Read on Twitter
If you need to hear this: I was invited to run for a volunteer position with a professional org. this week. I thanked them for the honor of the invitation ... and turned them down. A short thread. 1/
First, I am a huge proponent of being honest about bandwidth and resources. In the cultural heritage sector we are constantly pressured to do more with less. I think it is more respectful to everyone involved to do less with less. 2/
This year has been a lesson in bandwidth and its limits. I'm tired of apologizing to people for missing deadlines or work I'm not satisfied with. The solution to that, especially in the context of ongoing community trauma and struggle, is saying "no." 3/
These invitations, and the power to say "no," are so complex, right? I'm aware that if I were in a more precarious position in my career, or felt pressured to demonstrate service and leadership beyond my workplace, a volunteer role like this would feel less *voluntary*. 4/
Another dimension I think of when considering these roles is what it means to show up and do the work of structural change. Our field needs full time, paid labor advocacy not a revolving cast of overcommitted volunteers eeking out time within and around their day jobs. 5/
The research is clear: To increase diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, participation you can't rely on people who have the time and resources to commit to volunteer leadership. You end up with the privileged who have resources to spare on the one hand ... 6/
... and the students and precarious workers on the other who need to build out their networks and resumes. Both of these motivations are valid in their way but are not our entire field. Not fully representative. 7/
And while I very much value the perspectives and labor of students and precarious workers (I'm even married to one 
) they should be getting material support from us not being tapped for unpaid labor. 8/
) they should be getting material support from us not being tapped for unpaid labor. 8/
I have no magic solution to the Q. of all-volunteer membership organizations in the neoliberal context. I struggle every time I am asked to take on a role with the tension of needing to start with what we have vs. feeling the labor model of these orgs. is fatally flawed. 
9/
9/
