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“A Life in Museums is destined to become the reference work of choice for museum professionals, from prospective to seasoned practitioners. This compendium.
Table of contents

When I worked for the Smithsonian Institution, I joked with my coworkers, "If I'm not in your department now, just wait. I will be soon. I should confess that prior to the Smithsonian, I gained experience as a fundraiser at a contemporary art museum in Houston. This type of career zigzagging within the museum profession is common for four reasons: a museum jobs are extremely competitive and applicants take what they can find, often in the city they can find it; b some applicants, especially those just beginning their careers, don't know what role they will like and excel in until they try various ones; c no two museums have the same organizational structure; a curator in one museum may also wear the hat of exhibit designer and educator in another; and d increasingly, many museums have downsized budgets and staff, so that employees are assuming jobs that may have once resided in another department all together.

While this can be frustrating, the changing museum landscape and the experience and knowledge gained at each kind of position have the potential to form a wise and well-connected museum professional. Schlatter, N. If you are not listening to their insights, how will you really know what changes you need to make? Sure you can pay for a company to come in and do extensive surveying, but that does not need to be the only source, front of house will hear things people will never write down, may never think needs to be written down or notice a behaviour pattern that a survey was never designed to record, and of course they are already there, everyday.

Listening to your front of house team as shown above will bring changes, changes that never would have taken place otherwise, listen to your front of house and make your museum a more people focused space. A successful organisation must have everyone on board for the journey not just the few, not just the decision makers.

If FoH are not on board, do not feel instilled by the organisations values, mission, what ever it is called, then those values and missions are worth less than paper they have been printed on, you cannot just expect a group of people to go along with something they have had little or no say in. Bringing FoH into the decision making process, brings investment, investment into the outcome, a shared ownership.

It will not just bring investment it will increase the chances the decision is a good one, more people to sound ideas of and access to people from different backgrounds, FoH are a more diverse workforce than may other parts of the sector and hold within them one of the mostly widely skilled workforces in the museum sector. A broad skill set is being increasingly recognised as seem in the most recent Museums Journal with a piece of a wave of new leaders with a broad range of skills your FoH team are the future museum leaders.

Change has only just started, we are still at the very start of the journey, last year this time when front of house of museums we saw resentment swelling underneath the surface, a feeling we are undervalued and that this was not changing, today we can say change is starting, front of house across our museum sector are waking up, more and more are advocating for change and change will happen.

We are still early to this journey, but we are on this journey together, front of house now has many voices. FoHMuseums were at the MA Conference Museums, we were there to start a conversation, we did, this a conversation for change. FoH needs to change, we, but will museums change? We saw a desire for change from many at our seminars and at the conference, people from across the museum sector want to see change. We saw a desire to change how we value FoH and redefine what FoH is.

But we also saw the limitations, the stumbling blocks, the hidden structures which are preventing change, practices today which inhibit change. We still see a distinct division between FoH and BoH, FoH positions are still typically paid the least for equivalent roles.

Do you know if your FoH feel valued? What are the issues your FoH are facing?


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Every institution is different, there is no one answer to fit all, people expect that their is an easy answer there is not. If we do not know what is wrong how can we ever change? At conference we saw many problems identified but often not the cause, the knowledge of how to make changes or in cases an unwillingness to recognise the actual problem but simply attempt to rectify the problems manifestation. If your FoH do not feel them then your museums values, its mission will not be conveyed to the public, the only reason museums exist, we have to ask then, what is the point of your museum?

This low level of well-being, feeling valuation must change, we as a sector are not valuing front of house enough, we are not ascribing the importance to front of house which is needed. Without FoH we do not have museums, we do not have a public space, what we have is a storage unit isolated from people, gradually decaying and becoming insignificant. FoH are the human face of the museum, the people which make the public face of museums possible.

If we go back to the conference, who do we all remember? The brilliant staff at ICC Belfast at the museums who hosted us in the evenings, and the MA Volunteers at conference, they served food, they welcomed us in, they helped us when we were lost and helped me when I was locked our of my locker, this story is unique to me, but we all have unique stories shared with the FoH who made conference possible.

Change must start within us, the conference talked about sweeping changes to the sector, calls for us to dissent to change how we practice, but this positivity stumbled as soon as employment issues were discussed. The rights of museum workers must be reflect are values and move in tandem with museums. Privatisation is clearly a huge issue to the sector, particularly for roles considered as non-museum, there are further issues particularly relevant to FoH, seasonal employment and zero hour contracts, these can make entry into the sector difficult, and affect peoples experiences of working in the sector, they will benefit some but for many others it is not the case.

