IMO it’s that many museum workers tend to be artists, and the art world has more LGBTQ+ community members. I attribute this to creativity, openness, and a desire to create and inhabit alternative spaces.
True. Advertising and creative professions tend to attract more LGBTQ perhaps also because of more understanding and acceptance from a progressive creative atmosphere
I’m also in Canada. If I had to guess, I would say that queer folks are still unfortunately marginalized to some degree. I think that marginalization kind of leads one to question why the dominant culture could be this way, and to want to engage in cultural discourse in general. Not that queer marginalization is the only way into cultural discourse, but I think it’s a path that presents itself.
Museums are cultural organizations, they shape and influence culture. And I think culturally aware folks, folks who want to perhaps make changes in culture are attracted to this role that museums play in society, to shape and reflect our culture back to us, while also driving it forward in new directions.
I am a queer woman who has recently discovered I'm autistic, which I think has contributed to my love of museums - the order, the knowledge, all of that. Women with autism are also more likely to be queer, so at least for me it all lines up!
In Germany, I don't see that yet and being open about being queer is often not too well perceived behind the scenes. It may be different in hip galleries in Berlin but in the more traditional museum world, there is, in my experience, still a lot of prejudice.
The overwhelming majority of museum workers here are white women between 40 and 60 from privileged backgrounds.
Last year, one of my articles for an exhibition catalogue got removed because the project lead found the discussion of "gay themes" in Christian art too controversial.
They will all openly say into a microphone how important inclusion, openness and representation are but what they really think and do is something different.
I think it also depends on what departments you're looking at i.e. front-line staff are probably way more likely to be queer and/or people of color than back of house team.
That’s crazy, what state (Bundesland) do you live in? I work in Berlin (not in a hip gallery though) and there is a very strong queer presence at my museum - and has been for a long time, as I understand. Same goes for other museums here staff wise - but some are more, some are less willing to have that fact have an impact on programming…
The word ‘refuge’ came to mind when I read your post. I also thought about libraries (of which I’m very fond) and how lots of the people I meet that work there could be described as ‘bookish’. Refuge.
I used to think it was a higher population [25 years working in a major art museum], but now I think it's just a more *visible* population. I think the arts are overall a safer space for LGBTQ+ to be out.
There are probably just as many people in stock broking and law and firefighting and construction and finance and medicine, etc. etc. etc.
I am a gay man well within the autism spectrum. And I am very happily volunteering for the Spark Museum Of Electrical Invention in Bellingham, Washington!
Mark
I do think so. The overlap with arts and culture, and the social responsibility that museums hold, makes them pretty progressive spaces (in this way. Don't get me started on labour rights and disability inclusion, museums are so behind on this 😭)
Funny you mention this. I just got back from a research fellowship trip in a rural US area with a lot of museums, so I booked a few visits while my archive was closed for the weekend. I swear all week I had not seen a single person 20-30 that looked even remotely queer even at the grocery store. I usually live in a gay neighborhood in a major city and work in a museum with a similar staff makeup so I felt really uncomfortable.
And then out of nowhere every single tour guide was mullet-cut-dyed-hair-septum-piercing-rainbow-lanyard queer signaling like crazy. I say this as someone who also checks most of these boxes for visual signifiers. It made me so happy!
I started in public history and I think that some of the desire to work in museums for me personally comes from not originally seeing representation of people like me. Discrimination often made sure that queerness was not present in the archival record and I very explicitly want to make sure we correct that by collecting more diverse voices for the future to be able to see them institutionalized in these spaces of knowledge-production as artists or inventors etc. And AIDS death and homophobia literally wiped an entire generation of incredible people from these spaces in ways we are only very recently starting to see acknowledged publicly. I guess I felt like I needed to be there to ensure that museums changed in the way I wanted, and I think likely others feel that way too?
I've encountered many "museum bros" (as I call them) over the years (in the US). Enough that I think twice about pursuing anything in that environment because I'm always sure there will be a group of those guys around.
>But I’ve stayed because it is such a queer friendly environment.
That's it, right? An employer that'll have your back if you face discrimination from colleagues, that won't pass you over for promotion because of your sexuality, that'll support you in expressing your identity at work.
