Erin and Adam are two of the brightest people I know. And I worry about what the future holds for them in the museum world. I also wonder how the museum world wil survive if we alienate this generation of talented individuals between the ages of 22-40 by continuing to ignore a basic fact about them. Both are a new breed of museum employee with technical skills and understanding that surpass 80% of those in positions of authority above them on the ladder of sucess. That last comment of mine is not meant to diminish the skills that Erin’s and Adam’s respective superiors bring to the table, it is just that this group of young professionals is thinking in a completely different way and we need to help them help us.
Erin is already climbing the ladder so fast she’s leaving smoke trails while Adam has only just started working at a museum. Both have skills that could be put to use outside the cultural heritage industry. They could leave museums and make lots more money (lots), but, for now, they choose to stay where they are for reasons that are varied and complex–working with collections, the incredibly high pay (okay maybe not), the potential to use their skills to create something new that might dramatically increase the overall effectiveness of museums in the twenty-first century, the chance to simply be in a museum environment. Their reasons for staying in the field are probably pretty similar to yours, in fact.
So, here’s the problem, they both work in large museums. While big museums offer opportunities and budgets that small museums simply cannot afford they also offer fewer opportunities for lateral or upward mobility–particularly in technology-related jobs. They also have more of us baby boomers with no intention of leaving our jobs until we are carried out feet first hovering above them.
Some how, some way we have got to come up with effective mentoring partnerships to aid Erin and Adam. We’ve got to provide them with the resources and the freedom to change museum culture. We’ve got to not be afraid of Erin and Adam over-taking us. The race to keep cultural heritage institutions relevant in the 21rst century is not a race that we run as individuals–it is a relay race–and it is time for many of us to pass the baton.
This does not mean that everyone over forty has to leave their job so the Erin and Adam can take them. Those of us who fit that over-forty definition have got to stay in the workplace for another 20-30 years just to avoid eating dogfood in our 70s. But what do we do best? And what can Erin and Adam do best?
It’s time for the cultural heritage industry to be self-reflective. To take a good hard look at what we do, what we want to do in the short term, and what we want to be able to do in the future. As we redefine ourselves we will learn how to staff accordingly. Erin and Adam can see the promise of the future–let’s not squander the opportunity to view, through their eyes, what the museum of the future can be. What we do today for Erin and Adam, we are doing for ourselves and future generations.
October 9th, 2006 06:44
Just to care about problems like this and to save the skills of young collegues, last year I start teh Young Museum Professional Group initiative. was a tentative to put toghetar young collegues ….up to 40 (that I’m near to 39…
) and to create a movement, similar to a lobby as to young museum professional can have more attention. In origin the idea was to join ICOM but we can proceed independly. After a very big attention from the museum sector, with many collegues that subscribe the group…there was a period of silence, also becouse I can’t do anything alone.
So if there is again the chance to return to wakeup this initiative I will be very happy.
All information and the archive of discussion about the Young Group are on the main page of my site http://www.mariobucolo.com
October 9th, 2006 12:48
I read this post with great interest as a 25-year-old talking my way up through the museum world. I’m at a small museum now, and feel that Holly is right–once you get in the door in a small place, there are so many hats to wear and things to take on–simply because there is no one else to do them (and thus, no one else to say it’s not part of your job). I doubt I will ever go back to working as an employee of a large institution–so many of the opportunities are narrow. On the other hand, at a small institution, there is so much to do, and at mine, a huge focus on the bottom line.
There are some things I think large institutions-which have greater flexibility and $$-could do to retain and attract young upstarts:
–create a MuseumLab where employees can spend 10% (or some %) of their time working on crazy ideas they think could be good for the museum.
–grant programs/contests to award time to spend on visionary/unusual projects.
–involve young employees in any grant-writing processes and encourage them to apply for grants for their own ideas.
–give some creative opportunities to entry-level/admin employees, even if it requires overtime-people who want it will jump at the chance to do something they think is important
–encourage young employees to join professional groups, especially if those groups have meetings and or forums for expression/conversation.
Am I dreaming or is any of this possible?
October 9th, 2006 07:02
I’m glad you brought this subject up for discussion. This is a challenge I’ve found as one of those younger museum professionals (and now former). I was able to rise rather quickly through the ranks at my federal museum, because my boss left the institution after having her 2nd child.
Eventually I left my museum after gathering lots of experience, but felt I had maxed out my learning (and earnings). I also wanted to finish my PhD and there was no way that I could take a leave or work part-time to facilitate my academic progress. Now I’m a former museum professional who hopes to join the profession again once I’ve completed my PhD.
It would be nice if mid-level museum folks could take time off to advance professionally, whether going to a conference or being allowed to take an afternoon off a week to attend a class (w/o taking vacation time like I had to do). But I also see that many people who advance in the museum world have to jump around a bit. I’ve accepted that as a part of life.
I agree that there are ways that supervisors can allow their team members to thrive and challenge themselves, such as creating and planning projects that they can run themselves.
October 10th, 2006 06:18
Glad to see some feedback on this issue, particularly from actual young professionals. Let’s keep this conversation going! The hope is that some people who are not young professionals will take some of these suggestiosn to heart. And are there any volunteers out there to help Mario Buculo with the Young Museum Professionals Group?
September 17th, 2007 08:47
[...] In October 2006 I wrote a blog entitled: What are we doing for Erin and Adam? (http://musematic.net/?p=89) I should have known then to “be careful what I asked for.” Now, less than a year later, I’ve been presented with the opportunity to do exactly what I called for in the closing paragraph of that blog. [...]