Workplace issues are a sticking point to how museums operate we saw it at our talks, we saw it at the directors in conservation session, we see it in the media and in our daily lives. Failure to engage meaningfully on this issue will hinder museums, are desire to be seen as dissenters, as radical, as representative of our communities will stumble if we do not value all museum workers, we will never change museums if the internal structures of museums fail to change, we can go to conferences as much as we like, talk about the profound impacts our work has on the community, but if museum workers do not feel valued we can never reach our potential.

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We started the conversation, we are only at the start of this journey, will you join us on it? Who can dissent in a museum? Can only certain people? Are only certain job roles expected to dissent, or is it something any museum professional can do? I say all can dissent and this has to include front of house, there is no reason why we cannot all dissent, the limits of dissenting are not to do with the people but the institutions they are within.

We must apply the same reasoning to dissenting, if you do not see front of house dissent, how will the public see the museum challenging the status quo? Through press releases? News features? If we only dissent behind the scenes who are we dissenting for? But if front of house dissent it will give poor visitor service… wrong in reality front of house already dissent in many ways, to fulfil the visitor experience, front of house bend the rules not following the line always, making discretionary decisions, taking the initiative, dissenting on the spot to ensure success and a happy visitor.

But front of house can do more than this, your exhibition starting to age?


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Information lacking from it? Front of house can change it, they can dissent, challenge assumptions about the collection, this is one of the signs of a really high quality guided tour, a tour which makes you think, challenges your assumptions, inspires you to find out more. You may not think it, but your front of house team are probably already challenging the narrative of your collection, its up to you to embrace this dissenting rather than remain in blissful ignorance. Front of house are at the fore front of countering fake news, they can challenge assumptions, using the collection and the museum space, create and facilitate a safe space for discussion and dissent by the public.

They can present different perceptions talk the different narratives created, show how history is not fact but interpretation, we can do this nowhere but front of house, they have to be able to dissent.

Category: The Reality of Museums

A fear based on a legacy of museums being told to be a-political. If you have a front of house team the resource is there the capacity is there. Fear is the only barrier to front of house dissenting and utilising your museums greatest unused asset. Front of house cannot be a-political, they never will be, they have their own views if your museum does not have a position you risk their personal views being the only view the museum presents, your staff and you may not think any view is being share, but everyone is product of their time and place we cannot escape that, this unconscious bias will be revealed, a museum has to be able to ackowledge these bias, a dissenting museum can challenge this bias, front of house can dissent from the normal.

We have to listen to front of house, respond to what they say they are working in the real world, hearing what real people say. This is where the museum meets the public.

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All front of house can dissent, if museums cannot embrace this, front of house will dissent anyway but not for the museum. The task of progression in a museum career is difficult, in some cases hundreds of applicants for a single position, its incredibly competitive, you have no idea where or when the next opportunity will come along.

Two years ago I had just finished a masters, I had new skills but also debt, which I was making payments for, I had a zero hour contract working FoH and had just started as a freelance archaeologist, no spare income I tried to volunteer but work was the priority so had stopped volunteering. I was applying for all sorts of museum and archaeology jobs, anything I could apply to I was, but I was not getting anywhere, only one interview not successful.

This was me for about eight months, not sure about my future in the sector, work was constantly a risk, no secure future. Work place skills are incredibly transferable, and can come from any sector not just museums, I started working front of house in FoH is part of the museum sector which does not need a lot of previous experience in museums.

A Life in Museums - Managing Your Museum Career (Electronic book text)

I had none when I applied I had just finished my undergraduate degree , the most valued skills come from practical experience related to the role. I focused on personal development at work, asking for training showing my desire to develop and carry out more roles within my job description , this would all be free for myself, as a staff member getting staff training. I had already been trained to lead guided tours, operate the museums till system and day to day tasks. I was now getting training to lead teaching sessions for students from KS2 to KS5, I embraced the systems put in place to improve the museum through employee suggestion.

I would enquire about the museums conservation management, using that knowledge to answer questions about how the museum cared for its collection, I read up on the museums plans and policies through the information disseminated to staff, making myself aware of the museum and why it did things certain ways. Add to Wishlist. USD Sign in to Purchase Instantly.

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