Lori, I understand your frustrations and I can
empathize with them. You're not the first to come
here with these grumbles; probably you won't be the
last.
My question to you would be how well did you do your
homework before choosing this as a career? How many
of your instructors who may have encouraged you to
look to this as a line of work apprised you of the
realities of Museums work?
There are professions you go into to make lots of
money and buy lots of things.
Then there are professions you go into where you just
do it because you love what you do.
Regrettably, for most of the listers here, museum work
is the latter and not a combination of the two.
Now you can lament til times get better about what the
Museum field is and isn't doing and what tightwads
(implied) they are.
Time for a sanity check in an insane world.
Who is going to PAY for that salary? The patrons?
The grant makers? The government?
If you chose any of those three as the source of your
revenue, you just flunked.
We're on the precipice, like it as not, of a
recession. The stock market has been fritzy, and the
Fed has been making repeated adjustments to the
interest rates trying to stabilize the economy.
Energy rates have skyrocketed, and bankruptcy rules
have been reregulated to make it harder to escape
debt.
The patrons who make up your client base don't have
the disposable income they had some time back (if they
had it), and it's rather hard to get rates raised to
justify salaries.
Grant makers? Hmmm. Well, let's see. If the estate
tax takes a dive, there go the contributions upon
which the grant makers are dependent. No charitable
contributions, no money, and grant makers are reticent
to fund salaries anyway.
The federal, state, or city governments? Guess again.
Heard about that tax cut we're all supposed to get?
What do you suppose that did or will do to funding?
It is truly lamentable that Museum work isn't
rewarding AND profitable in most instances, but them's
the brakes. One can argue that life isn't fair, it
just is.
Maybe--and just maybe is all I can offer you--you WILL
have to look to another line of work until such time
as you're through family raising. If you are cash
dependent and don't have another source of income, you
may have to make some hard decisions.
I personally am 48. I had to sell my soul to
Corporate America to get the children raised.
However, they're now grown, and I'm in a position
where I can afford to make less in favor of something
I love. It's all about balance and choices.
Now, if you happen to hit the lottery . . .
Til then, you may wish to check out my employment web
site to see if there are any rocks you haven't
unturned on your quest for employment.
I wish you the best, and I understand and share your
frustrations about reality in the Musuems field.
http://victorian.fortunecity.com/stanmer/414
--- Lori Allen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> When is the museum community going to realize they
> can't continue to depend
> on people who don't really need to support
> themselves (independently wealthy
> / bored housewives / retirees) for their employee
> base.
SNIP
The internet
> companies offer that AND high wages and you don't
> need a masters or PhD. I
> love art and history and want to spend the rest of
> my life working in the
> museum field, but if things don't change soon,
> you'll find me in a green
> apron relishing my free coffee, health benefits and
> stock options (all
> offered to those working at lease 20 hours a wk).
> My family does come first
> and I will not sacrifice my daughter's needs because
> my job doesn't pay the
> bills.
>
> Lori Allen
> Graduate Student,
> University of Missouri - St. Louis
=====
Indigo Nights
[log in to unmask]
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