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| Photo courtesy of Deborah Robichaud. |
Deborah Robichaud graduated in 1980, in class 12 of what was then called the Master of Museology program at the University of Toronto. She has had a long and diverse career including acting as the Director of the Musée acadien, Director of Information and Extension Services at the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI), and Regional Manager of Arts, Culture and Heritage for the Department of Canadian Heritage. She is currently retired and working on her own personal projects, including keeping on top of current museum trends. We conducted our interview over the telephone.
What was the Museology program like when you were a student?
A lot of our main museology courses were done at the ROM and we were encouraged to explore. We had a little bit of money in a petty cash type thing. Our Director at the time was David Newlands and I would go up to him and say “Hi! I would like to do this!”which he would let me do. Nobody else was using that little fund, it had to be related to our program. I got to see lots of things using it. I think one time we went to Detroit with a group from the AGO to visit a Turner exhibit. It was a day trip there and back, so it [included] bus fare and lunch.
How has the program changed from when you were a student?
When we took Museum Studies it was really to learn about how to do things. When we got out into the real world there was still a lot to be learned. At the very end of the course we had taken all this theory and done a little bit of practice. Then they realized we had no management skills! So we did a three day intensive management class – MBO- Managing By Objective – they brought in a management guru and then they sent us off into the world with three days of management skills. In many cases, we did not know how to run the business and we were expected to step into that type of a role.
Also, the discussion of community engagement, transparency, inclusiveness, and diversity of cultures is different now. None of that was talked about when we were there [at UofT]. If you look back between then and now those are some of the differences.
What are some of the greatest risks you have taken in your career?
Moving from museum work to the government was probably the biggest challenge for me because it’s a whole different world. It took a while to move from a curatorial role to the public servant role. There was no manual. For example, there’s a different way to write a letter in government than as a curator when you’re writing to another museum to find out about a particular artifact. Bringing your content skills to a government system you learn a lot through osmosis, trial and error. In the grants contribution world, you could be someone who knows a lot about grants and contributions but know nothing about the discipline. We often brought people into government who knew a lot about the discipline that we were giving grants for, but not about the government process. Unless you have both sides you don’t have a balanced team. You have people coming in from the non-government side wanting to help the community, but you still have government rules to follow. That was probably my biggest risk and also in a sense a bit of a regret because I could only live vicariously through other people’s projects. You knew somebody else would have success with an exhibition, and you think, “Great! The government enabled this by giving them money.” As a result, I did research projects and exhibitions throughout my career, not a lot, but the ones I did were the ones I really wanted to do and I continue to do that since I’ve retired.
What was one of your failures, or missteps, that turned into a great learning experience?
One of the things I learned really early is when you’re in a new job you think, “Oh I have this” and then all of a sudden something blindsides you. Then you realize, “Wow I didn’t really understand that at all.” When you think you’ve got it, you need to stop and have another reflection on whether you’ve looked at everything.
Another thing I learned is you can only repeat gossip if you’ve heard it three times from three different sources who are not related. The one time I didn’t do that (I didn’t get into trouble or anything) I was like darn, I should have followed my rule! But usually by the time you get it from three different sources everybody knows it anyways. This has served me well.
What advice would you give to museum professionals entering the sector today?
Environmental scanning. You should question, “What are the big issues in the world and how do they affect museums?” Changes in the world affect funding programs.
It’s about statues (such as with John A MacDonald) and a more open museum where you have more physical accessibility. With the #MeToo movement how do you incorporate that into a museum? Everybody in the museum world needs to be looking beyond the horizon on an ongoing basis. See the big trends, how they may affect your world and have a strategy already in place.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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