In an article I wrote last month in this publication, I cited the Yale historian Timothy Snyder’s Lesson #1 from his 2017 book “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from The Twentieth Century. Lesson #1 was “Do not obey in advance.” Today, after some six weeks into the Trump administration and what seems like a lifetime, as our democratic systems devolve further into turmoil, I return for Lesson #5. My instigations in the past weeks have been to motivate professional associations—Association of Art Museum Directors, American Alliance of Museums, League of American Orchestras, Americans for the Arts, Association of Science and Technology Centers (yes, science is under attack too)—for them to rouse their membership to action.
The arts are under attack by governmental forces—here in the US, we are startled by the suddenness – the takeover of The Kennedy Center, the elimination of DEI programs, and even policing language. But it was foreshadowed by actions of Governor DeSantis in Florida and by the crackdowns in Russia and parts of the EU, particularly Hungary, canceling performers and even specific works of art. Since 2019, three cultural leaders were fired from their posts by the Polish government, and in Russian-occupied Ukraine the local music director, Yuri Kerpatenko, was assassinated for refusing to conduct an all-Russian concert.
In the United States, one could argue that arts leaders are suffering from a form of PTSD brought on by managing through COVID-19 and extraneous forces of #metoo, BLM, the censorship of controversial exhibitions, and the crackdown on visas for international performers. They are struggling to balance budgets and are now confronted with government interference that makes the culture wars of the 1980s seem like minor skirmishes.
As Rakesh Khurana and Nitin Nohria remind us in their landmark Harvard Business Review October, 2008, article, “It’s Time to Make Management a True Profession,” a profession has a code of conduct, among other characteristics. Doctors, lawyers, judges, real estate agents, and personal trainers have a professional code of ethics. But as Oskar Eustis, the brilliant leader of The Public Theater in New York, was quoted in The New York Times in an article about the Mike Daisey controversy, “I can’t say to an artist, ‘You are a fantastic performer…and by the way, you should develop…your own codes of ethics, and you should hold yourself to it.’ Theater doesn’t have a code of ethics.”
The Association of Art Museum Directors has a code of ethics prohibiting deaccessioned sales for things other than new acquisitions (even though it eliminated that precept during COVID-19). However, the code doesn’t address current censorship issues or government overreach.
Khurana and Nohria write: “True professions have codes of conduct, and the meaning and consequences of those codes are taught as part of the formal education of their members. A governing body, composed of respected professional members, oversees members’ compliance. Through these codes, professional institutions forge an implicit social contract with other members of society: Trust us to control and exercise jurisdiction over this important occupational category. In return, the profession promises, we will ensure that our members are worthy of your trust—that they will not only be competent to perform the tasks they have been entrusted with, but they will conduct themselves with high standards and integrity.”
Herein lies the major challenge for the field: arts or cultural management is an established global field, with arts leaders managing across continents and arts management programs almost universally established, but there is no professional code of ethics.
What is the solution to the current situation? Protests in the streets, canceling performances, and speeches from the stage are feel-good activities. But with the press under attack and almost half the country in favor of the current administration, compared with the elimination of critical international programs and threats of vaccine reversals, how can the arts justify resistance?
The long-term solution is for professional groups themselves—the hundreds of thousands of leaders worldwide—to take up a unified call, develop and adhere to a professional code, and then hold to it under known and unknown threats.
As Snyder writes: “Lesson 5. Remember Professional Ethics: When political leaders set a negative example, professional commitments to just practices become more important.”
