I left a museum that I loved after 6+ years of being overworked, underpaid, and abused… now I’m pursuing a masters in museum admin so the next generation won’t have to face that like I did.
As someone who left a public history degree program, seeing so many cool people talk about this issue makes my heart hurt (and unfortunately reinforces my decision). Thank you for this video!!
I relate to this predicament because I work for a not-for-profit and even though I love what I do, I am underpaid and the only way I can do this job is because my spouse makes a very bounteous salary. Something else I've noticed is that patrons of museums, symphony and theater are aging fast without younger people including themselves in these areas. BTW, I am currently on vacation in San Diego. Yesterday we visited three art museums at Balboa Park. I was heartened to see much more items on exhibit that were more balanced as to gender and diversity. I especially liked the Museum of Photography which was exhibiting the winners of the 2022 contest winners--all ages, all ethnicities and all genders were represented. Knocked me out!.
It's the same in science centers. I'm lucky enough to be making a living wage in an area with low cost of living, and my salary is actually "extremely competitive"... for a museum. I could go to Target right now and make the same. The job I took over is actually the full duties of a man who worked there full time for 38 years, plus the expectation of about more 20 hours of work per week on top of that. It's the same across the building. I found a piece of paper from 2010 that listed FOURTEEN part-time program presenters. Right now we have two and almost the same amount of shows. "Other duties as assigned" should not be legal to put in a description. At one point I was doing work for every department in the building.
Once when I was between jobs (the next job was lined up, just not starting for a few weeks), I volunteered to help set up an exhibit at our local science museum. It was tons of fun... when else do you get to do stuff like paint a volcano? They joked that I looked like Pele because I had to climb up & lean out of the caldera to reach the lava on top in order to paint it. I can confirm that museum staff absolutely do a lot of things which I doubt are in their official job description. One staff member called herself a Jill of All Trades. They had a bunch of volunteers helping out with stuff like that. While I am currently in a position where I do need to work too much to be able to devote that kind of time to volunteering, I can see myself chipping in more when I retire. Still, it's sad that museums have to rely on volunteers because they don't always have the funding.
I just don't know what to do, I am studying History and Museum Studies as an undergrad with plans to go to graduate school for museum studies or hist preservation or maybe just plain history. I have been steering away from academia because I do not want to loose my interest in learning and teaching for low pay, but it looks like the museum sector has the same problems. I would appreciate any advice that can be offered. I wish I wasn't spending my twenties worrying but I truly appreciate this information.
Hi Jed. While there are many of us working to try and make the sector more equitable, these changes won't happen over night. With that being said, if you have your mind set on a path then I think it is worth seeing through. There are decent jobs out there, they are sometimes just a bit tricky to find. I would check out some Public History MA programs; they are a good mix of history and applied museum practice. I wish you the best of luck!
I left a museum that I loved after 6+ years of being overworked, underpaid, and abused… now I’m pursuing a masters in museum admin so the next generation won’t have to face that like I did.
"Other duties as assigned " are so real.
As someone heading into the museum sector this was simultaneously terrifying and incredibly encouraging to hear. Thank you!
Definitely worth joining a union to push for better pay. The museum I work at is planning further strike action next month: strength in numbers!
Wishing you the best of luck!
Thank you for putting this video together. It’s definitely a labour of love working in museums
Great work! This is exactly why I left the field, but I shouldn't have had to.
As someone who left a public history degree program, seeing so many cool people talk about this issue makes my heart hurt (and unfortunately reinforces my decision). Thank you for this video!!
I relate to this predicament because I work for a not-for-profit and even though I love what I do, I am underpaid and the only way I can do this job is because my spouse makes a very bounteous salary. Something else I've noticed is that patrons of museums, symphony and theater are aging fast without younger people including themselves in these areas. BTW, I am currently on vacation in San Diego. Yesterday we visited three art museums at Balboa Park. I was heartened to see much more items on exhibit that were more balanced as to gender and diversity. I especially liked the Museum of Photography which was exhibiting the winners of the 2022 contest winners--all ages, all ethnicities and all genders were represented. Knocked me out!.
It's the same in science centers. I'm lucky enough to be making a living wage in an area with low cost of living, and my salary is actually "extremely competitive"... for a museum. I could go to Target right now and make the same. The job I took over is actually the full duties of a man who worked there full time for 38 years, plus the expectation of about more 20 hours of work per week on top of that. It's the same across the building. I found a piece of paper from 2010 that listed FOURTEEN part-time program presenters. Right now we have two and almost the same amount of shows. "Other duties as assigned" should not be legal to put in a description. At one point I was doing work for every department in the building.
That's rough, I'm sorry you're having ing to go through that!
Once when I was between jobs (the next job was lined up, just not starting for a few weeks), I volunteered to help set up an exhibit at our local science museum. It was tons of fun... when else do you get to do stuff like paint a volcano? They joked that I looked like Pele because I had to climb up & lean out of the caldera to reach the lava on top in order to paint it. I can confirm that museum staff absolutely do a lot of things which I doubt are in their official job description. One staff member called herself a Jill of All Trades. They had a bunch of volunteers helping out with stuff like that. While I am currently in a position where I do need to work too much to be able to devote that kind of time to volunteering, I can see myself chipping in more when I retire. Still, it's sad that museums have to rely on volunteers because they don't always have the funding.
I just don't know what to do, I am studying History and Museum Studies as an undergrad with plans to go to graduate school for museum studies or hist preservation or maybe just plain history. I have been steering away from academia because I do not want to loose my interest in learning and teaching for low pay, but it looks like the museum sector has the same problems. I would appreciate any advice that can be offered. I wish I wasn't spending my twenties worrying but I truly appreciate this information.
Hi Jed. While there are many of us working to try and make the sector more equitable, these changes won't happen over night. With that being said, if you have your mind set on a path then I think it is worth seeing through. There are decent jobs out there, they are sometimes just a bit tricky to find. I would check out some Public History MA programs; they are a good mix of history and applied museum practice. I wish you the best of luck!
Such an important video! Great work 🍀🌈