Art museums’ futures will depend on their ability to share: their platforms, their authority, and, perhaps most tangibly, their collections. While in kindergarten we were all taught to share, many museums still consider their collections to be exclusive, “protecting” their art in deep storage.

There is now, however, a rethinking this out-of-date attitude. One museum, the Institute and Museum of California Art, sees collection sharing as a core to its operation and mission. It is pursuing a technological, logistical, and collaborative platform for sharing across academic, municipal, and private museum collections – and for radically shifting how scholars, peers, and publics can approach art.

Campus-based art museums have long been compelling and differentiating aspects of Higher Education. They can now also become key allies as colleges and universities work to reestablish their relevance and attractiveness in the post-pandemic “next normal.” Museums can help rebalance relationships with students and regional communities, countering some of the pandemic’s undermining of the campus as a desirable destination. What follows is a guide administrators and museum leaders can use to strengthen their mutual post-pandemic recovery model.

Failure is not an option if you can’t define success

Even before the 2008 credit and business meltdown, in the ten years from 1998 to 2007 at least 10% of the companies on the Forbes 150 list have closed, been acquired or otherwise faded away. This includes notable giants such as Bankers Trust, Compaq, DEC, and Enron (ignore more recent casualties of Lehman Brothers, Wachovia, Bear Sterns, etc.). We know this is normal business activity and are always only slightly surprised, but not shocked, when any given company collapses, is merged, or is pared down and sold for scrap.