Hi CRUMB list readers,
apologies for a quiet month of mostly announcements - Beryl and I are
in the grim end days of writing a book that gathers together much of
the new knowledge brought forward by CRUMB these last years... and
preparing for the future with plans for new research posts at our
humble offices in Sunderland. Woohoo!
But this process has brought a question to the fore, also prompted by a
conversation I had with another CRUMB list lurker: how much is what you
do worth?
We've seen new media curators downsized by their institutions/museums
in the name of financial cut-backs, and over tea at the Crisis Centre
at ISEA I heard many a lament from curators whose responsibility it is
to not only fundraise for their programme of media art, but for their
own salaries too. Recent job ads for new media curators have made
apparent that, for instance, in the words of said list-lurker,
"The Human Resource Manager will get paid more than the Curator –
despite the requirement for the curator to be an equally highly skilled
individual, who will additionally be expected to have immense knowledge
and experience, and to bring his or her own wealth of personal
connections, networks and contacts."
The lurker continues,
"This perpetuates the expectation and acceptance of low wages which has
become standard for professionals working in the not-for-profit arts
sector. In comparison to national job listings, in similar regions
(outside the centres like London) one would be paid more as a personal
assistant, a computing systems assistant, an admin officer; essentially
a whole swathe of jobs for which one is given much less responsibility,
and expected to be much less experienced, and will likely not have to
work every hour god sends to ensure projects happen at a high standard,
purely for the love of it. And that’s the real sticking point. It’s
poorly paid because people really want to see these things happen, and
to see them done well, and so is accepted as standard within a sector
which has traditionally been poorly funded. The economy has changed
dramatically in the last 8 years, and the Arts are now recognized as a
financially important sector [certainly in the UK where the arts are
tied to cultural and economic regeneration schemes, tourism and the
like]."
So, do the wages offered reflect the work involved? I suspect the
answer is no, but why?
I graduated from a masters programme in curatorial studies 8 years ago
and was recently asked for my earnings history so that the current MA
programme administrators could work out appropriate levels of financial
aid so students didn't graduate with unmanageable student debts (like
mine!). I am aware that working for a university and being able to
curate projects from that base, with incredibly grateful thanks for our
academic funding, I earn probably slightly more than the curator at the
artist-run gallery down the street. Yet I also know in the UK a number
of fellow researchers within the university sector who run programs for
digital media artists (outreach projects, not necessarily students),
and who are however, still in a position of having to get grants to
cover their salaries as well as funding for their programme. As more MA
programs for curators are accredited, how can we ensure the salaries
these curators might earn are in keeping with similarly skilled
graduates in other fields? The Tate (obvious example, sorry) has
traditionally offered very low salaries for entry-level curatorial
positions with the reason that the prestige and experience will balance
the risk out. But when curators are also expected to have technical
knowledge (as is the case with the, for instance, webcasting /
educational / media arts curators), and are getting paid far less that
the museum's systems administrator (who might know less about
technology than they do, or spend their days fixing the office printer
and firewall), is that really fair?
Your thoughts, rants, suggestions are most welcome, as we all file our
year end financial accounts ;-)
and again, apologies that this is slightly left field...
Sarah
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