After helping the newly independent Birmingham Museums Trust to complete its first year, Simon Cane has some bold ideas for the future... if only he can land one of the city鈥檚 greatest jobs. Graham Young reports.
He's what you might call ready and willing 鈥 as well as being 鈥楥ane and able鈥.
But there鈥檚 one thing from stopping the man in charge of Birmingham Museums Trust from advocating some profound changes.
And it鈥檚 the fact that he doesn鈥檛 even have the job yet.
Interim director Simon Cane will be grilled next month along with any other leading candidates who fancy shaping the way our most venerable city institutions are run.
The prospect of earning from 拢90,000 to 拢110,000 in an age of austerity will surely have been enough to tempt some outsiders to throw their hats in to the ring.
But although the stakes are high, Simon looks as relaxed as can be.
We鈥檇 first met on a bitterly-cold, mid-March morning at the opening of the splendidly-restored Sarehole Mill. He promised to talk soon.
Interviewing top people can sometimes be like waiting for the day when you can aim a rocket for Mars, but we鈥檇 only cancelled a couple of times before finally catching up in his office, an enviably light and airy space overlooking Chamberlain Square, the Town Hall and the main entrance to the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.
As before, he鈥檚 a man of some considerable sartorial elegance. A cut above the rest, shall we say. His threads won鈥檛 let him down.
Nor can he not be accused of not knowing his stuff.
Having grown up in rural Hampshire and got its green fields 鈥渙ut of my system鈥, Simon has spent a decade in town, learning on the beat and developing his inside track from the concrete up.
Home is in the Jewellery Quarter 鈥 not for him the nonsense of preaching one thing inside a major urban border only to escape to a rural idyll every night.
Elevated into his current post following the unexpected departure of Prof Ann Sumner after just eight months in the job, Simon is unequivocal about the need to prove himself in battle.
鈥淚nterim director? It鈥檚 just how it is...鈥 he begins. 鈥淚鈥檓 completely open about that with the trustees.
鈥淭he challenge for me is to put myself up against the best people out there. I feel a bit like Rafa Benitez (former interim Chelsea FC manager) but hopefully more popular!鈥
Now aged 48, Simon admits that even he was thrown by last year鈥檚 unexpected flux.
Prof Sumner had only just joined the fledgling trust after five years as Director of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Birmingham.
Taking up her new post in May she said: 鈥淭his is the beginning of an exciting new era.鈥
But she resigned in October for personal reasons.
Gone in January, she became the Bront毛 Society鈥檚 first executive director in February.
鈥淕etting a new director and losing one very quickly is not great,鈥 Simon admits.
鈥淚t was a personal decision and nothing to do with the organisation, but my job then was to make sure people retained confidence in the project.鈥
鈥淚鈥檇 been working here for 10 years, so I believe they all trust me and it just made sense for me to come into it and to test out the role.
鈥淚 have a great affection for Birmingham and have always tried to live in and around where I work so you can then feel its heartbeat and pulse.
鈥淚 can walk everywhere, I don鈥檛 really like driving and the Jewellery Quarter is like a village on Sundays.
鈥淲hen I first visited the Bullring had just opened and since then some really positive things have been happening in the city.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very walkable, nothing is too far away. Its diversity means there are some tensions, but I think it鈥檚 comfortable with itself and most people rub along pretty well.鈥
Although they have no children, Birmingham is a halfway house for the Cane family.
Wife Deborah, a conservator who worked on the spellbinding Staffordshire Hoard, is originally from Leeds.
Four years Simon鈥檚 junior, she recently took some of BMAG鈥檚 prized pre-Raphaelite works to Russia via a more economical but arduous overland journey.
The Canes often travel together to remote areas of the world.
They include Burma (鈥渆ven before it opened up鈥) as well as Laos and Vietnam, idea for adding to their private collection of costumes and ethnic materials.
Simon is enthused by last year鈥檚 arrival of full independence from the council, he reasons: 鈥淚 still believe it鈥檚 a fantastic opportunity for the Birmingham Museums Trust and its museums to realise their full potential,鈥欌 he explains.
鈥淟ike the national museums we are now at arms length and less politicised 鈥 not that it was before.
鈥淲e want to promote Birmingham to the world and the world to Birmingham.
鈥淟ast year we lent more than 125 objects overseas.鈥
There鈥檚 a turnover of more than 拢10 million to manage as well as up to 300 staff at peak times who last year welcomed one million visitors across all sites.
