Lynley Crosswell was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Museums Victoria in February 2017. Museums Victoria comprises the Melbourne Museum, Scienceworks and Immigration Museum, as well as the World Heritage-listed Royal Exhibition Building and IMAX Theatre at Melbourne Museum, attracting around 2 million visitors a year. There are over 700 staff and 500 volunteers.
Lynley is its first woman chief executive who led the institutions and their 650 staff and 400 volunteers through Melbourne’s pandemic lockdowns, when they were closed to the public, with only a skeleton staff maintaining exhibitions.
With the doors open once again, a series of blockbuster exhibitions - including the unveiling of the Triceratops fossil has drawn many back to the Museum.
A particular issue for museums around the world is the repatriation debate, highlighted in the ABC show Stuff the British Stole, but Lynley says Museums Victoria policy is clear that it will repatriate objects.
Prior to joining Museums Victoria, Lynley was CEO of the International Division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
She also served as Director of ABC Commercial and Director of ABC New Media and Digital Services. Before joining the ABC, Lynley held a number of senior executive positions, including at Director level, in radio, television and new media in New Zealand. She was a non-executive director of Questacon, the national science museum in Canberra.
Museums Victoria’s digital reach is estimated to be around 12 million visits a month.