Museums

Because a Career in Museums? Here's How Much Coin You lot Can Await to Make in Dozens of Different Roles

On average, only 11 museum positions' average salaries decreased last year, according to a new survey.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images.

Afterwards a turbulent yr marked by the pandemic and social-justice uprisings, how have salaries in the museum industry inverse? Co-ordinate to the just-released salary report from the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), the answer is: not much.

Overall, the jobs earning the highest salaries remained consistent year over year, with directors pulling in $320,000 on average per yr; chief operating officers earning $183,700; and chief curators earning $158,500. The director of finance part saw its average salary jump 14 percent year over year, to $158,700 in 2020.

The data in the written report—compiled from 207 member museums located in Canada, Mexico, and the United States—offers a sense of how private jobs were affected past the COVID-19 health crisis and months of forced closure. Simply since many institutions' fiscal year begins July 1 or later, the 2020 data may non encompass the total impact of the pandemic. Besides, crucially, the report does not cistron in furloughs or layoffs, which were rampant in the sector last year.

As in earlier years, the lower cease of the scale is dominated by company-facing jobs: volunteer coordinators brought in an average of $50,400, while museum security guards averaged $39,300 (a 10 percentage increase from the 2019 boilerplate) and company services associates made $31,600. (Notably, these are also the roles most directly affected by museum closures.)

Amongst the 151 museums that responded to the AAMD survey in both 2019 and 2020, the Western and Mount Plains regions experienced the greatest alter in salaries year over year, with a decline of up to two.1 percentage. These regions were also among the hardest hitting past the pandemic, based on total cases every bit a per centum of the population.

Graph courtesy of AAMD and Stax Inc.

Graph courtesy of AAMD and Stax Inc.

This is the 36th almanac survey conducted by the AAMD, which has been making the information public since 2017 in an attempt to increase transparency in the field. Of the 220 museums surveyed, 207—or 94 percentage—responded. The report notes that not all museums answered every question.

Bacon inconsistencies are rampant in the arts sector. Earlier this year, Arnet News Pro conducted a study of gallery dealers and found that commercial salaries were non necessarily much higher than those in the nonprofit sector. While executive salaries reach into the six-to-seven-figure range, the median salary for those who identified as a gallery owner, director, or partner was about $65,000, and those who identified as gallery administration hit a ceiling of $35,000.

Low wages and long hours have, some say, already led to a brain drain in the museum sector.

Listed below are the mean bacon figures for all jobs listed in the 2021 AAMD report, from highest to lowest. (When titles are cleaved up into Equally and Bs, such as with "Finance A" and "Finance B," the As are the position within a section with more responsibility.) The figures listed in parentheses are the hateful salaries from final yr's report (FY 2019)—of the 52 jobs listed, only 11 salaries decreased, based on the written report.

  • ↑ Museum Directors: $320,600 ($317,500)
  • ↓ Deputy Director: $177,200 ($184,200)
  • ↓ Chief Operating Officer: $183,700 ($184,200)
  • ↑ Main Curator / Director of Curatorial Diplomacy / Curator A: $158,500 ($150,200)
  • ↓ Director of Development / Development A: $142,500 ($146,600)
  • ↑ Director of Finance / Finance A: $158,700 ($139,100)
  • ↑ Director of External Diplomacy: $137,400 ($133,900)
  • ↑ Manager of Data Systems / Principal Information Officer: $126,300 ($123,800)
  • ↑ Chief Conservator / Conservator A: $124,000 ($123,800)
  • ↑ Human Resources Managing director: $112,800 ($112,500)
  • ↑ Director, Planned Giving / Institutional Giving: $112,600 ($107,600)
  • ↑ Senior Curator / Curator of Special Collections Surface area / Curator B: $106,300 ($105,300)
  • ↓ Curator of Exhibitions / Curator C: $99,400 ($99,700)
  • ↑ Senior Conservator / Conservator B: $96,900 ($94,600)
  • ↑ Marketing Managing director: $98,000 ($91,300)
  • ↓ Manager of Education / Curator of Education / Teaching A: $88,500 ($91,300)
  • ↑ Facilities Managing director / Edifice Manager / Operations Manager: $ninety,000 ($86,700) 11 per centum increase
  • ↓ Systems Manager / Technology Director / Director of New Media:  $88,500 ($91,200)
  • ↓ Director of Finance / Finance B:  $85,900 ($87,000)
  • ↑ Engineering Manager: $88,300 ($85,900)
  • ↑ Editor / Managing director of Publications: $87,500 ($82,800)
  • ↑ Head Librarian / Librarian A: $81,900 ($78,700)
  • ↑ Grant Director / Institutional Giving Manager / Development B: $78,800 ($77,400)
  • ↑ Associate Curator / Curator D: $76,200 ($72,700)
  • ↑ Public Relations Officer: $75,900 ($72,200)
  • ↑ Web Director: $75,600 ($72,800)
  • ↑ Master of Security: $75,000 ($74,500)
  • ↑ Exhibition Designer: $74,400 ($72,400)
  • ↑ Associate Conservator / Conservator C: $71,000 ($67,900)
  • ↑ Registrar A: $70,800 ($70,000)
  • ↑ Museum Store Manager: $68,500 ($67,200)
  • ↑ Chief Preparator / Preparator A: $66,700 ($64,400)
  • ↓ Special Events Managing director: $65,000 ($66,000)
  • ↑ Assistant To Director: $64,800 ($61,300)
  • ↑ Photographer: $64,600 ($62,700)
  • ↑ Development Associate / Development C: $63,000 ($60,400)
  • ↑ Associate Librarian / Librarian B: $62,900 ($61,300)
  • ↓ Graphic Designer: $threescore,200 ($61,200)
  • ↓ Associate Educator / Educator B: $sixty,200 ($61,100)
  • ↑ Assistant Curator / Curator E: $59,600 ($57,200)
  • ↑ Associate Registrar / Registrar B: $58,900 ($57,500)
  • ↑ New Media Managing director: $57,900 ($56,700)
  • ↑ Associate Librarian / Librarian C: $55,800 ($50,500)
  • ↑ Assistant Registrar / Registrar C: $52,300 ($48,300)
  • ↑ Assistant Educator / Educator C: $51,100 ($47,100)
  • ↓ Volunteer Coordinator: $50,400 ($51,100)
  • ↑ Associate Preparator / Preparator B: $49,100 ($48,600)
  • ↑ Curator Assistant: $48,500 ($46,200)
  • ↑ Membership Banana: $46,300 ($45,700)
  • ↑ Educational activity Assistant: $41,700 ($xl,300)
  • ↑ Museum Security Officer / Museum Security Guard: $39,300 ($35,700)
  • ↓ Visitor Services Associate: $31,600 ($32,600)

Download the total report at AAMD.org

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