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Highlights from “Careers in Museums & Other Cultural Institutions” Panel
Moderator: Peggy Curchack
2/17/2005
PRESENTERS
Marilyn Pollick, Director of Development and Alumni Relations
Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia
(Wharton Alum)
Naomi Grabel, Vice President, Marketing and Communications
Kimmel Center, Philadelphia
(College Alum)
Gillian Wakely, Associate Director for Programs and Head Administrator, Education Department.
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Miles Cohen, Administrator and Concert Manager
Philadelphia Chamber Music Society
(College Alum)
Carolyn Macuga, Coordinator, Concerts and Performances, Adult and Public Programs
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Pollick
WHAT I DO
• The Director of Development is charged with conceptualizing, planning and executing a program of fundraising in support of exhibitions, programs and membership (with special emphasis on major gift work, corporate and foundation relations).
• I report to the central Development department and to the Director of ICA. I work closely with our board and especially with the chairman of the board of overseers. I coordinate all of our board meetings and standing committee meetings.
• I have three staff members: an Assistant Development Officer who reports to me, a Staff Writer who writes funding reports and grant applications, and a Special Events and Sales Coordinator who handles the rental of our museum spaces, sales of prints and catalogs, all the exhibition openings and the annual benefit.
• I’m the liaison for a lot of centralized Development departments, which includes Market Research and Analysis, Development Communication, Planned Giving, and I work collegially with people throughout the University including the Office of the Secretary, the Director of Overseer Affairs, and so on.
TYPICAL WORK WEEK
• I identify funds for our budget every year and the subsequent five years.
• I read, edit and sometimes write all the funding proposals, reports, acknowledgements and letters to all kinds of donors.
• I also attend a lot of meetings. In fact, I try to fit everything around my meetings, because I have so many!
HOW I GOT TO WHERE I AM
• I was in the corporate sector and one day I decided to take a risk. I gave myself six weeks in which to find a job I really enjoy and that may or may not help people. If at the end of six weeks I couldn’t do that, I would take anything. I interviewed right and left, and it was a job finding a job. I interviewed for a position with the Franklin Institute. It looked like a tough job, but I took it anyway and did well there. I was there for five years, and I used all of the business skills that I had learned at my previous jobs.
• Eventually, I was recruited by a Board Member to the Pennsylvania Ballet. I was there for five years.
• Then I moved onto another non-profit that was not cultural for three years.
• I was recruited by a consultant in New York and I did consulting for five years.
• I got tired of traveling, so I started my own business. I was hired away from my business by ICA, and that turned into my current job.
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Grabel
HOW I GOT TO WHERE I AM
• I began my Arts Management career in third grade as a very mediocre flute player! I played for twenty years and I was still solidly mediocre, but I always enjoyed publicizing the concerts, planning the post-concert parties and selling tickets. One day in my junior year of college, I realized that someone will pay me one day to do this. And since then, I’ve done Arts Marketing for the past twenty years.
• I studied English and Communications at Penn and did Quadramics, Penn Band and Penn Players.
• I worked at a commercial theatre after graduation. It took me a few years to realize that New York theatre is really about bottoms in seats and not about art. For me, art was what’s most important.
• I went back to grad school at the Yale School of Drama and got a master’s in Theatre Administration.
• The first piece of advice I can give you all is that, in this day and age, a graduate degree isn’t a bad thing to have.
• After graduation, I took a job as the Director of Communications at the Alley Theatre in Houston, TX.
• My second bit of advice is to go where the jobs are. I could have gone to New York after I graduated and lived in a closet-sized apartment with five girlfriends, but instead, by going to Houston I got a job right out of the gate with a substantial amount of responsibility and much better pay.
• From there I went to a theatre in Orange County, California, and was the Director of Marketing and Communications. Something I learned there is that outside of New York and other major cities, there is usually only one big game in town.
• In 1999 I moved back to Philadelphia to become the managing director of the Wilma Theatre.
• I worked for Gillian (Wakely) while I was at the Wilma Theatre because she was one of the board members. It was an extraordinary experience because I got to learn what it was like to report to a board of directors.
• While I was at the Theatre, I watched the Kimmel Center go up outside of my office window. I was eventually asked to work for them. I realized that I wouldn’t have another opportunity to enter such a fascinating organization at the ground floor, so I took the job.
• I’ve been at the Kimmel Center for nearly three years now and I run the Marketing and Communications Department. It’s composed of eighteen people, encompassing an in-house design group, a publications department, volunteer program, and customer service and ticketing program. I’m one of eight Vice Presidents at the Kimmel Center.
ADVICE
• I also have some musings that I’d like to share with you.
1. It’s a very small industry, so relationships matter. People who I came across twenty years ago as an intern are my peers now. So make sure you cultivate relationships in this field.
