r/MuseumPros

I‘m still in undergrad but I definitely wanna get my masters and then hopefully work in a museum so I’d love to see what positions people are working in!

Title, basically. I know French and German are generally recommended/required for basic Western art history, but do you need to learn how to listen and speak those languages? I would think you’d only needs reading and maybe writing, which theoretically would make learning these languages in undergrad much easier and less time consuming

Hello! I am a high school student looking at degree + career paths and I’m considering repatriating artifacts as a potential job eventually. I haven’t been able to find many resources online about schooling and job requirements and I was wondering if anybody could tell me some more information! Also, I’d like to work internationally if possible, not just domestically with NAGPRA. I’d love to know any requirements or suggestions it takes to work in repatriating artifacts :)) (ex: degrees, experience, etc)

I’m working on an article about alternative ways to support contemporary artists and curators, and I’d really like to hear what people here think. The current reality is difficult with rising living costs, less public funding, pressure to self-promote, apply for opportunities, network, work part-time and still find time for the studio or research. At the same time, public interest in contemporary art feels is growing with exhibition openings at art spaces being full. People clearly enjoy being there because of art, conversations, the feeling of belonging to the cultural scene...

But how many of those people actually buy art there? It's rarely a quick purchase. People may love a work, speak to the artist or curator and still not be ready to buy anything. This made me think about micro-patronage as direct contributions to artists or curators when someone appreciates their work. Patronage has always existed in art, but it has usually been connected to wealth. I’m interested in whether smaller forms of support could feel more natural now, especially for younger audiences who already support podcasts, independent publishing and other creative work directly.

I’m also interested in curators here, because curatorial work is less visible. Supporting a curator could mean granting greater experimental freedom for research and broader cultural development. I’m not suggesting micro-patronage solves the financial precarity, but I wonder whether it could create a missing support layer between attendance, buying and philanthropy.

If you are an artist or curator, would you feel comfortable offering that option to visitors? How does it make you feel?

If you're a frequent exhibition/art studio visitor, would you consider contributing to support curatorial and artistic work?

Hi Museum Pros,

I recently was hired for my first museum job, it's a summer student position helping with database customization for a local archive. I have to do data consistency checks, test the functions of the database, and public access tasks including review of the current data, as well as some photography with a DSLR camera.

I mentioned in the interview that I have no background in database customization, my most similar job experience was grading student work within a preexisting database. I mentioned that while I am comfortable within my computer skills I anticipate a learning curve (one that I am prepared to tackle). I also have no experience with DSLR cameras, which I also mentioned.

Does anyone have any homework for me? I want to buff up my archival skillset so I can hit the ground running, as much as possible.

(she/they)

How do you share your passion and information about the site you work at with customers? Do you have your own "style" or go to starter sentences /questions? Is it best to let people approach you, or do you approach them? How do you avoid info dumping? Or avoid a conversation dying painfully?

I've been reading a few posts on here about how different guides have different methods, but I wanted to ask for some more specific advice and suggestions.

For context:

Yesterday was my first day volunteering for my local heritage trust at one of their historical sites as a "visitor engagement volunteer," and I kinda fumbled it.

After standing around useless for a few hours, I shadowed a senior volunteer who encouraged me to copy what she had been doing and divulge some information about a particular room to a couple of passing visitors.

It was one of the most awkward interactions I've ever experienced. Very one-sided. Almost like a hostage situation. But I was encouraged to continue and do the same for the next few groups (which was equally uncomfortable).

Admittedly, I'm a massive introvert, and my social skills are only passable at best. But regardless of that, I've come to the conclusion that my senior counterpart's style of striking up a convo and lecture doesn't work for me. Any advice?

I work at a small art museum and we are putting together an exhibition that includes several objects we inherited from a now-closed museum, but one that people in our area will remember. We are trying to figure out how to phrase the credit line on the exhibition labels so that it's clear where the objects came from, and clear that the museum is now closed, without adding a ton of additional words to the labels.

We have brainstormed the following options:

• Formerly in the Collection of the Museum of Now Closed Art...
• Transferred from the Museum of Now Closed Art Collection...
• Transferred from the Museum of Now Closed Art...
• The Museum of Now Closed Art Collection at the (Our Museum Name)...

In all cases, this phrase would be followed by the standard "gift of Donor Name" language that we use on all of the labels.

Does one of these flow better than the others? Do you have any other suggestions? Any help is appreciated.

My organisation has zero interest in providing a museum space after we list our building ten years ago. Having tried very hard I want to attempt a realistic alternative online. I've no colleagues and management are not museum people and unlikely to allow a subdomaon or provide funds. But if I can do a prototype maybe I can use it to raise interest. Or at least get some out there. We have an online site but its very linear. I want galleries and themes. Ideally I'd recreate the old museum but that's probably unrealistic without amazing graphic skills. Im not a coder so I'd want a plug and play ideally. Any online gallery tools out there. I looked a bit but felt a bit intimidated. I can pay for apps myself initially but don't want that forever. I hate insta and Facebook. I don't use them. Any thoughts? I don't dm but tool links etc welcome.