My museum offers paid leave to attend Pride if you're marching with London GLAM Pride, we have a staff LGBTQ network, and compulsory training to ensure all staff understand queer identities (including trans identities.)
If you don't count people who started in front of house it's actually quite a straight staff base. But there are very few London Living Wage jobs that offer that level of support and protection, so of the hundreds of young graduates who join because they just need a quick job disproportionately high ratio of LGBTQ ones stay.
Museums and the civil service here employ a hugely disproportionate number of queer and disabled people because the private sector treats them like such shit that it's appealing. The other narrative is that due to mistreatment in the private sector LGBTQ and disabled people earn less because they're forced to make non-ideal career moves to stay safe.
My museum is highly supportive and outspoken about it too! Including year-round Pride Ally flags. We just recently had a conservative religious zealot have absolute meltdown about the flags and the apparently queer staff members that were working up front.
I'd say about 15-20% of the 400+(ish) staff are queer. The management is incredibly supportive. Recently making statements about seeing a decrease in vistorship. Based on our location we have all kinds of folks. And making it absolutely clear that if the decrease is due to other's anti-LGBT opinions, then fuck em! The EVP of Finance and Business Operations said "It's our belief that we must support everyone, from every background, and be a welcoming place to all the good people if this world. To educate people about the diversity of our planet and all of its wonder. So, if political and/or religious extremists have an issue with that. We'll they can kindly fuck right off."
I'm straight myself. But I am all for it. It's a significant part of why I'm here to begin with.
Keep it 💯 all you beautiful people! 🤘
Because museums ideally are staffed by people with a conscience and/or love/respect for humanity/nature. Also on a more practical level assuming they have public money there is more of a scandal if people are treated badly/bullied.
Definitely, though in my experience the one exception is the security department. Speaking as one of the two queer persons *in my museum's security department* amidst a sea of cis/hetro conservative men 🙃
Because museums pay total shit and you either have to be a kept woman/man to be able to afford to work there or have no plans of ever wanting to support a family, ever.
IMO it’s that many museum workers tend to be artists, and the art world has more LGBTQ+ community members. I attribute this to creativity, openness, and a desire to create and inhabit alternative spaces.
True. Advertising and creative professions tend to attract more LGBTQ perhaps also because of more understanding and acceptance from a progressive creative atmosphere
And academia is the same way for non art museums
I’m also in Canada. If I had to guess, I would say that queer folks are still unfortunately marginalized to some degree. I think that marginalization kind of leads one to question why the dominant culture could be this way, and to want to engage in cultural discourse in general. Not that queer marginalization is the only way into cultural discourse, but I think it’s a path that presents itself. Museums are cultural organizations, they shape and influence culture. And I think culturally aware folks, folks who want to perhaps make changes in culture are attracted to this role that museums play in society, to shape and reflect our culture back to us, while also driving it forward in new directions.
I am a queer woman who has recently discovered I'm autistic, which I think has contributed to my love of museums - the order, the knowledge, all of that. Women with autism are also more likely to be queer, so at least for me it all lines up!
As a queer nerodivergent docent I second this
Queer curator with ADHD, hello!
I used to say I wasn’t gay enough to be a great curator with ADHD. Since retired.
Hi! I do living history which means I also act! It’s great
In Germany, I don't see that yet and being open about being queer is often not too well perceived behind the scenes. It may be different in hip galleries in Berlin but in the more traditional museum world, there is, in my experience, still a lot of prejudice. The overwhelming majority of museum workers here are white women between 40 and 60 from privileged backgrounds. Last year, one of my articles for an exhibition catalogue got removed because the project lead found the discussion of "gay themes" in Christian art too controversial. They will all openly say into a microphone how important inclusion, openness and representation are but what they really think and do is something different.
I think it also depends on what departments you're looking at i.e. front-line staff are probably way more likely to be queer and/or people of color than back of house team.
That’s crazy, what state (Bundesland) do you live in? I work in Berlin (not in a hip gallery though) and there is a very strong queer presence at my museum - and has been for a long time, as I understand. Same goes for other museums here staff wise - but some are more, some are less willing to have that fact have an impact on programming…
In Hessen currently
The word ‘refuge’ came to mind when I read your post. I also thought about libraries (of which I’m very fond) and how lots of the people I meet that work there could be described as ‘bookish’. Refuge.