2. If you want to be in the arts, it has to be a calling because the pay is not as good as in other industries, especially the corporate sector. Be sure it’s your passion and that you can manage the lifestyle before you jump into it.
3. Graduate school is a good idea because you’ll work with people with graduate degrees. It ends up being a credibility issue with the people you meet.
4. Informational interviews are your best tools for networking. Penn graduates are huge in the arts field, so the Penn Career Network can be a great resource.
5. Try to muster your parents’ support, because the arts world is tough on you financially and the corporate world is far better-paying.
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Wakely
HOW I GOT TO WHERE I AM
• I loved theatres and museums as a child. When I came to the US in 1971, I visited the Penn museum and fell in love with it. I walked straight into the Director’s office and asked for a job. I started out in the Egyptian gallery.
• I am now Associate Director for Programs and I create educational programs and exhibits.
DUTIES
• I go to a lot of meetings…tons of them. This is because all of the projects we do are team projects. I think 70% of my time is spent in meetings, which can be very productive.
• I worked my way up to being head of the education department.
• In the education department I have a permanent staff of four, eighty volunteer in-house guides and thirty outreach guides who go out to schools and present the museum. We have about 45,000 students go through the gallery by appointment with the education department every year.
• My staff of four consists of one main exhibit designer with three assistants. Two of them do traveling exhibits. I always have many different exhibits being juggled all the time, so it’s very busy.
• I also work with the Development department to raise money for the exhibits and writing grant applications. We do children’s and teacher’s workshops.
• Exhibits are complicated projects. Since the museum is so old, the space isn’t always conducive to making exhibits. For example, right now, one of my biggest projects is raising money to get air conditioning in the gallery. I even have a memo from 1957 from the Director of Education complaining about the number of students who passed out while walking around the gallery!
• I advise you to volunteer and network. Museums usually have many volunteer opportunities, so that’s a good way to get your foot in the door. There are sometimes paid jobs too, like summer camps. My museum hires several camp counselors every year.
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Cohen
HOW I GOT TO WHERE I AM
• I work with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.
• About three days before I graduated Penn as an undergrad, I went to talk to Peggy (Curchack), and she put me in touch with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.
• I had worked with Lincoln Center for the four previous summers. Rather than live in New York City and barely scrape by working for the Lincoln Center, I wanted to find work someplace that I could live decently and do what I love.
• I wound up working at the Chamber Music Society and eight years later, here I am.
PHILADELPHIA CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY
• We present small ensembles, such as string quarters, on a smaller scale than the Kimmel Center.
• At first we had about thirty-seven concerts a season, and now our goal is to double the amount of concerts without hiring any new staff.
• Our entire staff is ten people, and out of them nine work two jobs. They mostly work with other non-profits.
A TYPICAL WEEK
• A typical week when we have a concert involves a lot of marketing work. We don’t have much staff, though, so it’s just me and another woman working in the office.
• When we have a concert, my job is to work directly with the tour managers to take care of everything from the moment the artists arrive until the moment they leave.
• I design brochures and program books and I help my boss book every season.
ADVICE
• My best experience was working at summer music festivals, where I met a lot of my peers. Working at Lincoln Center also showed me what I wanted to do after I graduated. Use your summers well because there are a lot of festivals that are looking for volunteers.
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Macuga
MY DUTIES
• I work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I am in the Department of Public Programs, in the division of education. My official title is Coordinator of Concerts and Performances but I play many other roles.
• I plan, manage and produce about 22 concerts a year. I also give art history lectures, occasional college tours, workshops, symposia and many other things.
• My typical week involves lots of meetings. Everything I do involves other people, so there are a lot of meetings. I also plan programs and work with curators and scholars to produce content. It’s a huge variety of tasks because I work with all of the departments in the museum.
• There are four of us in public programs that produce all of the programming in the brochure.
HOW I GOT TO WHERE I AM
• I studied Art History and English in my undergraduate years. I wanted to do publishing, but I ended up doing research in a law library. I worked in a multinational law firm for four years and it got to be too much. The money was fine, but the pressure was too much.
• Before I quit, I started volunteering at a local art museum. I really enjoyed it, so I got my master’s in Museum Studies. I went to the University of Newcastle in England. Of course, there are great programs in the US but being a student is a great way to get a visa for travel. It was an intensive twelve-month program. But it’s a good deal because it’s only a one-year master’s.
• After I got my master’s, I moved back in with my mother and went to work for the law firm again. It took nine months to find a good museum job. If you’re looking for a job straight out of school, keep in mind that the positions you’ll get will be very entry level and that they aren’t usually advertised. The museum jobs you’ll find online will be for higher level jobs. What I found most useful was getting into an organization and networking from there. That way, they know you’re reliable. They’ll be more likely to look at your application first when a position opens up.
ADVICE
• You really have to love working in a non-profit because the financial compensation is not comparable to other industries. Everyone who is single at the museum works at least two jobs to support themselves.
