As a Canadian member of the list, I have been following the debate and other
discussions related to employment in museums with some interest.  Perhaps if
I explain recent occurences at my former institution of employment, it will
provide all members with food for thought.

Here in Canada we are also suffering from considerable economic pressures on
our cultural institutions.  Our museum's municipal funding body took the
unprecendented step of appointing itself as the museum's board of
management, laying off all of the existing museum staff and hiring a
facilties management firm with no prior museum management experience to
undertake all aspects of the museum's operation -- collections management,
education and interpretation, site maintenance, the lot.

To my knowledge, this is the first time that a publically owned collection
has been turned over to a for-profit corporation to manage.  I should add
that at the time the collection was turned over in March of this year,
probably less than 10% of the 28,000+ object collection had been registered.
Terms of reference for an advisory committee which is to 'assist' the
management company have yet to be drafted and to the best of my knowledge,
the provincial ministry responsible for heritage has yet to respond to this
blatant abandonment of responsibility for a significant collection which
includes 20+ heritage buildings.

My point is this:  if such a move represents what will become the 'norm' in
museum operation around the world (certainly, the facilities management
company believes that to be the case), how comfortable do museum workers
feel about the long term viability of permanent jobs in the industry and/or
ones that offer fair compensation?

Sorry to rain on the parade of all you recent graduates, but my advice? find
another field unless you're independently wealthy.

Ann Gonneau
[log in to unmask]