Interview with Marta Lourenà§o conducted by Miquel Carandell Baruzzi
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2024-10-24_InterviewMartaLourenco_Transcript_FINAL.pdf
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Creator (person)
Lourenà§o, Marta
Carandell Baruzzi, Miquel
Date published
October 24, 2024
Abstract
In this interview, Marta Lourenà§o details her experience as an employee of the Lisbon Museum of Science and Natural History, where she has worked for more than twenty-five years, with the last five of them as director. The interview starts with a brief explanation of her professional background, then it moves to the history of the Lisbon Museum, its budget and activities, and how it has changed in terms of visitors and visibility since the end of the 1990s to today.
Then the interview deals with the types of exhibitions that the museum puts on and how they relate to budget, sponsorship and the museum’s strategic objectives. After that, Lourenà§o answers questions on sponsorship and fundraising, especially on fundraising for buildings and heritage restoration. She gives the example of the museum’s chemistry lab, which has been restored thanks to sponsorship from pharmaceutical companies, and of the astronomical observatory, which has not received any sponsorship yet.
The interview then moves to how other public bodies, such as the local government in Lisbon, have sponsored exhibitions and the features of the negotiations with those institutions over the content and aims of the exhibition. The next topic is the museum’s fundraising policy and how it relates to the university’s policies, to which the museum must adhere. In the subsequent questions, Lourenà§o also gives some examples of ethical dilemmas and conflicts of interest with sponsorship from private companies. In relation to that, Lourenà§o explains the decision-making process once a sponsorship proposal is made to the museum.
The last few questions are devoted to the museum’s policy on lending collection items, the use of the museum’s spaces, and the revenues that these activities provide for the museum. The interview finishes with some final reflections on public funding of museums and sponsorship, which, according to Lourenà§o, has different features in continental Europe than in the United Kingdom. 
Project(s)
Museums and Industry: Long Histories of Collaboration (MaILHoC)
Funder
| Funder name | Awards |
Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage | |
Publisher
Science Museum Group
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In Copyright