Museum Diplomacy: Developing cultural partnerships between New Zealand and China

Museums play an increasingly important role in cultural diplomacy. New Zealand cultural organisations support international objectives by assisting cultural exchange, increasing mutual understanding and connecting key players. However, the intersection between museum and government activity is often regarded with scepticism, stemming from a general antipathy towards instrumentalism in museum and cultural policy studies literature. This research draws on recent work by Nisbett (2013), which revealed how British cultural organisations inverted instrumentalism—the use of cultural ventures by governments to help achieve goals in other areas—to achieve their own goals. The literature suggests that British museums strategically promoted their cultural diplomacy activity to formulate cultural policy and expand the scale of their international activity. This provides a useful model for the New Zealand cultural sector to build on, in its unique environment.  This dissertation addresses this gap in the literature by investigating the intersection of museum and government activity between New Zealand and China. Through a case study of the partnership between Te Papa and the National Museum of China the research explored the state of cultural organisation partnerships, and assessed to what extent museums benefit by acting instrumentally. Interviews were conducted with ten cultural sector professionals and grounded theory was used to analyse the data.  This research found that New Zealand’s national museum positioned itself as willing and able to engage in cultural diplomacy activity, in order to develop its international activity, and offer benefits in return to its principal funder, the government. Results suggested that while the museum has not utilised instrumentalism to impact cultural policy in New Zealand, there is scope to develop this. Consequently, the research identifies an emerging area in museum practice, ‘museum diplomacy’, which I define as the developing practice of intersecting activity between international museum work and state-sponsored cultural diplomacy. The research contributes to museum and cultural policy studies literature by producing modest, yet original data about museum partnerships and cultural diplomacy in New Zealand, and provides insights for government and the cultural sector in international cultural partnerships. It echoes the critical view of the disjuncture between museum theory, policy and practice, and concludes by discussing some recommendations and calling for further research to be conducted on museum diplomacy.