Museum job titles and focus areas have been shifting over the last decade, responding in part to the expanding functions of museums in relation to audiences and interpretation. One of the key resources to learn more about what jobs exist (and are available) is the American Alliance of Museum's Job Board (called Job HQ): http://aam-us-jobs.careerwebsite.com/c/search_results.cfm?site_id=8712
Visit the site and explore. What is the range of job openings? Do they cluster around certain departments? What do the job openings say about the needs and/or nature of museums today? Or even about specific institutions themselves?
Respond in at least 4 sentences, noting examples of jobs you discover, including what museum listed the opening(s). Upload no later than 5pm, Monday, September 21.
The range of the various types of job openings on the AAM’s Job Board is much more diverse than I thought it would be, especially in regards to the types of institutions included in the search. Not only are your more typical museums listed, but locations such as the USS Monitor Center in Newport News or the Office of the Senate in Washington, D.C. are also included. A large number of the openings posted seem to be focused on the marketing of the museum, as well as its financial growth. Words like “advancement” and “public” are common to the job titles, and many of the job descriptions state that applicants will contribute strategies to increase publicity of the museums and encourage donor giving. This demonstrates that museums today are focused on marketing and getting the general public into the museums now more than ever, and that this seems to be their strategy for winning increased donor support.
ReplyDeleteThere seem to be a pretty big variety of jobs that take place in the museums listed on the website. There appear to be a lot of directors ( a necessary component, I imagine), a lot of registrars, and a lot of jobs dealing with advancement and/or education. There are also some really specialized jobs listed, such as the “deputy director of horticulture and natural resources” in the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The number of very basic, mandatory positions that are open say to me that there may be a lot of turnover of the people in the positions, i.e. that people leave the positions pretty frequently. Why are so many director and curatorial roles open? A good number of the jobs listed really have to do with audience connection and marketing things, hinting that these are areas museums are really looking to improve or increase. It does seem to be a little worrisome that museums may not be able to keep people in positions for very long, though. There doesn’t seem to be a good deal of job stability.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised by the selection of jobs available on the AAM Job Board. The board has a bigger variety than I had expected. I did notice many of the job descriptions included "director" and "manager" in the titles. For example, job titles like "Museum Director" in Rocklin, CA and "Collections Manager" in Washington, DC. This could mean that museums are having a hard time finding people willing to fulfill these top positions. Maybe people are unsure they can handle the dedication needed for the job. Another word that appeared frequently was "digital" in job titles such as "Digital Assets Manager" in Phoenix, AZ and "Digital Interpretive Specialist" in Bronx, NY. This could be showing that museums are taking notice of the rise of technology and are using it to their advantage. And lastly, many jobs featured "public relations" and "marketing". This shows that museums are looking to find new ways to bring in and keep the audience intrigued.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I noticed about the AAM jobs were the number of director jobs and leadership jobs offered. Not to say that those were the only jobs that were open, but a majority of them were about directing positions. While looking at these jobs, I almost feel like museums are attempting to gain fresh and new people who are able to lead and guide their museum in a whole new direction.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised by the wide variety of open positions posted on the AAM Job Board. Aside from the big selection, I was especially taken back by the large amount of leader positions, including Director and Curator titles that were open. One can only interpret that these head positions are very demanding and undesired, causing the job's turn over rates to be quite high. I also took note of the dates which all of the jobs were posted. Important Director and Curator roles were found on both the beginning and the end of the list, meaning some of these museums have been surviving almost two months without filling these leader positions. After viewing all of the openings on the AAM Job Board, it is clear to me that smaller jobs like the "Audience Engagement Team Member" at the Brooklyn Museum, is just as important to the functioning of a museum as the bigger roles, for example, the "Curator" at the Iolani Palace in Honolulu, HI.
ReplyDeleteAs I was exploring the site I realized that a lot of the job openings had to do with work in curatorial. Whether it was with directing the curatorial work, being the curator, or a curator’s assistance. The curator is generally in charge of a specific collection. The curator is responsible for developing exhibitions and overseeing the display and the knowledge about the objects. Those that are curators generally have a talent and love for writing and research. Since there is a need for curators it could be a sign that museums are losing focus on their goal as a museum and their exhibitions. The museum could be overly focused on education or advertisement. It is important for museums to remember their mission, and use it as their guide.
ReplyDeleteOn the American Alliance of Museum’s job board there is quite a large range of job positions available. There is everything from director and CEO to digital asset manager, curators/assistant curators, and internships. There is even a job titled “Public Humanities” and another titled “Bilingual Educational Coordinator Community Partnerships.” The jobs are diversified even further when comparing specific job titles. For example, the Art Gallery of Ontario is seeking a Director and CEO with 7-10 years’ experience and offering a salary of $350,000-$400,000 a year, while the Sierra College Natural History Museum is seeking a director with only 3-5 years’ experience and offering $55,000 a year.
ReplyDeleteWhile there is a wide range of job positions available, many of them center around program/educational departments and design/digital departments. These job openings clearly state the need for public outreach and engagement and the importance of incorporating technology, two topics we have been actively discussing in class. These openings confirm the shift from the “temple” and sacred place of artifacts for the “elite” to a more welcoming and friendly place of education for the “common people”. The museums that have more positions available toward these two departments are showing that the director and board of trustees might be more accepting of making their museum for the common people (unlike the director we saw in the PBS video). The museums that are looking for a new director or CEO may be doing so because of a lack of compliance with the former director to start the transition.
