ABSTRACT
‘Many are called but few are chosen’ is an adage applicable to new purpose-built museums. Numerous ambitious schemes abound but relatively few (at least in the UK) successfully negotiate all the various obstacles, the most difficult of which is finance, and come into being. The writer is fortunate in having experience of two major projects for new museums, one of which is in the public sector, the other funded. The former is the Burrell Collection in Glasgow, opened to the public in 1983, and the latter is the Museum of Rowing at Henley, a project which at the time of writing has not progressed beyond the securing of a suitable site and selection of a consultant architect. In addition, I am closely involved in a major restoration scheme for the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, to which many of the principles of organization and curatorial involvement apply as much as in new museums. The observations made in this essay are largely based on personal experience and, therefore, concern multimillion-pound projects. Although they make no pretensions to providing a blueprint to be followed slavishly, the principles of planning and management should be generally applicable in respect of the role and responsibilities of the curator, whatever the size and complexity of the scheme.
