Van Gogh Museum chief: it’s critical to diversify our income streams

Hi Axel, what can you tell me about the museum?

The Van Gogh Museum houses the largest collection of work by one of the world’s most famous artists, Vincent van Gogh. The collection encompasses 200 paintings, 500 drawings and almost his entire correspondence. The museum also collects paintings and works on paper by Van Gogh’s contemporaries, so we can place him in the wider artistic context of his time and show his sources of inspiration, as well as those whom he inspired.

It’s our mission to make the work and life of Van Gogh, and the work of his contemporaries, accessible to as many people around the world as possible, to enrich and inspire them.

What are the biggest challenges you face as a museum director?

One of our key challenges is the further diversification of our income stream. Our financial model is somewhat unusual in that we generate 50% of our income through ticket sales, with about 25% grant-in-aid from the national government and the remaining 25% coming from fundraising and commercial activities.

Given that roughly 85% of our visitors come from abroad, our dependence on a healthy tourist economy and growing tourism is considerable – and vulnerable. Government funding is also under pressure, so it’s critical for us to diversify our income streams further and seek new business opportunities.

Our dependence on international travel and tourism means that we’re also concerned about our immediate environment: the city of Amsterdam, which seems to be attracting ever-increasing numbers of tourists, but is limited logistically. It’s increasingly important to think about how to facilitate and manage the enormous stream of visitors, while keeping the experience pleasant and the city liveable.

This year marks the 125th year of Van Gogh’s death – how does a museum such as yours approach such a date?

It lends itself naturally to special attention. Of course, it’s not really a celebration, but rather a moment to reflect on the reception of Van Gogh and his significance today. This year also marks a milestone for the museum in terms of its development. In the runup to this special year, late in 2014, we fundamentally redeveloped the display of the permanent collection and launched a completely new website. This year we’re also expanding our facilities by adding a new entrance hall, providing more than 8,000 sq ft of additional space.

What are the benefits and challenges of running a single artist museum?

It has a number of particular challenges. In our case, one of the great advantages is that Van Gogh is one of the most famous artists in the world. That means that the museum enjoys a natural and considerable flow of audiences and interest on a continuous basis. The concentration on one artist – albeit in our case, in combination with his contemporaries – also provides the museum with a clear focus in terms of its mission and programme. It’s a case of: you get what it says on the tin.

The flip side, however, is that our audience mostly expects to see Van Gogh, which means that we have to think carefully about how far we want to stray from the artist and his immediate environment in our exhibitions .

Clearly the biggest challenge is how to continue to find new topics and angles for our research and exhibition programmes, and by extension how to keep the artist “fresh” and relevant. Fortunately, interest in Van Gogh seems to grow unabatedly and it’s more a question of how to satisfy such enormous demand.

What can you tell me about the museum’s new commercial directions?

One of them is the new generation of extremely high-quality 3D-reproductions of paintings by Van Gogh, which we launched a few years ago. These are being made with technology developed by Fujifilm and provide the first true-to-life reproduction of both the image and the surface texture of the paintings. They form the logical next step in the history of the reproduction of paintings.

Another enterprise we’re currently researching is the development of a consultancy based on the expertise the museum has developed over the years, in order to advise existing and new museums on a variety of issues, such as collections management, environmental sustainability, facilities management and so on.

Finally, in 2016 we’re planning to launch a Van Gogh “experience” – a multi-sensory, three-dimensional travelling educational display to be shown in different parts of the world. It will not only be a way for us to respond to the considerable global demand for the artist without lending the collection, but a new source of income too.

What can you tell me about the campaign you’re spearheading to get more leading cultural figures on the boards of major businesses?

The Dutch government’s cuts to the cultural budget two years ago were accompanied by shockingly insulting and denigrating rhetoric. The sector was portrayed a being unprofessional, dilettante and catering to only a left-wing elite, thus completely ignoring the great steps that institutions have taken in recent years to become highly professionalised and target-orientated organisations.

This perception of the sector is also indirectly reflected by the fact that while almost every commercial CEO feels entitled and naturally qualified to serve on the supervisory board or board of trustees of any cultural organisation, hardly any leader of a cultural organisation – at least in the Netherlands – is ever asked to serve as non-executive director of any commercial company.

The aim for cultural leaders to become commercial non-executive directors would be twofold: contributing their expertise to management issues in the commercial sector from a different vantage point, while also creating a greater understanding and respect for the professionalism and expertise that exists in the cultural sector.

What career tips would you give to an aspiring museum director?

1. Keep both eyes wide open: be aware of what it means to run a creative organisation and be certain that you are sufficiently interested in the more organisational aspects.
2. Become part of the community: sometimes you see directors who only concentrate on their own organisations and move solely in their own artistic circle. Especially when you start somewhere, realise that no one has been waiting for you, but that it’s upon you actively to introduce yourself and show interest in your new (social) environment.
3. Don’t be afraid of changing existing structures: museums are, by their nature, conservative and not always open to change. If you see the need, for example, to change the organisational structure, do it and do it swiftly.

Axel Ruger is director of the Van Gogh Museum

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