Succession Planning in Tumultuous Times: Research, Resources, and Realities in the Arts and Cultural Communities

Five years ago, cultural heritage and arts organization staff were adjusting to the new realities of the COVID-19 Pandemic and its effects on visitors and audiences.

As the pandemic shutdowns continued over parts of the next two years, libraries, archives museums, and arts organizations began to see attrition across all levels of staff and leadership. In the face of retirements and departures, there was growing concern about who would, and could replenish the workforce.

This was an especially acute concern related to the collections of these organizations – circulating and special collections, exhibits, business records, and programmatic history for all types of cultural and arts institutions. Without experienced, trained staff and active management of these collections, they were much more susceptible to minor emergencies, major disasters, and general neglect and deterioration.

Reduced staffing had other implications, such as declining income, influxes of undocumented objects, and workflow disruptions due to building renovations undertaken without staff input, among seemingly countless other challenges.

When considering these situations across the arts and culture fields, staff members at the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) and Lyrasis/Performing Arts Readiness, two of the leading resources for preservation and archiving information and education, wondered about the level of succession planning that was being done at arts and cultural heritage organizations, particularly in those positions responsible for collections care and management. How many libraries, archives, museums, and arts organizations had written succession plans or processes that they were able to rely on in times of change? In what ways were organizations ready for staff transitions and knowledge transfer – whether unexpected or planned? To what degree were these cultural sectors facing looming organizational emergencies?