I've been reading the discussion around this query with rather mixed
emotions. I come from an art background, not museums, and the issues around
professionalization are very different for the two fields. 30 years ago, few
"fine" artists were academically trained. There were plenty of good artists to
go around and the economic (read, stakes in the game) were very different than
they are now. Art schools blossomed from the late 60s through the 80s and
cranked out unprecedented numbers of artists with MFAs (the arts' terminal
degree). This wholesale professionalization is not an unmixed blessing to the
field. The implications there are another discussion altogether, but I can't
help but think of it as I hear about more and more museum studies graduate
programs cropping up.
    I received an MFA and have not an iota of regret. It was a blissful two
years of making art, reading and writing. What an astounding luxury! I can only
imagine that a comparable experience would be had by someone in a museum
studies program. But how that experience translates into the "commonwealth" I
am stumped.
    The economics of the situation, for the student, present a dubious picture.
How much debt will be incurred for this PHD? What will the earning potential be
at its completion? How will the fact that more and more such degree holding job
seekers are entering the market effect this equation? Has anyone attended a CAA
conference lately? The meat market aspect is jaw dropping. It is cruel and
dehumanizing for the seekers and employers alike.  The AAM conference is
downright homey by comparison.  Clearly there are structural and catagory
differences that make such comparison a risky enterprise, but one thing stikes
me. The process took place in the arts with no real discourse about what it
means, for the individuals entering, the institutions providing the workplace,
the amorphous thing called the "field" in general, etc.  In fact, it happened
with little consciousness whatsoever, like some geologic phenomenon. We do have
an opportunity do address what this process should look like and what,
collectively, could be some of the outcomes (I have no illusions about the ease
or even civility of such a discussion...screaming and shouting is not entirely
without merit)
Any thoughts?
 
Aaron Goldblatt
Please Touch Museum
210 N. 21st Street
Phila. PA 19103
(215)963-0667 v
(215)963-0424 f
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