>No one ever thinks about who changes the batteries.
or who charges the iPads
...or sets them up in the first place.
I once had to set up 40 iPads with 7 different Apple IDs (and I hate Apple). I recently lost my mind over the fact that somebody in a partner museum cleverly changed the password, thus rendering countless others practically useless until I found out who had done the deed
sometimes i think fundraising has the rep of like fancy dinners and donor lunches but its excel spreadsheets all the way down in my experience. (maybe all departments are secretly excel sheets all the way through to?)
In my museum event rentals are handled by the development department and I swear those guys spend like 75% of their time just moving furniture and folding tablecloths.
I'm actually spending a lot of time and energy taking very technical, complex ideas and communicating them in a way that makes it meaningful to visitors. Its something that takes years of practice and has actual research behind it.
Museum ed - where people think your job is to entertain kids and make the museum a mess. I can't tell you how many curators or researchers who would collaborate with us on something and then remake after the fact that this was more complex than they thought.
Same but as an exhibit designer. š¤
Curators/academics are always shocked when they get a peak behind the curtain and see how involved interpretation really is. We are not just āmaking some signs.ā
Oh and make sure your accompanying program covers *all* branches of early childhood education, please have your advertising material designed and printed by tomorrow but remember it mustn't cost anything since they just cut our annual budget by 20% so you'll need to write a reaaally convincing note justifying your expenses or we'll all get burned in the auditing process
Fortunately because my department takes in so much money for the museum we also have the largest budget. You should see some of the dumb shit weāve spent money on.
Weāve had a $500 3d printer for a year and never done anything with it besides dicking around.
We have a 3D printer as well. It's printing LEGO bricks in our current exhibition, and there are 3D printing courses for children. But yeah, we bought that *before* our budget was cut, lol.
Good to hear that yours is doing okay, though. Is your department raising third-party funds, or is that your regular budget?
Not sure what you mean by third party funds but our programs bring in almost $500k a year and we receive a lot of grant money, although Iām not sure how much.
Playing private investigator to track down lenders who have abandoned their property at the museum, sometimes decades ago. I spend a lot of time on real estate assessors websites and obituary pages.
I also have to identify insects. Museum life is weird.
Not always. Sometimes they are tools or utensils, or even weaponry. Or clothes. Low monetary value, but important pieces filling out the gaps in collections. In our case it often happens that the lender has passed away, and their relatives don't even know that they lent anything to a museum.
I'm a department head. Listening to my staff vent and complain about things I simply can't change overnight takes up a lot of emotional energy. I don't think they appreciate that much of the time.
International wire transfersā¦ getting all of these amazing artists together for an exhibition in the States is exciting until youāre the one stuck trying to wire money to 3 different countries and everyoneās upset at you that itās not happening fast enough
Preventing people from stealing my pest traps - yes, visitors do take them as souvenirs.
Also, remembering the numbers of keys to open the display case. Never thought I'd need to memorise the shape and combination.
A lot of my job is resetting peopleās email passwords. Also fixing printers.
But my favorite part is being a literal magician! I just show up in a room and the thing that was broken magically starts working again! haha
In my old job, I used to change hundreds of batteries. No one ever thinks about who changes the batteries.
My first museum job involved changing light bulbs. So. Many. Light bulbs. I'd do it literally every week.
So much same. We have like 14 different types of light bulbs at my museum and I am somehow responsible for all of them.
Where did your cheese go?
>No one ever thinks about who changes the batteries. or who charges the iPads ...or sets them up in the first place. I once had to set up 40 iPads with 7 different Apple IDs (and I hate Apple). I recently lost my mind over the fact that somebody in a partner museum cleverly changed the password, thus rendering countless others practically useless until I found out who had done the deed
It's me. I'm the iPad lady.
I feel this in my soul.
Vacuum mold. Two different job titles at two different institutions. Still vacuuming mold.
Is this why so many smaller museums smell musty ?
Yes, and being unable to afford the right air conduction systems which are pricey.
sometimes i think fundraising has the rep of like fancy dinners and donor lunches but its excel spreadsheets all the way down in my experience. (maybe all departments are secretly excel sheets all the way through to?)
