These transitional changes have impacted on the internal cultural organizational
factors such as museum structure, complexity and diversity of services
(Gombault, 2002). Together with the drive towards formal accountability, these
changes have increased the need for museum directors to have the orientation
and skills of marketers, in addition to their custodial skills. Rentschler (2001)
identifies four types of museum director, two of which are relevant to this discussion.
These are the ‘entrepreneur’ and the ‘custodian’. Each type brings
a different emphasis to aspects of museum service. For example, the entrepreneur
focuses on the furtherance of the organization through creative programming.
The generation of funds—through changing exhibitions, identifying
donors, personally contacting major donors, developing efficiency measures,
using consultants strategically and preparing market analyses—is a consequence
of this outlook. The entrepreneur also uses relationship-marketing
programmes to encourage visitors to become members and then donors.
In contrast, the custodial manager focuses on the traditional activities of
research and collections. Custodians are less involved in business activities.
For example, they do not use consultants or prepare market analyses, survey
non-visitors, or encourage visitors to become members and donors. Today’s
museum managers are required to use the skills and approaches of both the
entrepreneur and the custodian in order to fulfil the changed mission found
in today’s museum sector.
