A Failed Political Run Leads to a Role Advocating for Museums

By Nicole Lewis

A lifelong Minnesotan, Ford W. Bell hoped to come to Washington this year as his state’s newly elected U.S. senator. He lost out on that job but

won another in the nation’s capital: He became the new president of the American Association of Museums, a 101-year-old group that advocates for more than 3,000 museums, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, and other organizations.

Trained as a veterinarian, Mr. Bell, 58, might not appear the obvious pick for the job. He worked as a clinical assistant professor at the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine before he was recruited to run the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation 12 years ago. On his office table lies a copy of the Journal of the American Medical Association and above his computer hangs a poster depicting a crowd of animals accompanied by their owners, waiting to see the doctor.

But his science background, coupled with his reputation for collegiality, cemented the board’s decision to hire him, says Jeffrey Rudolph, president of the California Science Center, in Los Angeles, and an association board member who led the effort to find its next leader.

“Because the museum community is very diverse, it is sometimes challenging to get shared vision among all different kinds of institutions and get them to work together well,” he says. Mr. Bell “has a sense of vision about public service and about what museums have and can do, and a really good style of bringing people together.”

While Mr. Bell’s professional life has focused on health care, museums have long been one of his personal interests.

He grew up frequenting the James Ford Bell Museum of Natural History, in Minneapolis, named for his grandfather, the founder of the food-products company General Mills. The elder Mr. Bell was a donor to the museum, as well as to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, where his grandson now serves as a board member, helping the museum raise $103-million for a capital campaign that concluded in January.

The younger Mr. Bell also honed his fund-raising skills at the Heart Institute Foundation, which more than doubled its budget during his tenure, to $7-million, part of which paid for expanded education programs. Now he hopes to win more support for the museum association, which has a $10-million budget. Mr. Bell declined to reveal his salary, but the previous president, Edward H. Able, who retired in 2006 after 20 years at the association, earned $249,794 in 2006, the most recent year for which information is available.

To avoid competing with its members for donors, Mr. Bell says the association will seek support for new programs, including leadership-development seminars and the Center for the Future of Museums, an effort aimed at investigating how museums can compete with other leisure pursuits for visitors’ attendance. The center will invite resident scholars from education, business, and other fields, and the association has hired its first researcher to study the impact of museum visits on children’s education, among other topics.

“Instead of museums reacting to trends that are already there, instead of playing catch-up, how can we begin to anticipate what some of the challenges are going to be?” asks Mr. Bell.

Also on the agenda: aiding association members in raising awareness of the role museums play in their hometowns. The group is mulling several approaches, including helping smaller museums improve their ability to raise money and advocate for their missions with lawmakers.

“We can obviously do a better job of telling the story of museums and why they are important to communities,” says Mr. Bell. “It isn’t just that they are nice to have when you are having a convention in town.”

In an interview, Mr. Bell discussed his new position.

Why did you take this job?

There wasn’t a lot I would move for, but because I have been involved with museums for a good part of my adult life, it was very appealing. Museums are an important part of our civic structure. Not only do they help educate kids, but they promote lifelong learning for people of all ages.

How are museums faring?

It’s a healthy field, but certain areas are very strapped for resources and are fighting for survival, especially the small museums. There is a perception that these museums have always been here and they’ll be fine. In reality, governments, especially state governments, are strapped today: Education is getting more expensive and we have an aging population. Where do museums fall under that? How do they make their needs known?

What are your priorities?

How can we partner with other organizations around promoting diversity in the field. I’d like to set up a fellowship program with some of the historically black colleges and universities. Also, in 30 to 40 years, when 50 percent of the country is Hispanic, the halls of Congress are not going to look the way they do today. If the people in Congress then have had no experience with museums it’s going to be hard to get support. And high on my list is collaborating more closely with other groups, including the Association of Art Museum Directors. We are not competing; if we succeed in strengthening museums, there is plenty of credit to go around.

Has the antiquities scandal, where several U.S. museums have had to return reportedly looted artwork and artifacts to Italy and Greece, affected the association?

We have a task force working on a cultural-property policy now that should be ready sometime in 2008. They are recommendations of how to proceed, but they are not enforceable.

That seems like a long time to wait.

It’s like elephants mating. Everything occurs at a very high level, there’s a lot of sound and fury, and nothing appears for 13 months.

Have you put your stamp on the museum association yet?

At next year’s annual meeting in Denver, for the first time we’ll have sessions specifically for trustees. If we are talking about the future of museums and the challenges they face, we need to have trustees, who are a very important voice and source of support, at the table. I only heard about the association by happenstance when I was the board chair at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts; we need to make trustees more aware of its work.

Did your involvement with the Minneapolis Institute of Arts help prepare you for this job?

I have a pretty good understanding of the issues art museums face, the difficulty today of competing for artwork when pieces are being sold for $80- or $90-million. Even with a big endowment, it’s a challenge, and the key opportunity is collecting collectors in order to expand your collection. Also, how do you get people in the door? There is a tension between blockbuster exhibits and showcasing your permanent collection.

Would you ever run for office again?

If I mentioned the words “political office,” my wife would shoot me.