AMACI Guidelines
Preamble
In November 2016, AMACI – the Association of Italian Contemporary Art Museums – set up a working group to survey and analyse the state of museum practices among its member museums. After an initial phase of monitoring existing practices among its members, the working group brought together the main museum practices and their related standards in a single document.
In light of the contingent situation generated by more than two years of pandemic and health emergency, but also of the great transformations and profound changes of recent years that have radically reshaped museum institutions, during 2022 the Association felt the need to rethink the 2016 Vademecum, working collectively and in coordination with professionals from the sector.
The objective of the previous document, as of the present one, was, and remains, to provide member museums – following an analysis conducted across all relevant areas, in dialogue with the various bodies responsible for safeguarding and overseeing museum activity – with shared positions and guidelines useful in the management of day-to-day museum practice.
The aim is to improve the quality and appropriateness of these activities, both internally and in dealings with third parties, so that they are carried out according to good practices commonly identified within the sector, in full compliance with the relevant legislation and existing regulation on the matter.
Far from being exhaustive, this document sets out the guidelines that AMACI wishes to share with its member museums. With regard to good practice concerning museum governance and, more broadly, the contemporary art sector, the Association wishes to draw attention to the models developed by policy-makers, public administrations, and national and supranational bodies. In any case, AMACI continues in its commitment to outlining, informing and empowering its reference audience as well as the wider public, through working groups and study days, drawing on the expertise of its member museums, including in carrying out awareness-raising activities on contemporary issues, in order to better communicate the specific needs of the museum sector and of the professionals involved.
General Principles
➢ The Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape and recognition of current national and EU legislation; ➢ UNESCO recommendations, conventions and declarations on the safeguarding and promotion of tangible and intangible cultural heritage; ➢ EU and national recommendations and good practice; ➢ The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the International Labour Organisation (ILO); ➢ ICOM recommendations and good practice.
Subject Matter
1. Promotion and enhancement of artistic heritage
AMACI brings together Italian contemporary art museums which, among their aims, promote and organise activities, initiatives, events, conferences and exhibitions that foster the conservation, dissemination and enhancement of their artistic heritage, in addition to encouraging the production of culture for the purposes of knowledge, education and public enjoyment. Member museums operate on a non-commercial basis, in compliance with copyright and other rights connected with its exercise.
2. Contracts
Consistent with the objectives set out in this document, and in accordance with the indications and guidelines of the European Parliament in the 2007 Status of the Artist Charter, AMACI considers it useful and appropriate for member museums to adopt contractual instruments, so that all of them meet the same standards in line with their respective legal nature, internal regulations and differing organisational models. To this end, the Association promotes, also with regard to the 2017 PACTA agreements, contractual frameworks suited to specific negotiating needs (by way of example only: loan agreements, insurance of works of art, transport, commissioning of works, loans, publishing contracts, and engagements to be awarded to curators, cultural mediators and assistants in connection with the organisation and installation of exhibitions, events or shows).
3. Recognition of artists and of professionals in the art world
It is right and proper that museum activities – and the professions connected with them, including artists – should be fairly remunerated. AMACI campaigns for maximum transparency, ethical conduct and fair payment. In keeping with its mission, and with its aims of safeguarding and promoting contemporary art, the Association regards work in all its forms as deserving of guarantees, attention and support, in harmony with the values expressed in our Constitution (Articles 1 and 3). AMACI considers it essential to take into account and strengthen the social and economic factors that enable these individuals to work and achieve the aims of their research, by granting them proper recognition of their professionalism and appropriate remuneration. To this end, AMACI is committed to ensuring that member museums provide and guarantee forms of reimbursement, payment and support (including through residency and stay programmes) for the production of works.
4. Loans of works of art and exhibitions
AMACI is committed to safeguarding the mission and role of the museum as an institution tasked with promoting art and disseminating it throughout society as a whole. In this regard, the Association considers it appropriate to meet organisational and management needs through good practices shared across the community of its members, encouraging loans between AMACI museums and promoting loans between institutions outside the network in connection with projects of scientific significance. In the case of projects requiring a particularly demanding level of management on the part of the lending museum, the Association permits the granting of loans to external or private institutions in exchange for a fee set at a controlled rate, so as not to place an excessive financial burden on museum budgets. This latter provision is useful in establishing a virtuous and productive circuit within the system, with the ultimate aim of fostering collaboration and synergy both between member museums and more widely.
As regards the approval process for loan requests to institutions within and outside the network of member museums, AMACI in any case recommends the involvement of the artists concerned, as well as of the relevant archives or foundations.
5. Equality, non-discrimination and the value of the individual
AMACI combats inequality, stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination of every kind in the treatment of individuals, in artistic and educational programming, and in services or employment, guaranteeing a welcoming environment for artists, professionals, volunteers and visitors, upholding the rights to equality and access to culture, and rejecting all forms of discrimination.
The value of the individual must be protected by preserving their physical and moral integrity and by fostering the continuous development of their cultural and professional skills.
In the management of staff, the Association promotes the adoption of merit-based criteria that recognise and enhance the abilities, skills and potential of each individual, guaranteeing equal opportunities for all and ensuring that authority is exercised fairly and correctly, without any form of abuse.
AMACI also follows and endorses ICOM’s recommendations, including on the subject of museum professions, in line with the recommendation issued by the international body on 15 June 2021, which calls for: “the State to recognise museum professions in all their forms and to liaise with trade associations on collective bargaining, in order to define minimum pay levels swiftly.” In observance of this recommendation, which carries not only social but also constitutional weight, AMACI is committed, together with sector bodies and relevant institutions, to promoting dialogue and greater collaboration for the proper recognition and enhancement of professions linked to the museum and art world. AMACI regards it as a fundamental objective to promote the recognition of the work of all those operating within the art system in a museum context, in all its various forms, configurations and contributions to civil society, ideally also through joint action with the Ministry of Culture.
6. Accessibility
AMACI regards museums as places where cultural rights are upheld, capable of guaranteeing access to heritage, its enjoyment and participation in cultural life. The Association encourages the overcoming and removal of barriers of every kind, through understanding the needs of different audiences, organising reception areas and spaces, adopting compensatory tools for direct accessibility where this is not possible, training and updating staff, ensuring inclusive communication is available, applying universal design principles, using monitoring mechanisms, and consulting and directly involving people with disabilities or associations representing their interests. AMACI promotes full enjoyment of museum content and activities by the public, as well as meeting visitors’ needs in relation to age or to a temporary or permanent physical, cognitive or sensory disability.
7. Sustainable development
AMACI shares the programme of action for people, the planet and prosperity signed by the governments of the 193 member states of the United Nations and approved by the UN General Assembly in 2015, and is committed to meeting the goals set out in the 2030 Agenda. AMACI recognises member museums as places of research, experimentation, public debate and community gathering; at the same time, it identifies them as institutions capable of fostering renewed awareness and a wider environmental, social and economic sensitivity through the languages of art and new operational, exhibition and engagement models geared towards sustainable development, as part of a broad programme aimed also at reducing the impact of consumption and emissions.
8. Principles of legality, fairness and transparency
AMACI promotes and upholds the principles of legality, fairness and transparency, in constant and consistent observance of the law and of the legal and regulatory framework.
Thanks are due to Avv. Andrea Pizzi and to all the AMACI Directors who took part in drawing up these guidelines.
