Photo: Andrea Wright Flickr CC
The Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal
Internal tensions rocking the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (MBAM), and could lead to changes at the head of the institution, according to the information collected by The Duty.
The chairman of the board of directors, Michel de la Chenelière, refused Wednesday to confirm to the Duty that the director-general and chief curator, Nathalie Bondil, will be still in office at the end of the day. A meeting of the board of directors has been convened on Thursday.
“I can’t tell you that, this things are very confidential,” replied M. de la Chenelière. When he was asked the question the wrong way — that is to say, is that rumours of a departure of Ms. Bondil are based ? —, Michel de la Chenelière has reiterated that he could not ” say anything “. But he did not do anything wrong.
Character flamboyant, Nathalie Bondil directs the MMFA since 2007, attendance to the museum has doubled since his arrival. She had been approached in 2013 to lead the Museum of the Louvre, the first cultural institution in France. She is also the vice-president of the board of directors of the Canada Council for the arts. His tenure in Montreal had to run until 2021.
Joined briefly by phone on Wednesday, Nathalie Bondil said that it was not available to talk.
A choice challenged ?
The spa at the MMFA occurs a few days after the confirmation of the appointment of Mary-Dailey Desmarais as director of conservation.
The creation of this new position was decided “following [of] a diagnosis of the work climate” and in the purpose of allowing Ms. Bondil of “focus on the strategic nature of its responsibilities, the vision and the artistic content of the MUSEUM,” says an internal document obtained by Le Devoir and signed by the executive committee of the MMFA.
However, another internal document accessed Wednesday, shows that Ms. Desmarais arrived in fourth place among the four finalists — the classification of the “skills matrix” developed to guide the selection process.
The candidate who is ranked first had received a note almost perfect (175 points out of 180), far ahead of Ms. Desmarais (97,5 points). The lack of general experience of the latter has cost him several points.
The document of the steering committee reveals that the latter puts more emphasis on the first candidate, whose career was deemed “impressive” and in “accordance with the profile” required of the position.
But in this letter, Nathalie Bondil was also a “proposal” of your own : to create a position of chief curator’s assistant for Mary-Dailey Desmarais, because it ” demonstrates excellent interpersonal skills, a thoroughness in the work, and the will to be a leader.”
Ms. Bondil said, he wished to “continue to support them in their professional development, “that she” can acquire a leadership in good conditions “. Its proposal was not selected.
“Well-chosen “
The fact remains that, according to Michel de la Chenelière, Ms. Desmarais was “extremely well-pointed” in the evaluation grid and was in fact the ” best candidate “. “The committee [of human resources] has recommended and the board of directors has unanimously approved” the choice, he said Wednesday. “The process was rigorous, it was really well-chosen. “
In the press release issued on Monday by the MUSEUM, Ms. Bondil promised to lend its ” full support to Mary-Dailey for the MMFA continues to grow “.
