Excellent! It's hard to believe that when push comes to shove, the perceived value of museum education/educators hasn't changed that much over the last 50 years.
Thank you for this post - its like my work history encapsulated in one blog! Docents mirror their museums - the institutional tensions around expertise, control, racial and economic privilege and public responsibility get played out through these programs. Thats why staff prefer to either ignore or placate them rather than address what their reflection reveal.
Great article critiquing the white privilege of museum education voluntarism. It reminds me of my own frustrations while working at a certain museum where one curator actually worked on a volunteer basis, whom the board would bring in to steer the ship whenever they felt a paid staff curator was mounting exhibitions they deemed too political. The white privileged volunteer curator played the martyr and stepped in to “save” the institution while undermining the entire institution and driving multiple paid curators to resign. Thank you for writing this piece, and for making people more aware of the ongoing structural inequalities of museums.
Excellent! It's hard to believe that when push comes to shove, the perceived value of museum education/educators hasn't changed that much over the last 50 years.
Thank you for this post - its like my work history encapsulated in one blog! Docents mirror their museums - the institutional tensions around expertise, control, racial and economic privilege and public responsibility get played out through these programs. Thats why staff prefer to either ignore or placate them rather than address what their reflection reveal.
Gran artículo, no quiero ni pensar en lo que sucede en México en este respecto.
Great article critiquing the white privilege of museum education voluntarism. It reminds me of my own frustrations while working at a certain museum where one curator actually worked on a volunteer basis, whom the board would bring in to steer the ship whenever they felt a paid staff curator was mounting exhibitions they deemed too political. The white privileged volunteer curator played the martyr and stepped in to “save” the institution while undermining the entire institution and driving multiple paid curators to resign. Thank you for writing this piece, and for making people more aware of the ongoing structural inequalities of museums.
Nailed it. Sadly. Such a tremendous waste of talent and resources, all in the name of the great white temple. Shame on the AIC...