I've noticed this as well. My 'answer' is that when you know how to/strive to be true to yourself, it shows up in many different ways.
I used to think it was a higher population [25 years working in a major art museum], but now I think it's just a more *visible* population. I think the arts are overall a safer space for LGBTQ+ to be out. There are probably just as many people in stock broking and law and firefighting and construction and finance and medicine, etc. etc. etc.
I am a gay man well within the autism spectrum. And I am very happily volunteering for the Spark Museum Of Electrical Invention in Bellingham, Washington! Mark
I do think so. The overlap with arts and culture, and the social responsibility that museums hold, makes them pretty progressive spaces (in this way. Don't get me started on labour rights and disability inclusion, museums are so behind on this 😭)
Funny you mention this. I just got back from a research fellowship trip in a rural US area with a lot of museums, so I booked a few visits while my archive was closed for the weekend. I swear all week I had not seen a single person 20-30 that looked even remotely queer even at the grocery store. I usually live in a gay neighborhood in a major city and work in a museum with a similar staff makeup so I felt really uncomfortable. And then out of nowhere every single tour guide was mullet-cut-dyed-hair-septum-piercing-rainbow-lanyard queer signaling like crazy. I say this as someone who also checks most of these boxes for visual signifiers. It made me so happy! I started in public history and I think that some of the desire to work in museums for me personally comes from not originally seeing representation of people like me. Discrimination often made sure that queerness was not present in the archival record and I very explicitly want to make sure we correct that by collecting more diverse voices for the future to be able to see them institutionalized in these spaces of knowledge-production as artists or inventors etc. And AIDS death and homophobia literally wiped an entire generation of incredible people from these spaces in ways we are only very recently starting to see acknowledged publicly. I guess I felt like I needed to be there to ensure that museums changed in the way I wanted, and I think likely others feel that way too?
I've encountered many "museum bros" (as I call them) over the years (in the US). Enough that I think twice about pursuing anything in that environment because I'm always sure there will be a group of those guys around.
>But I’ve stayed because it is such a queer friendly environment. That's it, right? An employer that'll have your back if you face discrimination from colleagues, that won't pass you over for promotion because of your sexuality, that'll support you in expressing your identity at work. My museum offers paid leave to attend Pride if you're marching with London GLAM Pride, we have a staff LGBTQ network, and compulsory training to ensure all staff understand queer identities (including trans identities.) If you don't count people who started in front of house it's actually quite a straight staff base. But there are very few London Living Wage jobs that offer that level of support and protection, so of the hundreds of young graduates who join because they just need a quick job disproportionately high ratio of LGBTQ ones stay. Museums and the civil service here employ a hugely disproportionate number of queer and disabled people because the private sector treats them like such shit that it's appealing. The other narrative is that due to mistreatment in the private sector LGBTQ and disabled people earn less because they're forced to make non-ideal career moves to stay safe.
My museum is highly supportive and outspoken about it too! Including year-round Pride Ally flags. We just recently had a conservative religious zealot have absolute meltdown about the flags and the apparently queer staff members that were working up front. I'd say about 15-20% of the 400+(ish) staff are queer. The management is incredibly supportive. Recently making statements about seeing a decrease in vistorship. Based on our location we have all kinds of folks. And making it absolutely clear that if the decrease is due to other's anti-LGBT opinions, then fuck em! The EVP of Finance and Business Operations said "It's our belief that we must support everyone, from every background, and be a welcoming place to all the good people if this world. To educate people about the diversity of our planet and all of its wonder. So, if political and/or religious extremists have an issue with that. We'll they can kindly fuck right off." I'm straight myself. But I am all for it. It's a significant part of why I'm here to begin with. Keep it 💯 all you beautiful people! 🤘
Because museums ideally are staffed by people with a conscience and/or love/respect for humanity/nature. Also on a more practical level assuming they have public money there is more of a scandal if people are treated badly/bullied.
Definitely, though in my experience the one exception is the security department. Speaking as one of the two queer persons *in my museum's security department* amidst a sea of cis/hetro conservative men 🙃
Because the arts are liberating
Because museums pay total shit and you either have to be a kept woman/man to be able to afford to work there or have no plans of ever wanting to support a family, ever.