Of those, 70 per cent were daytrippers, 26 per cent nationals and four per cent from overseas.
They included up to 680,000 visitors at BMAG and 250,000 at Thinktank, a decade-old attraction Simon believes is 鈥渞eally finding its feet鈥欌.
鈥淚 knew the old Science Museum myself and my background is industrial history, but it was showing its age and needed to change.
鈥淎t Thinktank we now have the outdoor Science Garden 鈥 which is free after 3pm and is the only one of its kind in the country. It has completely changed the front of Millennium Point.
鈥淲e Made It is a great new gallery, with real personality that you won鈥檛 see anywhere else.鈥
In these straitened times, Thinktank鈥檚 admission policy is a good place to start regarding Simon鈥檚 view on the future funding of museums.
BMAG is generally free until the big specials arrive, but the community museums like Aston Hall, Sarehole Mill and Blakesley Hall have modest charges for adults. Thinktank鈥檚 adult on the day admission is 拢12.25 and it鈥檚 拢8.40 for children aged three to 15, while a family with three children can have unlimited annual admission in return for a 拢79 season ticket 鈥 the cost of which is easily missed to the left of the itemised daily price boxes on the website www.thinktank.ac.uk
鈥淢ost of the time people would like to pay less, but they believe they are getting good value for it,鈥 says Simon.
鈥淚f we could make all of the museums free I would, but it鈥檚 not possible in the current climate.
鈥淪pecial exhibitions also generate extra income through additional charging.
鈥淲hat is important is the quality of the visitor experience.
鈥淲e want to give a warm welcome and make it fun and educational and I think we get it right most of the time.鈥
Last year I went to the opening of the Titanic museum in Southampton, not far from the green fields where Simon grew up.
The policy in the home city of his favourite football team was to have free admission for local council tax payers.
鈥淚t鈥檚 questionable (in the EU) if you can discriminate in that way,鈥 he says.
鈥淎nd I鈥檓 not sure what message that sends out. I鈥檓 not sure how you deal with that kind of concept in a city.
鈥淪hould you have a 鈥榖ed tax鈥 for tourists? People support cities in many different ways.
鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 be comfortable with that.鈥
Having developed a major collections centre to house items not currently on display, Simon says there is always a lot going on behind the scenes, too.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we get applauded enough,鈥 he says.
鈥淭he city has invested in its museums significantly in the past 10 years with things like the Collections Centre.
鈥淲hat other city has made a similar level of investment in that or something like the History Gallery?鈥
If Simon gets the job, one of his main objectives will be to make BMAG in particular more user friendly.
鈥淎ccess to the museum is difficult,鈥 he concedes, in reference to parents with prams or the disabled trying to manage the steps at every entrance or what I reckon is the world鈥檚 slowest lift on Edmund St.
鈥淭he staircase is austere,鈥 he says.
鈥淎nd that could be intimidating to some people.
鈥淲e want to achieve better connections with the city.
鈥淲e have world class collections but are not showing them off in the best light.
鈥淪o we have to ask, firstly, how we can improve the physical space and, secondly, art generally in the museum.
鈥淥ur silver collection is not the most accessible. We need to highlight our star objects like our Sultanganj Buddha which is unique (dating back to 500-700 AD in north India, the largest complete bronze figure of its kind was given to the city in 1864).
鈥淏eing a mediator is what excites me because we do need to make connections between various communities and it鈥檚 nice to be able to do small things which make a big difference to people鈥檚 lives, whether it鈥檚 Jamaica 50, the Koestler Trust, Sikh Turban or whatever.
鈥淵es, there is an enormous prize, but the job of director is not about me or my ego and that鈥檚 an important lesson for leadership.
鈥淚t鈥檚 about what we do for the聽 city.
鈥淲e have great staff and collections, so it鈥檚 all about potential.
鈥淲e are changing the conversation with the outside world. We need to be more open, to change the way we talk to people.
鈥淲e have staff who are interested and interesting. I want the whole organisation to be more fully engaged with the whole life of the city.
鈥淲e are 150 years old and, for the first time, have become independent.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a very fundamental shift.
鈥淲e need more to take risks and to be flexible to compete.鈥
Having just visited the Windy City with a University of Birmingham delegation, Simon concludes: 鈥淎nd I would hope to bring Chicago and Birmingham closer together, too.鈥
Crikey... it would be one thing to remodel the entrance to BMAG without upsetting traditionalists.
But to bring two continents closer together at the same time.
Now there鈥檚 a man with ambition.
