Salaries

I received an anonymous message from a young professional and while
anonymous postings are not accepted for the DistList, discussion of
this topic is well-worth pursuing, so I am posting it under my own
name (without taking sides in the debate)

    Even a quick perusal of the kinds of positions available
    conservators in publications such as the AIC newsletter and Cons
    DistList shows a rather alarming trend:  while there are
    increased responsibilities and more demanding selection criteria
    for jobs, the amounts of money offered for such work has stayed
    the same.  I think I speak for many recent graduates and young
    professionals in the field when I say how dismaying and frankly
    insulting it is to see the kinds of offers that are sometimes
    posted.  How are people meant to pay rent, pay graduate school
    loans and eat on sums of sometimes less than $1000-2000 a month,
    often in big (expensive) cities?

    The fact is, however, that someone will take even the most
    ill-paid position because of 1) the lack of work in institutions
    2) the eternal "resume-building" that has become part of
    graduating into the conservation world.  Many of us came to
    conservation from other fields, believing that the real
    satisfaction of our work would be enough to sustain us.  To some
    extent, this is true.  However, it is difficult to keep this in
    mind when harsh financial reality strikes. Even more so when
    jobs requiring no graduate education or specialized training
    (such as technicians' positions) offer more job security,
    better benefits and higher pay than conservation positions.

    How are we to reconcile these issues? Conservators complain that
    we are not taken seriously at our institutions, and not valued
    enough by peers in other departments, but are young
    professionals valued in the field by their own mentors?  Of
    course funding in many arts institutions is extremely tight, but
    I think the onus is upon established conservators to demand at
    least a decent living wage for those of us trying to make it in
    this field.  We are dedicated, motivated individuals who see our
    work as our vocation;  however, this should not mean that we
    must sacrifice even the most basic needs because it is such an
    honor to work on art.

    I have chosen to write this as an anonymous email to the
    DistList since I feel that there is no proper forum to discuss
    as personal and important an issue such as this.

Walter


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 16:60
                 Distributed: Thursday, April 10, 2003
                       Message Id: cdl-16-60-008
                                  ***