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.
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