenges in their work, on a daily basis, as they continued to protect the safety and well-being of staff and visitors even through a global pandemic.

As such, I was inspired to see the Baltimore Museum of Art’s recent announcement of their upcoming Security-led exhibition. Guarding the Art, an exhibition planned by 17 Officers sharing their stories and opinions of underappreciated works within the Baltimore Museum of Art’s collection, will open in March 2022. I love clever and practical solutions that achieve multiple strategic benefits, and this exhibition clearly falls into this category.

First, Guarding the Art builds on unique knowledge and expertise. Every day, Security officers spend time in the galleries with the collection and understand both the objects and spaces. Security officers also provide guest service and support - at increasing levels due to the shift to digital ticketing - and deeply understand the needs and behaviors of visitors. This novel approach unlocks this unique combined expertise and applies it to Guarding the Art.

Second, Guarding the Art draws attention using the existing collection. The competition for local audiences is fierce with the emergence of new exhibition formats and continued uncertainty surrounding tourism patterns. Additionally, exhibitions based on the existing collection can impact visitor behavior at a fraction of the cost, time, complexity, and carbon footprint of loan-based shows. Guarding the Art is succeeding in gaining traction with both arts-centric media and national media while limiting complexity in the exhibition itself.

Third, Guarding the Art incorporates new voices in a visible way. All cultural organizations are looking for ways to strengthen inclusion while introducing new perspectives into the content. Guarding the Art represents a significant step forward on both of these, transforming operational staff into the curator role on product creation while acknowledging and financially supporting the additional workload associated with the project.

This is a brilliant “hiding in plain sight” idea, and I want to congratulate the Baltimore Museum of Art for making this happen. Given the early excitement, I would expect to see variations of this model replicated at other cultural organizations. Exhibitions, however, are not the only way for cultural organizations to support their Security teams and ensure business continuity going forward.

Institutions can offer professional development, helping Security teams stay abreast of emerging technology, evolving best practices for crisis management, and new opportunities for digital transformation. Institutions can also create opportunities for career growth, turning broad exposure into larger roles within Security or other functions across the organization. And importantly, organizations can find creative ways to compete on wages and benefits within the local market to demonstrate care and retain their best performers, even in a hot job market.

Thanks for following Operationally, and join our mailing list and LinkedIn page for future updates. And as always, reach out with your thoughts, questions, feedback, or just to say hello.

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Introducing Operationally

I’ve spent most of my life around some of the best cultural organizations in the world. Spending weekends as a kid, and later as a parent, watching generations of hatching baby chicks and seeing familiar paintings for the first time in person, skipping class for field trips to museums, gardens, theatre, and historic sites throughout Chicago’s neighborhoods and suburbs, and, without fail, happily returning home with another molded plastic souvenir. This excitement for cultural organizations began for me as a child, and it’s what took me from McKinsey & Company to the Art Institute of Chicago over 8 years ago.

Cultural organizations have the potential to transform spaces, tell stories, make indelible memories, and potentially change the lives of their audiences. However - regardless of their type or size - every cultural organization depends on viable operations, notably the people, space, processes, and resources needed to deliver this impact. Despite their importance, operations functions typically receive less attention than the public-facing components - collections, programming, education, engagement, etc. - with fewer support options than other areas within the cultural industry.

I launched Operationally to change this dynamic. Operationally is a new kind of operations consultancy designed for cultural organizations. It draws on elements of top-tier management consulting, deep experience from within the cultural sector, and practical techniques to drive change in a mission-aligned way. I believe in the potential for operational improvement to enable organizational transformation, and Operationally aims to contribute in its small way to the long-term sustainability of our sector.

Operationally specializes in providing targeted advice and guidance in six focus areas, all of which are critical components of today’s operating model:

• Data and Analytics, including developing the road map for growing analytics capabilities, finding “quick wins” and insights across the organizations using existing data, and managing organizational change in response to applied data and analytics.

• Digital Transformation, including the movement toward online ticketing, retail, and content, automating business processes to improve speed and quality, and understanding how physical processes should change to support this transformation.

• Executive Leadership, including the creation of concise and impactful Board materials, providing independent perspective on different organizational structures, and assisting organizations at any phase of a strategic planning exercise.

• Financial Sustainability, including the pursuit of net revenue growth across sales channels, finding opportunities for non-salary expense reduction, and developing a strategic and conversational understanding of organizational finances.

• Operational Excellence, including the identification of relevant best practices from different industries, finding ways to conserve and reclaim physical space, and recommending practical ways to integrate technology into operations.

• Talent and Culture, including tactics to recruit non-traditional talent, creating growth opportunities for high-performing staff, and making culture initiatives more inclusive for operations teams.

Thanks to everyone who has encouraged this leap, and things are just getting started. Sign up for email updates, check out our website, and most importantly, reach out and say hello. I’m excited to hear your thoughts and ideas on how to best help our sector, observations on great things happening at cultural organizations, or creative ways to care for a mild plastic burn.

Now time to get back to work 👋