Pay (better yet say underpay) of museum staffs is an ever recurring
thread on this website.  I read all postings because I am very much
interested and involved with museums.  I am not a professional or
staff but a volunteer Trustee of a small but illustrious non-profit
art museum. 

It goes without challenge that most museum personnel are poorly paid
when compared to business employees or with government museum staff.  
Many of the letters dwell on the low pay but high job enjoyment. Many
now urge museum staff, including professional,to unionize.  All hope
for higher salaries.  I do not challenge any of these points, but I do
think there is one more aspect that most all have overlooked.  It
comes down to the old adage "you can't get blood from a turnip." 

How many of the writers look at the annual budgets and annual reports
of their museums?  All non-profits must publish them.  If they do they
will see that not all the wishing in the world nor all the unions
envisioned will put money in the museum's bank account from which pay
checks are written.  What they would also see is that salaries
including health insurance etc is almost half of the total budget. The
other half goes for the building, utilities, insurance,exhibitions,
membership, fund raising and on and on. Just where will we get the
money to pay, say 25% more?  or 50% more?  It should be obvious that
the only place to get it is from the salary pool.  But what does that
mean? It means we lay off a quarter of the staff.  Oh no, you say.  So
just what do you propose?  Shall we double membership dues and watch
it drop in half? Do we double admissions charges and watch the number
of visitors drop?  Do we stop having exhibitions? Do we rip out all
but one telephone?  Do we stop creating interesting fund raisers and
stop sending invitations out? Stop writing requests for grants? 

I am not trying to be clever or facetious, rather I am trying to show
that there is a whole other side to museums that needs to be
considered.  

In brief, we do hear your anger and pleading but when weighing all the
circumstances, the present system is not all that bad.  We, Trustees
and Staff are proud of our museum, we are proud to be a part of the
art culture of this California art colony, we value the efforts of our
staff and of our wonderful volunteers, without whom we would be hard
pressed to operate.  If we could pay more we would, or we would hire
more staff that we need, but it just isn't in the cards right now.

The one happy note so frequently expressed is how much we all enjoy
being a part of a museum.

John Bing
Laguna Art Museum 

On Mon, 23 Dec 2002 09:31:59 -0500, you wrote:

>"There is no such thing as being underpaid."  -William Maurer, Director,
>Gomez Mill House.
>
>I beg to differ.  Did anyone consider the fact that museum jobs continue to
>pay so little because so many simply "accept" it as "the way it is?"
>
>Museums, in an effort to compete for the attention of an increasingly
>sophisticated and discriminating audience, have begun to behave more and
>more like for-profit corporations (and rightfully so).  Professionalization
>and specialization are now tantamount as can clearly be seen in the
>proliferation of museum studies and museum-related MBA programs throughout
>the country.
>
>Perhaps if those coming out of such training programs (or bringing
>significant experience with them) DEMANDED higher salaries, the market
>would change.  Museum administrators might hold their ground at first but,
>eventually, as the quality of their product suffered and visitation
>dwindled they might reconsider their position.  If museums wish to conduct
>themselves more like for-profit corporations then they must appropriately
>compensate their professional staff.  Otherwise, they will suffer the same
>fate as corporations that are poorly run (or out-of-touch)--poor
>retention/public image, poor production, and incredible turnover.
>
>Earlier someone suggested a union.  Some municipalities do have union
>museum workers but they typically do not include those at the professional
>or administrative levels--they are usually for maintenance & security.
>Would be it be a good idea for museum professionals to unionize?  I'm not
>sure.
>
>Mr. Maurer's comments were symptomatic of the problem.  We will not make
>progress as an industry if other museum administrators share his views or
>if others simply "accept" them as the reality.
>
>That being said, you must be careful what you wish for.  If you wish to be
>managed and compensated according to corporate standards, then you will
>also be held more accountable for your work product.  But in my view,
>increasing accountability and raising the standards of our industry are
>good things.
>* (My comments do not reflect the views/opinions/position of my employer.) *
>
>Jeremy T. Chrabascz, Indiana State Museum & Historic Sites
>
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