Working In Museums – Page 2 – American Alliance of Museums

Unsafe Ideas: Building Museum Worker Solidarity for Social Justice

By Elizabeth Merritt

I was very disappointed to miss the “rogue session” at the AAM meeting in Atlanta dedicated to museum labor practices. It is, as readers of this blog know, an issue of intense interest to me, and to our field. Fortunately, two of the …
Monday Musing: Fighting for Diversity and Against Unconscious Bias

By Elizabeth Merritt

Two articles for my quick Monday thought:This depressing article from the NYTimes by a researcher who has been documenting how selection criteria in corporate America suppress diversity. He finds that the practices of selecting applicants …
Monday Musing: Quantifying the Sacrifice Measure

By Elizabeth Merritt

I’ve been sitting on this figure for awhile. Steven Lubar (@lubar) from Brown University lobbed the associated NPR story at me on Twitter in response to one of my posts on museum economics and professional salaries. NPR staff had …
Let’s Talk Money: How much do you make?

By Elizabeth Merritt

You’d probably feel massively uncomfortable if someone asked you that question at a dinner party. After all, money is one of the things (along with politics, sex and religion) that are simply not discussed in polite company. But that …
Po-tay-to Po-taa-to: On Unpaid Internships

By Elizabeth Merritt

Finally, ok, I’m weighing in. I hesitated for a long time because it wasn’t clear what I could add to an already robust conversation. But this topic is a logical extension of the series of posts in which I’m trying to untangle the …
What’s a Good CEO Worth?

By Elizabeth Merritt

This is part three in an ongoing series of essays sharing my thoughts on museum economics, training and compensation. Catch up with parts one (The Museum Sacrifice Measure) and two (What is the Fair Market Value of a Museum Job). I had …
What is the Fair Market Value of a Museum Job?

By Elizabeth Merritt

Last week’s post on the Museum Sacrifice Measure generated a lot of discussion on Twitter, Facebook and in the Blog comment section. I recommend you go back and read that post before you read this one: I’m using today’s post to summarize …
The Museum Sacrifice Measure

By Elizabeth Merritt

How much are you willing to give up to work in a museum? How much didyou give up to work in a museum? I’m not talking about quality of life issues like relocating to a new city, having to explain over and over again, at parties, what a …
Monday Musing: Yet Another Pass at Virtual v. Analog Art Experiences

By Elizabeth Merritt

This Monday’s 15 minute musing. Last week Amit Sood, director of the Google Cultural Institute, announcedthat 15 new museums were launching exhibits on the Google Art Project. That project is gaining serious momentum—the article …
Where Should Museums Look for the Workforce of the Future?

By Elizabeth Merritt

Intel just hired Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas to be their Director of Creative Innovation. Google hired futurist and noted transhumanist (“the singularity is coming”) Ray Kurtzweil as its Director of Engineering. President Obama just …