Week 13: Reflection Blog

 

Children's Museums in Pittsburgh 
Source


The museum industry is suffering because of its lacks responses to activism, open letter complaints, or suggestions on how to improve their infrastructure. Museums are playing both sides of the issue when it comes to financial paying employees and the treatment of their employees.   They are writing responses explaining their wrongs or hiring people to make it seem like they atoned for their unethical actions. But they fail to change their system that keeps allowing them to make these actions.  Over the course module on labor, museums cannot seem to do the decent thing and treat their employees with respect. It is not just museums that are ignoring for paying internships or hiring a more diverse staff without causing a token or just keep them as numbers so the museum can say they have some sort of diversity.

Museums seem to get a lot of backlash when they prioritize their executive or board of trustees over their staff, whose work is seen by the public. Museums are the best establishment to implement change since they are in the public eye and is funded by the public. But instead museum entrust their money and affairs with the highest bidder by allowing money from big oil companies or large banks to fund their decisions and those company input on what  is best for the community when it comes to the education of artifacts or art. Big money enables museums to  hire an art director that needs over 50,000 dollars to build a house to accompanied the art director’s needs so the museum can run smooth. Instead of focusing on the work force they are allowing their pay to be cut or just letting people go during a pandemic. Museums are harming the community when they do not pay attention to their workers that are a part of the community and understand what that community well need.  This was brought up in the open letter to the Children’s Museums of Pittsburgh when the community was going to be hurt with the lack of black employees that were let go because of budget cuts to combat the economic downfall during the COVID-19  pandemic. The black community in Pittsburgh hurts since they will not be seen by other employees when they go in or have a voice inside the establishment.  There is still a lot for museums to change when it comes to ethical treatment of their POC employees. It comes down to museums actually wanting the change and enacting what they are been told will benefit all people involved with museums.




Tolliver, William. “An Open Letter to the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh,” July 31, 2020. https://medium.com/@willtolliverjr/an-open-letter-to-the-childrens-museum-of-pittsburgh-d46f56df2243.

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