Well, Mr. Halprin got paid millions and still left in a huff over changes
made in his speech. I guess nobodys ever REALLY satisfied!
**************************************************************************
Mark Nielsen
Exhibit Designer/Preparator
University of Michigan Museum of Art
[log in to unmask] 313/647-2068
On Thu, 5 Sep 1996 [log in to unmask] wrote:
> This Stephen Weil passage brings out the contrarian in me...
>
> Besides being mushy on a scale right up there with Mark Helprin's
> speech for Dole; it not only doesn't reflect my 15 years of
> experience in the museum biz, it also is full of the "ain't we grand
> and morally superior" tone that affects me like eating a package of
> nutra-sweet(tm).
>
> If anything, museums' general low rate of pay adds an edge of
> embitterment to the employees. Only a few employees in any given
> museum are really "doing what they want to do," many of the
> professional staff are in some evolving state of their professional
> life, and are aiming higher. So the associate curator of decorative
> arts may be doing this because s/he loves it, but s/he sure would
> like: a) to be better paid; b) to chief curator (or both). And this
> does not even address the support staff, ranging from frustrated
> artists working as fundraisers, to non-union (for the most part)
> security and clerical staff.
>
> I've only worked in the for-profit world in menial temporary
> summer-type jobs, and have always made the non-profit world my
> professional focus. So, my basis for comparison is slim, but I could
> not generalize that people in the non-profit world are less embittered
> than those in the business world. Many in the latter get real kicks
> from their work. And if, in our eyes, their purpose is not so
> admirable as ours, that is certainly our own business. I suspect that
> if I were in the for-profit world, my reaction to Stephen's statement
> would be: "well, that holier-than-thou so and so, I go to museums, and
> listen to music, and raise a family, and participate in my community,
> and if he thinks that the museum world is such a noble and superior
> calling, he's welcome to it." (or words to that effect)
>
> I think its easy for us relatively poorer folks to feel morally
> superior to relatively richer folks. Again, that's fine (I indulge in
> it too), but I don't think that it makes for a compelling rationale
> for lousy pay and poor working conditions.
>
> Eric Siegel
> [log in to unmask]
>
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