Wanted: Charming, erudite executive with the diplomatic skills of a foreign service officer, the financial skills of an investment banker and the social skills of a 1950's wife. Position requires the academic background of a serious scholar, with the willingness to let most of this knowledge go unused in favor of poring over budgets and staffing issues. Long hours, low pay and the chance to see your name in the papers every time you make even the slightest wrong move.

The above job advertisement is from an article that was published in the New York Times (Art, Doesn't Anybody Want this Job? Paul Goldberger, June 26, 1994) giving an account of what running an art museum entails. From the outset, as Head of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, I regularly worked a twelve-hour day. Managing a 96-year-old heritage building with several departments (curatorial, exhibitions, education, security, technical and administration), 30 full time staff, a collection of 9000 works spanning four centuries and virtually no budget is no easy task.

However, my previous experience founding the non-profit art space Camouflage; curating several international exhibitions (in Linz, Milan, Sao Paulo, Mexico, Rotterdam); managing the 2nd Johannesburg Biennale under Okwui Enwezor; completing two curator programs; and extensive experience fundraising meant that I was reasonably equipped for the challenges to come.

And challenges there were: a flood, blocked sewerage systems, a theft, threats, leaks and the poor budgets mentioned earlier.

However the rewards far outweighed the challenges: while occupying this position I always said, 'I have the best job in the world'. It is a noble and honorary position - to be at the helm of one of the country's most prestigious public museums. JAG has a history of extraordinary leadership, excellent collections by world-class standards, and has presented numerous significant exhibitions that have contributed to its ongoing legacy.

This is as it should be: museums play a vital role in audience development, educating the public and transforming society. It is within their mandate to preserve national heritage, but also act as active participants in the development of the arts sector.

When I took the helm at JAG, I asked the question, what makes for great art museums around the world? In short, the combination of brilliant exhibitions and a team of good curators are at the core of museums' achievements.

I set about arranging some of the more significant exhibitions against some very real obstacles. Between 2004 and the end of 2008, the Johannesburg Art Gallery presented four major retrospectives by South African artists: William Kentridge, David Goldblatt, Dumile Feni and Thami Mnyele. JAG also presented three major mid-career exhibitions, by Berni Searle, Meshac Gaba and Kay Hassan. Funding was sought from a range of sources depending on the nature of the exhibition. Overall about ten million rand was raised for exhibitions and projects in the past five years. When a funder sees the value and understands the relevance of a project, one is able to forge a mutually beneficial arrangement. Even for large-scale 'high art' projects, JAG was able to unpack a range of education and public programmes that addressed critical issues in society.

For the 'Kinshasa: the imaginary city' exhibition, JAG collaborated with the Congolese community, creating programmes around issues of migration, displacement and xenophobia. JAG partnered with the Deutsche Guggenheim on William Kentridge's 'Black Box/Chambre Noire' exhibition, and showcased an exhibition of seminal performance artist Marina Abramovic.

For 'Africa Remix: contemporary art of a continent', JAG held a series of five panel discussions. A project space for emerging artists sponsored by Nando's was launched, and several exhibitions of the collections were held including Rembrandt, the Impressionists, Modernism and photography. JAG's collections policy was amended to include the collection of contemporary African art for the first time. The visitor figures were doubled from 42 000 per year to 80 000. During this time a number of exhibition catalogues were also produced.

In the future, whoever holds the position will need to be passionate about artists and the collections. They will also need to serve the art community essentially for altruistic purposes - seeing the value that public institutions can contribute to our society and its democratic principles. There are issues to be addressed such as cultural diversity, social cohesion and the intellectual underpinning of past imbalances.

The question to ask is: what legacy does one leave behind leave behind? Each Director must make his/her own mark on the institution. This entails developing a vision, finding the necessary resources to fulfill that vision, and bringing the staff into alignment with that vision. Thereafter, one focuses on developing a curatorial direction that includes education programmes and accompanying publications. All of this happens against the backdrop of a set of continual tasks: initiating key partnerships, upgrading facilities, promoting research on the collections, dealing with government priorities, understanding budgeting processes and developing a business plan. In addition, one deals with public and media concerns and queries, and aims to fulfill many other obligations within the larger art community: writing texts, studio visits, seeing exhibitions, meeting with curators, funders and jury member of competitions, interviews, board meetings etc.

South Africa has, since the start of its fledgling democracy, established approximately twelve political and heritage institutions or museums. However, not one museum of contemporary or African art exists. There is urgent need for the training of museum professionals in South Africa. However, curators, from the Latin, curare (meaning 'to care for') can only receive training in the US or Europe, exacerbating this paucity.

South Africa has, for the last decade or so, going through a transformation of the arts sector from state patronage to private philanthropy. While this represents a laudable adoption of responsibility for culture by big business, is of critical importance that our nation's collective heritage housed in state institutions such as the JAG is preserved, researched, grown and promoted for the public good.

Clive Kellner