The AAM job offer board offers a wide variety of openings in the museum world, ranging from director positions so much more specific jobs, like "Deputy director for human resources, volunteers and community service". The jobs other than the curator positions seem to be clustered around the domain of the public involvement and volunteer work. This is understandable when considering that most mission statements of museums (and as discussed in last week's post what the main mission of museums is) deal with public involvement and what visitors walk away with. This also ties in with the current nature of museums in the sense that museums are now intended to appeal to all audiences and not just a social elite.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that stood out to me about the job openings was the amount of director positions available. Being the head of the museum, I would assume that one would want a stable and consistent director in order to make the museum function smoother instead of changing directors and having to adapt to new leadership. This may be a sign that it is getting more difficult to run museums today. If many museums have open leadership roles, it could also say something about how well the museum functions and it may not currently be an incredibly successful museum. There were also a lot of job openings dealing with public programs, outreach, or educational matters such as the Director of Education and Community Engagement at the Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo, NY. I think this shows the growing interest in museum engagement and the need to connect with the public in order to have a successful museum.
ReplyDeleteThere is a wide array of job openings available. For example, everything from Individual Giving Coordinator (Michigan Science Center) to Director and CEO (Art Gallery of Ontario) are needed. The major departments that seem to need hiring fall around the curatorial department and educational programs. This certainly suggests that museums are in situations where they want qualified staff that knows what they are doing, to be able to run the museum and bring in the public. There certainly is a focus on education and family programs, and this is a large trend in museums it seems, for many museums are searching to hire professionals in this field.
ReplyDeleteI was slightly surprised to see so many openings for curatorial staff, but this shows just how important and necessary they are to museums. Times are changing, and ways to take care of exhibits and museums, as well as educating the public are taking a front seat as main issues.
I was surprised to see that there were several director positions available to be filled. Some museums/facilities that need new directors for example are: The International Print Center New York, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft,Sierra College Natural History Museum, and Utah Division of Arts & Museums. This suggests to me that there may be a problem with the board of trustees at some of these institutions, but to make a more accurate assumption about this, it would be helpful to see a list of their previous directors, and the amount of time that they chose to work at that particular institution.
Overall, I find the large need for educators to be very positive. While those educators may not be in the museum now, they certainly will be soon- ready to teach the public and get them interested in programs and exhibits!
Quite a couple of things stood out to me on the AAM's site when I went to check out openings in museums around the world. First off was while they were different jobs, a lot of them were closely related. There was a need for a VIP coordinator at the Flint Hills Discovery Center and at the Phipps Conservatory, and quite a few positions opened for educators or children's programming directors. There were at least 12 jobs available with "education" in the title. Another thing of particular interest to me was the need for an executive director at the Met in NYC. It seems odd to me that places like the Met or MoMA would be hiring, because in my mind once you get in at a museum like that, you'd think the person would never want to leave. That being said, there were at least 17 job openings in NYC and it makes me curious if those museums have a higher turnover rate because of the location.
ReplyDeleteI think there was a very important focus ob jobs that work with the public and that is vital. Whether it be education, volunteers, PR, or visitor services, these are the jobs that everyday people deal with on an almost daily basis and often times it is the jobs of these people to get feet in the door. A curator can have the most fabulous show on the face of the planet in their exhibit space, but it takes a great PR manager to get the word out there to the public, and so perhaps all of these public focused jobs shows the shift from a "temple" style museum and a "warm"/"welcoming" style museum that is vital for survival in today's world.
From looking through AAM's job listings it is clear that there is a large variety of jobs available for people to fill at specific galleries. It was especially interesting to see how many curatorial and director positions were open. I was more surprised with the amount of directors because I think of them as a long and permanent position. But on the flip side as we have talked about in class, fresh looks, and in the museum world things are constantly changing.
ReplyDeleteThe positions all have a very detailed description of each position as well as about the museums goals. I found that one of the things that was a constant through out the director job description was obviously leadership but also outreach/programs. Which just brings me back to our constant discussion of how museums are trying to connect more with the public. Which makes for museums to want leadership that will implement that idea.
The range of available jobs is outstanding. I hear my dad spouting out statistics of people who seem incredulous about my choice of major. He basically says that there are a lot of jobs opening up for the art history field and how it doesn’t really matter that I am unsure of my direction or not. As comforting as that always sounds to me, it is very comforting knowing from as you say ‘one of the key sources’. I feel that the variety of jobs available is almost dumbfounding, even though the jobs are from all over, it begs the question; how are museums still functioning? It really seems to me that they need to get their people together because they are running on three or less legs.
ReplyDeleteThere are a wide variety of different job openings at a wide variety of different museums. The jobs specifically seem to focus on three areas: curation, leadership positions, and education and/or development. These different positions are spread evenly across all types of museums, with the exception being that many of the major museums featured in this list (The Art Institute of Chicago, the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Los Angeles County Museum, etc.) seem to hiring new curators almost exclusively, and head or chief curators at that. For whatever reason, the big players seem to exchanging curators at the moment, which raises questions about the state of the industry, and of the state of changing curatorial trends.
ReplyDeleteI was overall surprised with the wide variety of significant jobs that were posted. Not only were there a variety of positions but also the locations and museum types varied. There is a wide focus on curators and directors for public relations although there are openings in areas such as membership and maintenance. One positions I found interesting with a more specified topic was the Curator of Adult Programs at the Stamford Museum and Nature Center; it shows how there are more than just general positions and that museums are really looking for a staff with certain talents and skills.
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