ABSTRACT
Museums must address an increasing array of issues to succeed in the dynamic environment of the twenty-first century. In response to this often-daunting process, the role of institutional management has been assigned greater responsibility and often, greater liability. It must define the museum’s mission, justify its legitimacy, and reconcile its relationship with changing constituency expectations. In response to this challenge, museum management is exploring the economic landscape to develop creative and sustainable institutions that serve the interests of the public while negotiating the legal pitfalls, and maintaining the ethics and standards of the international museum community. This entry addresses a number of the issues relating to contemporary museum management. It draws from the precepts of the corporate, as well as the not-for-profit communities, to stimulate understanding of the role and responsibility of inclusive management as a practical response to the complexities of the contemporary museum.
