Thank you to everyone who came to the session Rainey Tisdale and I did at the 2019 NEMA (“What’s in it for museum staff?”). We hope you got something out of it! As promised, here’s the Spotify playlist of songs that bring us joy. I hope you’ll learn some new music (a moment of discovery) or have the chance to… Read more →
No survey this year.
In on-going attempts to practice what I preach (in this case self-care), I’ve decided to hold off on putting out a worker engagement survey this year. I’ve got a lot on my plate, but I also think YOU are overwhelmed, too. I’m also trying to think more and more about how to start solving problems, instead of just talking about… Read more →
Thank you, Museums Alaska!
I had a wonderful time last month in Nome at the Museums Alaska conference. I so enjoyed getting to meet everyone and hearing about the great work you do for Alaska and the world. Thank you for being so warm and welcoming to me! If you missed my keynote, good news! It will be included in the forthcoming The… Read more →
Annual Museum Worker Engagement survey–your help is appreciated!
Hi friends, I’m on my third consecutive year of collecting data about our workplace happiness. Can you help me by lending your voice? More info and analysis here. Go directly to the survey here. I need your experiences to create the fullest picture of our workplaces. Thank you for helping and for sharing! Marieke Cambridge, Mass Read more →
More on Leaving the Field– my podcast interview with Museum Archipelago
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Ian Elsner for an episode of his podcast, Museum Archipelago. While we talk about my recent work with my colleagues Sarah, Dawn, and Claudia about leaving the museum field, the views and ramblings are my own. Ian keeps his podcasts short. They are always 15 minutes or less (a feature his parents like).… Read more →
I guess we hit a nerve.
We heard this week that our post about Leaving the Museum Field is the most-viewed article on the AAM Alliance blog since it launched a year ago. Yay? Since our goal was to get people talking about this elephant in the room, I feel good. i just wish it wasn’t a conversation we even have to have at all. But… Read more →
Article: Leaving the Museum Field
Sarah, Claudia, Dawn, and I wrote a short article summarizing our research on why museum workers leave the field. Thanks again to all of our colleagues across the world who contributed to the conversation. We’ve all had the conversation. Maybe it was with your work buddy, or your former museum studies classmate as you caught up over drinks. Or… Read more →
The Question of Gender: The “Unseen” Problem in Museum Workplaces
Because for too long women–and more recently those openly identifying as women–have experienced both hostile and benevolent sexism in the museum workplace. Yes, this is a problem across the board in American workplaces, but for-profit organizations don’t define their mission as all embracing. Shouldn’t museums and heritage organizations do as good a job in terms of work equity as they… Read more →
Where Do Generation X Museum Professionals Fit In?
Join the conversation in two easy steps: 1. Read this recent piece by my colleague Tara Young: Where Do Generation X Museum Professionals Fit In? 2. Register for the NEMA conference in Falmouth, MA. I look forward to talking with you about it in late October! Read more →
I’m a “visionary” GenX-er
I had a great time talking with fellow Cantabrigian Heidi Legg for TheEditorial recently. The best part about my job, aside from attempting to set the organizational culture, is having a platform to share my opinions about the value of history, and about the museum field as a whole. While I clearly state the views expressed are my own,… Read more →