Unilateral decisions“, “sexist and racist remarks“, “disregard for personnel and heritage“: several witnesses spoke to RTBF about the management of Michel Draguet, director of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts (MRBA) since 2005, whose term of office expires next April and is a candidate for his own succession. different departments denounce a climate of pressure, repeated contemptuous and insulting remarks, a management “terror“.
Behind the collections of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts, the Breughel, Rubens or other Magrittes – among the most beautiful in the country – there is a file. In a binder, several dozen testimonials on hundreds of pages. We were able to consult them and the report is severe: grievances accumulate on the management of the general manager, Michel Draguet; it is about a deleterious work climate at all levels. After the open letter from around thirty workers to the Secretary of State for Scientific Policy denouncing “deplorable working conditions”, they are now more than forty employees (out of 210 in total), from different departments, who give their testimony. Among them, we met Marie*, who has been employed for several months in the “Public” department (a department that covers communication, cultural mediation and, among other things, sponsorship).
She laments a director “without filter” in a meeting, in particular: “He can express himself very aggressively and quite brutally. I am thinking in particular of a person of German origin who works in museums and who, in at least four or five meetings at which I was present, was each time targeted by a remark about Nazism or other allusions to Second World War“, explains Marie, who continues with another example: “I’ve already witnessed a real bashing from my direct manager in a meeting during which he told her ‘You’re really too stupid’. I was in shock. He has very problematic remarks in relation to women. It’s absolutely out of place in a professional context.“
Problematic remarks in meetings, which also confirms Julien *, dismissed since MRBA: “Homophobic, racist, misogynistic remarks: it’s recurrent, it takes place during meetings, sometimes in the presence of partners, sometimes in the presence of artists and even journalists. It’s very complicated to accept, especially by its recurrence, by the fact that it remains unpunished.“A situation which, according to these witnesses, would damage the image of the institution, behind the resplendent facade of the neoclassical buildings of Rue de la Régence, which today brings together the museums of Modern Art, Fin de siècle and Magritte .
Facts also noted by Arnaud* who speaks of “sexist remarks by general manager in meeting“or even”contemptuous remarks by the general manager towards artists, in meetings or in public.“
She paints scabs
And Marie to give us examples of some concrete situations experienced in recent years. “We can find ourselves with Michel Draguet who will say, as soon as the artist has left the room, ‘In any case, this person is not even an artist, she paints crusts or else, in reference to the work of a contemporary artist that we welcome, call one of his works ‘turd’: this is a word that has been used several times. He even went so far as to treat an artist with great paternalism in front of outsiders, in front of the press too. We then find ourselves with a furious and annoyed artist. Same with external partners where, once the door closed, he said ‘in any case they are calves, they go back to graze their grass. The people around him are all incompetents, that’s pretty clear.“
“There are few collaborators who can exist beside him. He still sees them as competitors“, confirms Christiane *, another witness.
An authoritarian and toxic manager
A malaise that trickles down the teams, “yet extremely dedicated to their work and to public service missions“we are told, and who today denounce a lack of consideration, of dialogue, a management in which the critical eye has no place, and define Michel Draguet as someone who is manipulative, who does not shy away from using abuse of power and intimidation.”When you have the audacity to go against ideas that he can formulate, it is very, very badly received. I already had the case where, then, I was ignored in a meeting, as a punishment, probably “, observes Marie while Julien remembers that “many people, when the meetings take place, do not dare to speak. Those who dare are sometimes ridiculed. This creates a very strong tension and unease. We can not question orders that emanate from him“. Before deciding: “For me, he is an authoritarian and toxic manager who leaves no room for dialogue.“
“Self-centered, certainly and very authoritarian. He is someone who never listens to others, who never lets anyone speak. His leitmotif is ‘I’ll stop you right away’… At some point, we give up“, completes another who, to qualify, specifies “that it would not take much for Michel Draguet to be a good director: a little more humanity, and to be less centered on himself, to give a little attention to his collaborators because you have to say what is , it is still someone who has ideas. But he only cares about one thing: the temporary exhibitions of which he himself is curator.“