Research

We are undertaking the 2025 Art Museum Trustee Study to equip the field to tackle the most pressing issues facing art museum governance today. Building on the BTA 2022 Art Museum Trustee Study, this timely research initiative will track how the role of trustees is shifting over time while also opening new lines of inquiry into how board perspectives shape the institutions they serve – and the field at large.

Through this study, we aim to equip museum leaders, boards, and art funders with critical knowledge about today’s governance landscape and identify potential implications for the future. By examining the key dimensions of trustee influence and effectiveness, board culture, and current governance priorities, our findings will strengthen art museums’ collective capacity for sustainable impact.

We are inviting all trustees currently serving on art museum fiduciary boards in the United States to share their perspective by completing the survey.

In addition to collecting survey data, we are conducting 20 follow-up interviews to amplify and extend the range of insights we receive through the survey data. We've found that follow-up interviews are particularly powerful for unpacking unexpected findings and amplifying the impact of key results. By pairing the qualitative "hows" and "whys" of trustee experiences with quantitative data about scale, these interviews will support statistics through lived experiences, offering insights that can be translated into actionable steps and replicated across the field. You may indicate your interest in participating in an interview upon completing the survey.

Our research examines the full scope of trustee engagement, from the onboarding support available to new trustees, to the role they play in the boardroom, to the ways they champion staff and institutional priorities. It also investigates trustee perspectives on board culture, influence, and power, as well as the factors that make trustees most and least effective.

We expect the survey to take 8-12 minutes to complete (this is an estimate that we will update when the survey is finalized).

The survey does not collect any personally identifiable information unless you choose to share it. At the end of the survey, you will have the option to indicate if you would like to be contacted for follow-up interviews or additional research opportunities. If you opt in, your contact information will only be used for that purpose and kept separate from your survey responses.

As BTA’s research partner, SMU DataArts will securely store and maintain data records in the cloud at Amazon Web Services (AWS). All data hosted at AWS is secured and backed up at regular intervals. Survey data is collected via the survey management platform Alchemer and is protected by AWS global infrastructure as well as the Open Web Application Security Project (WOWASP) standards during software development process (see here for more).

Data and metadata are preserved indefinitely on secure servers as well as via Alchemer. This preservation allows for future research that might include comparative analysis of multiple studies or probing the data if new research questions arise.

This study explores new lines of inquiry like what influences the impact of trustees and the rate of trustee retention, deepens prior explorations of board governance and effectiveness, and updates our understanding of the current priorities of trustees. There are just a few national studies of art museum trustees, and this work both builds upon – and goes beyond - the BTA 2022 Art Museum Trustee study and the periodic study of Museum Board Leadership provided by the American Alliance of Museums. In addition, this study has been designed to be in conversation with relevant research on the staff culture of art museums by Museums Moving Forward and the finances of the museums represented through SMU DataArts.

By participating in this critical research, you will shape a clearer portrait of where art museum governance is today and where it is headed. Your insights will ensure that the trustee perspective is fully represented, capturing both the challenges and opportunities you encounter in your role. The findings will not only provide benchmarks and best practices for boards nationwide, but also highlight the concrete ways trustees can strengthen their influence, effectiveness, and impact.

The survey will launch in October 2025 and will be open through the end of the calendar year. All surveys must be completed within this period. Interviews will be conducted in January 2026. Following data analysis and report development in Spring/Summer 2026, the final report will be released in Fall 2026.

Yes! We encourage you to share the survey fellow art museum trustees to encourage maximum participation.

Please email us at: help@culturaldata.org