ABSTRACT
In international research on the Director's role in art museum leadership, one of the primary and critical aspects of their jobs was passion. "A deep feeling in the heart for the work in hand sustains art museum Directors on a daily basis, as well as contributing to the vision of the organisation. Chris Arnold, Melbourne CEO and lawyer, was equally strong about the need for passion: arts managers must have passion and belief in what their organisation is doing, in its goals and its people. Most arts organisations have dreams that are bigger than their resources. This means that as the CEO or leader, arts managers are working long and hard and continually under stress. Passion is an unavoidable ingredient in what makes us want to work in the arts but sometimes it needs to be balanced with that somewhat less thrilling word - pragmatism.
