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Concrete steps agreed for the reform of the SPK - Parzinger on today's decision by the Foundation Board: "The SPK of the future will be different. Today's decision by the SPK Foundation Board marks a milestone."
Press release from 06/29/2021
Based on the recommendations of the SPK Reform Commission, the SPK Foundation Board today adopted the key points of the structural reform.
The autonomy of the museums, libraries, archives and research institutions belonging to the SPK is to be significantly strengthened. At the same time, they are to work together more closely within the SPK as an interdisciplinary network. This focus on content is to be accompanied and supported by organisational and structural changes with the aim of a leaner, more agile administration and a revised financial structure for the SPK.
Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, says: "The SPK of the future will be different. Today's decision by the Board of Trustees marks a milestone. I would like to expressly thank Minister of State for Culture Monika Grütters and the entire Reform Commission for their confidence in the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation's willingness to reform and its future viability. The last few months in particular have shown how much the will to change exists at all levels of the SPK. A great deal has also been set in motion internally to make the unique SPK organisation more effective. We now want to continue along this path together with our federal and state sponsors and external consultants with determination and success.
A year ago, I said that I very much welcomed the key points of the Science Council's recommendations: more autonomy for the institutions right down to the individual museums, because they are all the multifaceted faces of the SPK, and a reduction in hierarchical levels and unnecessary complexity. It is an important sign of support that our sponsors also recognise the great need for additional staffing and funding for the Foundation, as diagnosed by the German Council of Science and Humanities, and I am particularly grateful to them for this.
However, it is also right and important to further develop the enormous opportunities of this unique interdisciplinary association, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, with its magnificent museums, libraries, archives and research institutes and the broad professional expertise of its employees, into the future: through fundamentally changed, modern governance, adequate funding and a modified committee structure in order to be able to act effectively.
In all these steps, our overriding goal must be to offer an even more attractive programme for our visitors and an excellent service for our users, building on excellent research into the collections. We must resolutely continue on our path into the digital future; virtual linking in particular makes a completely new experience of the cultural heritage gathered in the SPK cosmos available worldwide.
There is still a lot of work ahead of us, but awareness of the immense potential of this foundation is an important driver for all of us."
