Thursday, June 06, 2019

Arts + All Museums Salary Transparency 2019 - a spreadsheet reveals all

A spreadsheet Arts + All Museums Salary Transparency 2019 was put online and started circulating amongst staff in art museums and galleries last Friday morning (31 May 2019). 

 It seeks to record the salaries of different workers in art galleries and museums around the world.

It has taken off and is now approaching warp speed! On June 3 Hyperallergic said it had 660 entries. I looked this morning and checked how many had completed it and it now has over 1800 entries meaning it has tripled in size in less than 3 days - suggesting future growth, as it goes intercontinental, will be exponential.

The data it provides includes
  • name of gallery or museum
  • role
  • Department
  • City
  • Country
  • Starting Salary
  • Year of Starting Salary
  • Current (2019) or Ending Salary
  • Hourly / permanent / or contingent employment
  • In part time how many hours per week
  • Benefits?
  • Year this salary was current
  • Years of experience at time of current salary listed
  • parental leave 
and these are some of the people who are recording their salaries

National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Tate in the UK

Most of the data to date currently comes from the USA - but is expanding to include people in other countries - and will continue to do so long as it is shared within personal networks.

Also note that some museums are named by type and broad location whereas others are completely transparent and name their employer.

It's now locked in terms of inputting data BUT can be updated
We've locked the Excel sheet below so that the data remains intact. New entries are still very welcome, using the Google Form link above. These are always anonymous. They will be uploaded to the sheet below once every 24 hrs.
If you have any Qs or concerns, email checkthenameinthespreadsheet@gmail.com
Being locked means that the frozen pane does not seem to work - meaning that the row containing the column headings disappears off screen which is somewhat irritating - but I'm sure they'll fix that when they work out how to lock cells rather than the whole sheet.

Who started it

Here's some of the news coverage so far and some of the reasons why it came about
Michelle Millar Fisher—an assistant curator of European decorative arts and design at PMA and previously a staffer at MoMA, the Met, and the Guggenheim—created the document and posted it to her Instagram page, where she wrote: “A few years ago, thinking about transparency and the multi-vectored gaps in pay, I started sharing my salaries for each job I’ve had, from nannying to curating, every time I give a career talk. . . . Please contribute if you can.” Fisher told Artnews that she was inspired to make the spreadsheet after writer-curator Kimberly Drew disclosed previous salaries she earned at the Met, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and other institutions. Art Workers Circulate Public Spreadsheet to Promote SalaryTransparency, Reveal pay gaps | Art Forum

Fisher said she and her colleagues had been inspired to discuss their salaries after hearing Kimberly Drew describe how much she was paid when she held positions at the Met, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and other institutions, and that their survey comes in advance of a similar one to be conducted by POWarts later this year. “I disclosed [my salary] to my colleagues who are of different salary levels, in different institutions,” Fisher said. “In disclosing it, they said it was a really useful thing to share.” ‘It’s Helpful to Know All Scales’: Online Spreadsheet Discloses Museum Workers’ Salaries - References to Museum Salary Surveys and further information and guides | Art News



I think the response it is getting is very likely to be instigated by those who have also looked at some of the salaries quoted for some of the top people in the organisation (see TAB 2: Top Staff Salaries) and then become outraged at the massive differentials between the top and lower down the organisation
The pay for these prestigious positions may be lower than you expect | Museum Workers Share Their Salaries and Urge Industry-Wide Reform | Hyperallergic
PS Somebody from Hyperallergic participated and indicated it's $100 per article!
Fisher added, in an email to artnet News, that the contributors are from beyond art museums, and are weighing in from science and other museums, as well as from commercial galleries. That was the intention all along, she says, adding “it is completely open to all who identify with this field,” including some international participants who have already contributed. How Much Do Museum Employees Actually Make? A Tell-All Google Spreadsheet Is Now Making the Rounds - Can a new salary spreadsheet be used as a bargaining chip? artnet news

References to further Museum Salary Surveys and other relevant information


Interestingly one of the tabs provides links to other resources related to Salaries in Museums and I'm copying them below
Posted by Making A Mark on Thursday, June 06, 2019
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