• My advice is to keep in touch with your connections because you never know who will come around again in your life.
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Q&A
Q: Naomi (Grabel), why was parental support so important to you?
Grabel
For me, it was important to have the emotional support. I think my parents wanted me to be a lawyer, but they still supported me.
Q: Did all of you have to have two jobs to support yourselves?
Pollick
Today, I believe the second job is a necessity. But don’t worry, you’ll learn to live frugally! Senior positions are different, but entry-level positions’ salary will be low. It can be a difficult choice.
Macuga
The economy in 1998 was different. All of my peers work high-powered jobs. Being in the non-profit sector is a difficult life, but I can tell you I was a lot happier than my peers who were living fast! In my job you get to experience amazing music and meet incredible people. That to me makes money unimportant.
Grabel
And don’t worry, you will be able to feed yourself!
Q: Where should I find information on museums? They don’t usually post job openings, and the American Association of Museums website only lists a few jobs and it requires a $50 membership fee.
Pollick
For a non-profit to justify its expenses, it has to be a senior job because its expensive.
Curchack
In the Career Services Library, we have a directory of museums called Aviso: Newsletter of the American Association of Museums. That may help.
Grabel
Museum websites often list open jobs.
Macuga
I’d recommend checking them at least once a week, because the jobs open and close so quickly.
Q: Is calling the museums’ human resources departments directly a good idea?
Cohen
Yes, if they don’t post jobs on their website.
Grabel
And when you’re calling them, don’t be afraid of being pushy. It’s a good thing to be aggressive.
Pollick
Timing really is everything, so keep trying.
Q: What majors are desired for your lines of work?
Macuga
Art museums require an art background, but if you want to do websites for museums, for example, you need a design background.
Pollick
I studied management and marketing. I know that the skills will transfer. It depends on what you want to do and what you enjoy.
Wakely
I think there are three things you should appeal when you’re looking for a non-profit job:
1. Mental speed
2. Originality
3. Following up on ideas that you create.
The third characteristic is especially rare, so work on it.
Macuga
Advanced degrees are important, but office experience is very important, too. Employers want to see experience.
Cohen
In music and performing arts, Naomi’s (Grabel) job requires an advanced degree. That is, the more senior positions require more number-crunching skills. Business degrees will help in the higher levels.
Grabel
For me, the most important skills is writing skill because e-mail is so important.
Q: So you all have mentioned that education, experience and networking are necessary to find a position. When you look at applications, what else do you look for?
Macuga
It depends on the position, but for me the interview is very important.
Grabel
Networking gets you in the door and name-dropping helps too. After that, it’s how you do in person.
Q: If one is coming from the corporate world to the nonprofit sector, at what level does one usually enter?
Pollick
I was hired because I had transferable skills from business. Then, a company offered me a position because they heard of me through a non-profit. You cannot bypass any of these steps. Recommendations get you in the door, and then it comes down to how you do after that.
Q: Do people often come from the corporate sector?
Pollick
Not after seeing the salary and the effort they have to make! A lot of people think that the move to non-profit will mean an easier job, but that’s not true.
Macuga
It depends on when you make the move. It’s easier if you’ve only been out of school for a few years.
Wakely
We actually hired a retired professional project manager recently. His skills were perfect for what we needed.
Grabel
A lot of people at the Kimmel Center come from the corporate sector. But I’ve hired people that think that it’s easier, and they were in for a surprise!
Grabel
I did an executive administration program for non-profits. Everyone there had been laid off and wanted to get an “easy” non-profit job.
Curchack
If you’re interested in doing this, then you should stay in touch with the arts world somehow even if you’re in the corporate sector.
Q: Is it easy to switch departments once you’re in a particular non-profit?
Grabel
In a big organization, you have a leg up on outside applicants for the same position. Don’t make it obvious that you’re entering the organization just to move to another position, but it certainly helps to already be a part of the organization.
Pollick
And if your organization is affiliated with another organization, you can probably cross over more easily there, too.
Q: Can you get burned out at one museum?
Macuga
I work at a museum but I do concerts so I tune into a lot of little projects.
Grabel
I don’t think I’ve ever burnt out. I go see everything everywhere.
Pollick
You’re always ‘on’ as a development professional, because everyone is a potential donor. You spend hours at the theatre with donors, and it does leak into your personal life. After a while, you can start to overdose on famous musicals!
Cohen
Every one of my peers who went into almost any other field got burned out, but I still enjoy what I do. If you like what you do, then I don’t think you’ll ever burn out.
Q: Is the research aspect of museums hard to get into?
Wakely
Research requires an advanced degree. Academia is very cut-throat!
Macuga
The number of people in PhD programs right now is huge. Since advanced degrees are so common, employers look for unique experiences to set their applicants apart.
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