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Edition 446 – Bureaucratic Officiousness

I recently attended a one day training event for CPA Australia at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. It was held in their new, multi million dollar extension, located next door to the grand old building that has sat across the road from Sydney’s Domain since the late 1890’s.

I understand the importance of these public buildings, and what they house, to society as a whole. They’re a major contribution to our social fabric, and make those of us that might not be so appreciative of art, in its varying forms, a bit more understanding of it.

What I don’t understand, is the bureaucracy and the officiousness that is exercised by some of the individuals that are responsible for granting the public access to these institutions which, after all, are owned by the people of New South Wales.

In one day, I observed an array of rules and directives which, frankly, would put anyone off visiting again, any time soon.

  1. The conference was due to start at 8.30am, with registrations opening at 8.00am. However, the building doesn’t open until 9.00am – half an hour after the conference start time. When this was raised with a member of staff, who happened to come to the front door, their response was “I’ll check regularly and swipe people in”, which was only slightly more helpful than the alternative, which was “you can enter via the loading dock”.
  2. These events are supported by businesses that pay to sponsor the training session. In one instance, I saw two sponsors spoken to in unkindly terms, by a member of staff, about how their display banners need to be positioned, behind their desks. They were not allowed to be flush against the exterior window, and needed to be set on an angle to the window. Apparently, there’s a gallery policy around corporate sponsors displaying their wares, inside the gallery.
  3. When you’ve been in these sessions for an hour or two, and they call a refreshment break, your option was to venture to the temporary coffee cart sitting in the back of the conference room, or to the outside cafe operated by the Art Gallery. However, once you’d retrieved your refreshment, you couldn’t venture out into the open space in the gallery, outside the meeting room (or back inside, out of the unusually cool Spring weather) as there were gallery “officials” everywhere, telling you what you could and couldn’t do. No stretching of the legs, for you might just drop your cup of tea on the floor!

Now, it sounds like a bit of a whinge about some stringent rules as to how things are done at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. However, what it showed to me was that this public building, which is owned by all of us, is willing to take money off organisations that book its facilities, then impose stringent rules about how things are done in their building to the point where individuals are restricted, and corporate sponsors are treated quite poorly.

It’s a shame really. More of us should, probably, be more appreciative of art. Yet, there are some that would question why public money needs to be thrown at a cultural institution that imposes such strict rules, that you have the very distinct impression that you’re not welcome, inside their four walls.

This Week’s Tip

“Why accept money to hold events in your facility, if you are going to make the participants feel unwelcome in your surrounds?”