Workers at smaller museums are more satisfied than colleagues at the biggest institutions, report finds
The latest Museums Moving Forward report on museum sector satisfaction found a few bright spots amid persistent low pay, inequity and burnout.
Workers at the Smithsonian American Art Museum moving a large Thomas Moran painting. Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum, via Flickr.
The organisation Museums Moving Forward (MMF) launched in 2023 with a vision of creating “a more just museum sector” by 2030.
a more just museum sector
MMF began surveying museum staff across the country in an effort to collect data, for the first time, on workplace culture.
Today, the organisation released its second Report on Workplace Equity and Organizational Culture in US Art Museums with findings that show slight improvement with career satisfaction since its inaugural report.
When it comes to other core issues—the sector’s seemingly eternal low pay, burnout and entrenched inequity—nothing much has changed except at institutions where workers have formed unions.
Author's summary: Museum workers' satisfaction varies by institution size.