Read on Twitter
So here is a disheartened and disheartening thread about the state of the museum sector's response to Coronavirus - note here I'm speaking about museums overseas, rather than those in Australia, where I live and work - I'll explain why that is downthread.
Sorry that I'm not sharing more ~posi vibez~, maybe I'll follow up with silly cat pics to cheer you up, but tbh I think it's important to have these discussions - we can't identify solutions to structural and systemic issues if we're not aware of the issues.
Recognising patterns in the responses of organisations in an international context = recognising massive structural issues. From someone watching from a distance, the American museum sector appears to be imploding. And there are signs that the UK sector is too.
Let's start with the US. Most of the information I have comes from @AMTransparency, who are doing a huge and job of documenting #MuseumLayoffs. They've been tracking since March, and the thread is at nearly 100 posts. https://twitter.com/AMTransparency/status/1242869675425443840?s=20
Frequently the departments affected are education. I don't know about you, but personally, if an org has laid off the entirety of its education department, I don't feel comfortable consuming its content. My eyes twitch anytime I see someone suggest/mention MoMA's online courses
If you can brave @AMTransparency's thread, there *are* a few examples where leadership has recognised that caring for staff is as important as caring for art/objects - this from @walters_museum -- https://twitter.com/AMTransparency/status/1242869675425443840?s=20
and this from @oaklandmuseumca are reassuring instances of *true* leadership in an otherwise distressing time to be a museum worker -- https://twitter.com/AMTransparency/status/1242869675425443840?s=20
Why am I sharing all this? Because I think it's important to understand the state of the sector. And I think it's important to look beyond mainstream journalism's take on this moment for museums. Let me explain why...
When this Hyperallergic piece on Tenement Museum layoffs was shared, I saw plenty of museum professionals expressing sadness that this had happened at such an 'innovative' org. But is the org as great or progressive as it might appear? (spoiler alert) https://hyperallergic.com/578201/tenement-museum-education-staff-layoffs/
In a thread that demonstrates that we really ought not to be trusting journalists reporting on museum layoffs, @tenemuseunion lay out exactly what has and hasn't been addressed in coverage of the layoffs: https://twitter.com/tenemuseunion/status/1286654897656606720
So yeah, that's another round of digital content that thanks but no thanks, I'm really not keen to consume. https://twitter.com/tenemuseunion/status/1287857494417711105
This also nicely segues into another important source of on the ground, non-airbrushed information about the state of the museum sector in the states: museum union groups. Workers from art museums across America have been unionising over the past year.
Internet museum sector heroes, @AMTransparency have done a great job of signal boosting and collating the unions' tweet. But I encourage you to follow the accounts themselves, *especially* if for some reason you're not sure why museum workers need to unionise in 2020.
Jumping over to the UK, which seems to be a few months behind the US. The first signs of post (mid!?!) pandemic layoffs are starting to come through - at @BM_AG https://twitter.com/waji35/status/1287368603680100355
and @YorkMuseumTrust, which as @fair_jobs notes, received emergency funding. What's the point of emergency funding for the cultural sector if its not able to protect the livelihoods of cultural sector workers? https://twitter.com/fair_jobs/status/1288047941098319872
And as others noted in response to the above announcements, I'm struck by a thought I had back in June - all those people rabidly mad over statues coming down; funny how their 'commitment' to 'culture' evaporates when its people's jobs rather than hunks of iron that are at risk
So, why all this focus on what's happening overseas? Well, in truth it's because there is very little data or discussion about the impacts on the sector here.
Obviously I understand that funding structures differ but based on the above patterns, either there are job losses and we just don't know about them, or there is a wave of losses to come. The NGA is an exception/early outlier - what is it a harbinger of? https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jun/23/national-gallery-of-australia-to-shed-staff-and-slash-acquisitions-from-3000-to-about-100-a-year
This has been super doom and gloomy (and if you're still here by now, wow, I'll defs send you cat photos) but to reiterate, I think it's an important discussion to be having. Which workers are disproportionately effected? What will the sector look like in the future?
When will museums care about museum workers as much as they care about museum collections? And what alternative structures might we need to start imagining? https://twitter.com/pablitasan/status/1287814307934277637?s=20
PS sorry (but not sorry) to co-opt your tweets for my resounding (?) ending (?) @pablitasan but actually,
@MuseumWorkers is exactly one such structure, and anyone who made it this far should 100% be following. The end. Stay tuned for some God Cat Updates. https://twitter.com/pablitasan/status/1272640129614655488?s=20
@MuseumWorkers is exactly one such structure, and anyone who made it this far should 100% be following. The end. Stay tuned for some God Cat Updates. https://twitter.com/pablitasan/status/1272640129614655488?s=20
Ha. Or even Good* Cat Updates. He thinks he is a God. You can have them in the morning, I'm off to bed.
Psst, I'm back. Here's another example of people doing awesome work to a) think about alternative structures and b) make the resulting discussions equitably accessible to all 
@deathtomuseums https://twitter.com/deathtomuseums/status/1283098293627760645?s=19
@deathtomuseums https://twitter.com/deathtomuseums/status/1283098293627760645?s=19