For anyone feeling left out this week as museum pros from around the country convene in Philly for AAM, here’s a chance to come to Philly for a much more affordable museum conference! And if you already are in Philly this week, VEX is a great reason to come back 😃👍🏻

Can anyone advise me on how to move from Exhibition Designer to Exhibition Manager or Project Manager?

Referencing MuseumPests.org I am planning to treat a few non-fragile items that were in a moth infested space. I plan to wrap them according to the "Solar bagging" method and then put inside of a hot car.

The website doesn't mention the temperature it needs to reach or the length to apply the heat treatment to completely kills moths/eggs. Does anybody definitively know this information?

Thank you!

Hello 👋

Lately I have had an epidemic of tablets cursed with expanding batteries and thus becoming inoperable.

I know the easiest solution would be to obviously turn the tablets off at night, turn them on when we are open. And to keep them unplugged more often. Issue is the designer before my current team made frames to hold the tablets out of steel, and just for even more frustration, they are custom made frames for non-standard tablet sizes. The hunt for a 10.6 inch tablet continues. The frames encase it and make it impossible to access the tablets easily, even the power buttons or plugs.

Like most museums, you can imagine that my budget does not allow for replacing tablets every 3 years, and I'm not keen on commissioning new steel frames/other materials. Has anyone encountered this issue, and what were your museums solutions?

admittedly strange question, but I've never been asked to pick out something to buy before!

my museum currently just has hard wooden benches for seating, and my Friends group recently offered to get me some comfier couch-type stuff to make the place more inviting for casual visitors and programming, and I have no clue how to go about finding stuff to ask for. I have a vague sense of a budget being like ... under 2k? And that's kinda it as far as guidance right now. any tips or ideas about where to look or what to look for?

for context, we are a weird state park that's actually a free visitor center, community space, and museum focused on the city's labor and immigration and community histories. i love my job and being a state employee for lots of reasons but i will admit that being used to the layers of red tape and delay in our purchasing process means that being told "we have money what do you need" is very foreign to me!

Hello Museum Pros. I went to a museum today, and I found something in a description of a painting which is clearly wrong by quite a lot. How do you think I should go about this? I sent an email to the directory of the museum explaining that I found an error and want to explain it to the relevant person, and asked for such a person's email address. I don't want to seem like a know-it-all smartypants, but this error is enormous. It's roughly equivalent to saying that George Washington was the president during the Civil War. While we're here, can I ask a second question to the Pros? The museum I went to had the descriptions in German and English. I don't speak German, so I was reading the English part, and I found quite a lot of grammar errors. Do museums hire proofreaders? If I bring this up after the factual error, do you think they'll appreciate it, or do you think they'll just think that I'm being a prick? Thank you for your time.

Sort of a long post! Sorry.

For the past few weeks I have been stressing on
where I want to go in my life, I have a strong love for the arts, I go to an arts school, and I specialize in painting. But the instability of becoming a professional artist is not what I look forward to in my life and would much rather work for someone. Curation sounds like a perfect job for me because I love history and It’s my best education subject in school. I know it is a difficult career to get into but im looking into getting an MFA at Georgia state within five years (I’m planning to major in art education) Is there anyone with experience in this career who have an MFA who can give advice on how to start and what internships to look for now to get a head start? I’m based in Atlanta and I know the high museum is huge here but I’m not sure how hard it is to work there fresh out of college.

Hello, I posted a similar question on the Ask Historians sub and was directed here, but essentially in my city (being vague as to not dox myself) there is a small museum that has a collection of items brought to the US by one of those turn-of-the-century explorer types. In the collection there is a shrunken head, supposedly real, and reportedly purchased in South America.

Whenever I visit I get so sad looking at the display with the head. All I can think about is how far away from home they are, and that they probably had loved ones who grieved them, and how degrading and low-key racist it is that they are on display right next to a bunch of big-game hunting trophies.

Ask History gave me some good information about connecting with organizations that are already doing repatriation work for shrunken heads, and I found multiple recent examples of US museums repatriating or at least removing shrunken heads from display, so I would like to reach out to the museum and share what I’ve learned and respectfully express my concerns / advocate for the head to be repatriate.

I am wondering if any museum directors or curators can lend insight into how might I be received? Is there anything I should be cognizant of before reaching out?

Thank you for your consideration.

Kinda nervous, been a retail mgr for 20 + years, just finished B.S in German and have started M.A in museum studies. Small shop, smallish museum. How much will I cry 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️😿

Okay, I’m gonna bulletpoint this in a way that hopefully makes sense

I’m a young professional and having a really horrible/toxic work experience so far. This is a long story and i’m almost certainly missing details.

