I was reading this article and wanted to get anyone’s opinions on it (especially museum friends). I’ve been thinking recently about what the future of museums might be and what role I personally will be able to play in it. With the way things are shifting (or at least with the attitudes about how many people want them to shift), I’m clearly in the wrong demographic. Or am I? I believe that there should be more diversity in the museum world, but at the same time – it’s sometimes hard to embrace it because I’d basically be excluding myself. I have other thoughts as well, that’s just the one I’m thinking about currently.
So. Your thoughts?
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And I know that this article actually came out in 2009, but I still think it’s just as relevant as ever. The changing future of museums isn’t going anywhere anytime soon…
I think this issue is prevalent in many fields of study – heck, in many areas of life – not just in the museum field. As far as I know, no one has come up with a great solution yet. I did think the third comment down by mattadolphus was interesting, though. Not super relevant, but interesting.
Really, though, my initial reaction is just this: why can’t they just hire the most qualified individuals? Sure, they can recruit from high schools or community colleges for entry-level positions (I don’t know what’s available, but I think cleaning and organizing artifacts comes to mind… but I’m sure there are other things as well) but don’t you want the best person for the job, regardless of the color of their skin or their tax bracket? Yeah, it’s a shame there isn’t more diversity, and I don’t want to be politically incorrect or anything, but it would also be a shame to sacrifice quality just because you wanted someone more diverse who might also possibly be less qualified. Granted, this brings up another issue that I do feel strongly about – better public education. But whatevs.
I also thought about the fact that there don’t seem to be a ton of jobs in this field anyway… It’s seems to be super-competitive, depending on different factors, like which musuem you’re looking at or whatever. Like the comment I mentioned earlier mentioned it’s more competitive in the art history field. Aaaanyway. I know you weren’t really asking me, but I thought I’d put in my two cents.
I was pretty put off by the statement that museums should “stop hiring museum studies graduates.” And I appreciated the comments by people who said that their education taught them valuable things they couldn’t have learned on the job. I think the comments about the need to recruit a more diverse audience for museums and more diversity within museum studies programs are much more useful than the idea that museum studies graduates should be shunned. Or, white female museum studies graduates.
It is sort of a weird feeling to be in a group and have people say “we need fewer people like you.” Maybe, instead of reducing the number of people who are like us, we can increase the number of people who are different. I think that’s a better solution.
1. Why is it a museum’s responsibility to shape the composition of the field? I do agree that it is a museum studies program’s responsibility to shape the composition of the field, if that means reaching out to a more diverse audience and making them aware of the opportunities. After that, the people who are most interested in the field are the ones who should enter it, no matter who they are or where they’re from.
2. Museum positions (especially entry-level) are going to be underpaid as long as society continues to place way more importance on sports and entertainment than it does on the sciences and humanities. People going into a museum studies program should realize that, just like people going into an MFA program who think they are going to make a living as a poet should realize that, although it’s not impossible, it’s also not very probable. Same goes for cellist, painter, philosopher, etc.
3. Hiring high school students at minimum wage (or whatever their idea of an “underpaid” salary is) will work only until those high school students grow up and graduate from college and want something that pays better, so there’d be a constant overturn of half-knowledgeable people. Reminds me of what happened when the megabookstores fired the knowledgeable booksellers and hired
a bunch of ignoramuses who don’t know Hawthorne from a hole in the ground. Besides, you know high school students are going to be given the grunt work, which will get old after about two weeks and then they’ll be gone.