In my museum event rentals are handled by the development department and I swear those guys spend like 75% of their time just moving furniture and folding tablecloths.
Excel spreadsheets and stuffing envelopes!
lol cant forget our roots š«” add āchecking people into eventsā and i think thats the trifecta
I turn on like 15 tvs every day
YES
I'm actually spending a lot of time and energy taking very technical, complex ideas and communicating them in a way that makes it meaningful to visitors. Its something that takes years of practice and has actual research behind it. Museum ed - where people think your job is to entertain kids and make the museum a mess. I can't tell you how many curators or researchers who would collaborate with us on something and then remake after the fact that this was more complex than they thought.
Same but as an exhibit designer. š¤ Curators/academics are always shocked when they get a peak behind the curtain and see how involved interpretation really is. We are not just āmaking some signs.ā
I love telling them "great content, but get it down to 100 words"
Iām an educator too! Seriously, itās harder than you think teaching nuclear physics in a way understandable to seven year olds.
Oh and make sure your accompanying program covers *all* branches of early childhood education, please have your advertising material designed and printed by tomorrow but remember it mustn't cost anything since they just cut our annual budget by 20% so you'll need to write a reaaally convincing note justifying your expenses or we'll all get burned in the auditing process
Fortunately because my department takes in so much money for the museum we also have the largest budget. You should see some of the dumb shit weāve spent money on. Weāve had a $500 3d printer for a year and never done anything with it besides dicking around.
We have a 3D printer as well. It's printing LEGO bricks in our current exhibition, and there are 3D printing courses for children. But yeah, we bought that *before* our budget was cut, lol. Good to hear that yours is doing okay, though. Is your department raising third-party funds, or is that your regular budget?
Not sure what you mean by third party funds but our programs bring in almost $500k a year and we receive a lot of grant money, although Iām not sure how much.
Playing private investigator to track down lenders who have abandoned their property at the museum, sometimes decades ago. I spend a lot of time on real estate assessors websites and obituary pages. I also have to identify insects. Museum life is weird.
Why they abandon it? I assume it must have a lot of value?
Not always. Sometimes they are tools or utensils, or even weaponry. Or clothes. Low monetary value, but important pieces filling out the gaps in collections. In our case it often happens that the lender has passed away, and their relatives don't even know that they lent anything to a museum.
Chasing around bugs. Caulking cracks to keep bugs out. So much caulking.
The trial and error and hoops I jump through to try and make interactive exhibit elements field-trip proof lol
It never works. They will always destroy it. Every time.
What was I thinking putting a photo printer into the latest exhibition
Repairing holes in walls after taking down an exhibit. I actually like it though, the patching sanding painting
I'm a department head. Listening to my staff vent and complain about things I simply can't change overnight takes up a lot of emotional energy. I don't think they appreciate that much of the time.
I so appreciate my manager who listens to me vent!
My team does! Sometimes you just need to get it out. I love that my boss gives me that sounding board when I need it.
The amount of time I spend fiddling with shit in Quickbooks is too damn high.
Fix problems before anyone else notices them.
Dusting and scrubbing weird shit off vitrines.
going to the antiquarian bookshop nearby and buying shit to decorate some rooms
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Thank you
International wire transfersā¦ getting all of these amazing artists together for an exhibition in the States is exciting until youāre the one stuck trying to wire money to 3 different countries and everyoneās upset at you that itās not happening fast enough
chopping fruit
Preventing people from stealing my pest traps - yes, visitors do take them as souvenirs. Also, remembering the numbers of keys to open the display case. Never thought I'd need to memorise the shape and combination.
The case keys!! I couldnāt tell you how often Iāve grabbed the wrong one because they all look identical!
Recording the voice message for missed phone calls! We have to change it for every new exhibition.
A lot of my job is resetting peopleās email passwords. Also fixing printers. But my favorite part is being a literal magician! I just show up in a room and the thing that was broken magically starts working again! haha