An article published today in Folha de S. Paulo reports a crisis at Paço das Artes and MIS. The crisis is said to stem from difficulties in the relationships between some employees and the director of both institutions, Daniela Bousso.
According to the article, the director’s supposedly authoritarian and controlling character, together with her aggressive and disrespectful manner, is responsible for problems in institutional management.
Much of the information comes from a questionnaire in which employees were able to express their opinions about Daniela Bousso.
As far as one can conclude from this Folha article, issues relating to the state’s cultural policy were never raised for discussion or evaluation.
There is a brief mention of the State Secretariat of Culture’s dissatisfaction with the number of visitors MIS receives each month.
There is no mention of the fact that Daniela Bousso’s administration was responsible for renovating and reopening MIS, inaugurating the first public laboratory for creative work with digital media, and internationalizing this cultural institution through exchanges with centers of excellence such as MediaLab Prado.
One should also mention the prominence that several exhibitions at MIS and Paço have frequently received in leading cultural guides and supplements, and assess these institutions’ impact qualitatively.
It is worrying that a crisis in public museums is framed around personal relationship problems and a document prepared by the board (rather than a company or service specializing in human resources management), with no reflection on public cultural policies.