Week 11

 This week I read Reinventing Museums: Pandemic Disruption as an Opportunity for Change and Workers at Philadelphia Museum of Art Vote to Join Union. The first article discusses reinventing museums after the effects of the pandemic. The main example used is are museums in Venice, where they seek to create a digital artist creative class, that would lead to "converting empty B&Bs to student housing; offering incentives to arts organizations to open local outposts; creating coworking spaces to support start-ups and individual entrepreneurs; drafting regulations that discourage day-trippers and cruise-ship tourism while encouraging long-term stays." (Merrit, E Reinventing Museums)

The second article discusses the 181-22 vote to establish a museum union in Philadelphia, another result of the corona virus pandemic. The Philadelphia Museum was close to closing and had to create a union to secure the benefits for their workers in the uncertain future. This will allow the workers to have more direct control over museum matters such as in July, where the cultural assessment wanted to see better diversity and the museum responded a month later by sending a letter describing the protests as “compromised by the looting and destruction of property” while stating that “every individual life matters.”(Small, Z. Workers at Philadelphia Museum of Art Vote to Join Union)


Merrit, E. (2020, July 7). Reinventing Museums: Pandemic Disruption as an Opportunity for Change – American Alliance of Museums. American Alliance of Museums. https://www.aam-us.org/2020/07/07/reinventing-museums-pandemic-disruption-as-an-opportunity-for-change/
 
Small, Z. (2020, August 6). Workers at Philadelphia Museum of Art Vote to Join Union - The New York Times. The New York Times - Breaking News, US News, World News and Videos. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/arts/workers-at-philadelphia-museum-of-art-vote-to-join-union.html?searchResultPosition=5
 

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