A Small, Unique University Museum Becomes a "Registered Museum" — Keio University Art Center (KUAC)

In late 2024, a long-awaited notification arrived. It was a notice from the Tokyo Metropolitan Curriculum Advisory Committee stating that as of December 23, the Keio University Art Center (KUAC) had been newly registered as a "Registered Museum." This good news came after we submitted the application documents at the end of August and spent anxious days anticipating additional inquiries. Even writing this, unless one is directly involved, it may be hard to imagine what a Registered Museum is or what it means to apply for it, and it might not even seem right to call the Art Center a museum.

The Keio University Art Center (KUAC) was established in 1993 as the only arts-related Research Centers and Institutes within the university. Since its opening, it has moved between several locations, eventually relocating to its current site in the Mita Campus South Annex in 2011, where an exhibition space was added on the first floor. This coincided with a period when the requirements for the national curator certification—a qualification the university can grant upon completion of specific courses—were being revised. In response, university museums were being renovated or newly established. This was because it was indicated that universities should have "Museum-Equivalent Facilities" or similar institutions to conduct museology internships on campus.

Following this trend after the relocation, we worked on applying for Museum-Equivalent Facility status and were designated as such in 2013. Under the old Museum Act, once an application was approved and the facility designated, it would remain so for decades. However, the Museum Act, which was enacted shortly after the war (enacted in 1951, amended independently in 1955), contained parts that no longer fit the current reality. Reflections also emerged regarding the state of a law that provides no follow-up care after initial certification. Consequently, a major revision of the Museum Act was undertaken for the first time in about 70 years. In April 2022, the "Act for Partial Revision of the Museum Act," the so-called Revised Museum Act, was promulgated and came into effect in April 2023.

The most significant point of this revision was the removal of restrictions on the establishing entity. This opened the door for museums established by school corporations—which previously were only allowed to apply for Museum-Equivalent Facility status—to become Registered Museums. Furthermore, following the enforcement of the Revised Museum Act, Registered Museums and Equivalent Facilities under the old law were required to reapply within five years. This meant that the Art Center also had to reapply within five years. We needed to scrutinize our collection lists and prepare all required documents, including floor plans, registrations, and organizational structures. The memory of the massive workload from the 2013 application crossed my mind. Moreover, at the time of promulgation, the document requirements set by Tokyo for the application were not clear, and there were unpredictable elements due to the legal changes. Since reapplying in the first year was considered difficult, we planned to use the 2023 academic year as a preparation period and reapply during the 2024 academic year.

Initially, although the path to becoming a Registered Museum had opened for school corporations, our policy was to reapply as a Museum-Equivalent Facility. This was because, despite the major changes to the Museum Act, the requirement to be open 150 days a year remained unchanged. Based on our current organizational scale, it was clear from over ten years of operation that we could at most consistently open for the 100 days required for Equivalent Facilities, and that maintaining 150 days was impossible. However, it was later discovered that "days when materials are accessible" could be included in the opening days, in addition to actual exhibition days. Since the Art Center makes archive materials available to visitors throughout the year (for example, 245 days in the 2023 academic year), we determined that we met the application requirements and switched our policy to apply as a Registered Museum.

Thus, after two years of preparation by the entire Art Center—starting with study sessions on the revised law to prepare materials—and following consultation hearings with the Tokyo Metropolitan Curriculum Advisory Committee, we completed the submission at the end of August. Following the Kyoritsu Women's University Museum (the first university museum in Tokyo registered in the 2023 academic year) and the Komazawa University Museum of Zen Culture and History (September 2024), we became the third group of institutions to be registered, along with the Meiji University Museum.

Admittedly, compared to other university museums, the Art Center's collections and activities are somewhat un-museum-like. Furthermore, its museum-like activities are expansive, extending beyond its own physical space. For example, the Committee for the Management and Utilization of Artworks, for which the Art Center serves as the secretariat alongside the Office of Facilities and Property Management, is an activity that cares for artworks across the entire university and school. This has garnered significant attention from other universities as a unique and effective method for managing and utilizing artworks in a university setting (details here). Additionally, the "Cultural Narrative of a City" project, which we have worked on for many years, is a project that opens the university to the community (project details here). The revised law includes a new provision requiring museums to contribute to the revitalization of local cultural activities, and our activities can be seen as a proactive development of exactly that.

Finally, I must mention a major challenge. The revised law added a new item to the tasks to be undertaken: "creating and making public electromagnetic records related to museum materials." While many museums are struggling with the digitization and publication of material information, during our consultation with Tokyo, great emphasis was placed on how much information is available on the web. I strongly felt that the revised law has a major intention to encourage adaptation to the digital age. Although the Art Center has become a Registered Museum, we are still insufficient in this regard, and further efforts will be required in the future.

The Art Center is a small university museum, but as a "Registered Museum," we hope to continue developing open activities while contributing to the university's education. Please do come and visit us.