• Been at current job at Very small nonprofit museum/historic place in mid atlantic area of US for about a year and a half
• Whole team is me (collections assistant), boss (collections manager), and coworker (collections intern)
• Feels good for the first few months, learning a lot having a great time
• Notice a lot of turnover but dont think much of it
• Boss is kind and helpful and teaches us everything we know, advocates for us, and for the department
• Hired on IMLS grant that trump admin cancelled but then reinstated making funding precarious
• Boss leaves halfway through last year to work somewhere else, we’re told they will find a replacement asap
• we basically do all duties of the collections manager without the pay or influence or recognition and are micromanaged
• I ask if i can apply for collections manager, i’m told i’m not qualified by interim boss (not a museum person) and HR, they want someone with 5+ years coll management experience
• I go okay and move on, but still ask if i can be made full time
• they say yes but money is tight so not yet
• It becomes evident that this org has high turnover, is a huge mess, cant sustain itself, and poor leadership
• october hits suddenly we have no money im told by HR my last week is first week of november because the grant was year and it isnt getting renewed
• But it sounds like they found a new coll. manager? (they went through the hiring and interview process and picked No One and took the posting down)
• im sad, i cry, but get it together and prepare to go
• coworker is not told she is leaving, but is told she is now on a month-to-month contract (she works about 14 hours so less than me)
• November hits, and they’re like actually, your last week is first week of january
• I am confused, but I adjust and cope
• January hits and i still work here they’re like “omg nooo we would totally give you 30 days notice as required by law“ but let me be anxious for literal months
• February hits, “we love having you, we want you to be full time, you’re getting a pay raise and a title change”
• Coll. manager position is reposted!
• I go to my alleged pay raise, full time, title change meeting, told i get $2 more on my paycheck, i am getting a title change (associate) however not full time
• i am confused because my boss told me twice it was full time
• weird excuses about grants and gov’t shutdown and not having the money
• Coll. manager posting taken down again
• pissed and angry all the time at work bc what is going on
• a bunch more people leave/are fired (20 total since i’ve started)
• still no title change or full time but at least i got my extra 2 dollars (i work 20hrs a week and have another part time job for the same amount)
• I get laid off from other job in late march unceremoniously via generic email and my whole team is also laid off
• They put the coll manager job back up (full of typos, incorrect/outdated information, and no salary)
• I point out the errors in the listing to my manager and they let HR know
• but i get an email from museum job saying hey, actually you can apply for the collections manager job now!
• I say Finally!
• HR and My manager both individually tell me they are so glad i’m applying and im a great fit
• I write a cover letter and edit my resume, i do a screening with HR, I do an interview with my manager and the CEO
• For some reason this is all conducted with my personal email and not my work
• I think I killed it, i’m told i will hear from HR soon
• We have a work retreat to “address all of our issues” (its all kumbaya “how can we do better as workers”, no issues are actually addressed)
• I hear back from HR via the most generic impersonal email ever —I didn’t get the job
• They also sent this email about 30 minutes after i called out home sick ..
• I’m so lost and confused, i cry a lot and feel stupid
• Everyone around me is baffled (coworkers, friends, family)
• Nobody actually has a sit down or phone conversation with me, pretends like nothing happened 
• Yes, I could (should) ask, but at this point i’m just a broken human being and genuinely believe someone here just strongly dislikes me or thinks i don’t fit into the org’s wider “vision” or “strategic plan”
• i’m disgusted and trying to leave the job —have been since august of last year tbh
• I get to work last week — its gala/benefit season so everything is a mess
• coworker who does IT comes in and says we have a new manager starting who was hired and starting in 2 weeks. Gives her name
• Me and coworker look her up
• 0 collections management experience, very minimal archival experience (person has a linkedin, website, multiple articles and experience in very public areas)
• Coworker and I trying not to judge/have a negative attitude to an innocent person being dragged into this mess, but nothing in her CV has anything to do with what we do here. Would probably be a better fit for programming or education nonprofit roles
• I realize what I’ve suspected for a long time — this place does not care about its historic objects or museum collections, only profit, attention, exhibition, and “eyes on us”
• I’m a black woman and the person who was hired over me is a white woman
• but also… all coworkers are black or poc but 1 person
• This person is starting next week
• I’ve been applying places for months and cant even get an interview
• i feel trapped, i only have 20 work hrs in a week even though i beg for more, i have to train this new person
• mental health is absolutely destroyed, i have no faith in myself, nonprofits, or even working in museums anymore
• I need to remain professional, but even being at the office i’m so anxious depressed angry i can barely manage to eat lunch
• This situation is so insane maybe i’m doxxing myself, but i think people in this city in the industry are aware of this places reputation despite it being nice to the general public

If you read all that, thank you.

Yes, I am trying to leave, I cannot get a single interview unforch. Ways to stay sane, words of wisdom, and methods for not crashing out, cussing everyone out, or generally losing my mind in the meantime are much appreciated!!!