2025 Art Museum Staff Demographic Survey

Previous cycle report: https://sr.ithaka.org/publications/art-museum-staff-demographic-survey-2022/

Background

I am not familiar with the Art Museum Staff Demographic Survey. Could you give me more information?

Starting in 2014, Ithaka S+R has worked with the Mellon Foundation to field a triennial survey collecting demographic information about art museum employees. The core drive is to track the field’s demographics and to provide a benchmarking dataset. 2025 marks the fourth cycle, and we anticipate being able to draw some trend lines that stretch back almost a decade.

Eligibility

If you received an invitation email to the Survey, it is safe to assume that you qualify for participation. When in doubt, please contact us to discuss at sr-amsds@ithaka.org.

Privacy and Reporting

My museum is not comfortable sharing personally identifiable information (PII) with an external party, OR my museum is not allowed to share PII.

We agree that museums should not share any personally identifiable information (PII) with us! Please do not include any PII in your spreadsheet. We will delete all PII submitted. PII includes first and last names, birth month and day, physical addresses, and email addresses, among other data points. The goal is to receive individual-level data that cannot be re-traced back to any one individual staff member. We welcome your questions, comments, and concerns relating to which data we collect and why. You can read more about Ithaka S+R’s approach to data privacy and data security here: https://www.ithaka.org/privacypolicy/. You can also reach out to Ioana Hulbert at ioana.hulbert@ithaka.org OR sr-amsds@ithaka.org with any other questions regarding privacy, ethics, and data storage and use.

Who has access to the data museums provide?

Access to the original data is restricted to the project team within Ithaka S+R using our secure cloud server. For Cycle 4, six individuals are authorized to access, review and manipulate the data: Ioana Hulbert, Deirdre Harkins, Mark McBride, Kimberly Lutz, Juni Ahari and Liam Sweeney. Upon receipt of the spreadsheets, Ithaka S+R staff will aggregate all of the spreadsheets into one single dataset, check for any PII, and remove any remaining PII in the process with the goal of creating an aggregated dataset that where no one observation can be tied back to any individual person. This will constitute the “clean” dataset Ithaka S+R will use for analysis.

The Mellon Foundation research staff will have access to a version of this clean dataset which will have institution names removed—thus ensuring that NO single observation can be traced back to any one individual or any one museum. Mellon research staff will use the data to better understand and benchmark fieldwide staffing trends. Please note that Mellon grantmaking staff will not have access to the dataset.

How will my museum’s data be used in Ithaka S+R’s analysis?

At the close of the survey, our team will aggregate all of the spreadsheets into a single dataset, removing any remaining PII in the process. Our public reporting will reflect analysis on this aggregate dataset, only. All museums that completed the spreadsheet will be provided with a private, complimentary report that puts the museum’s data in context with the aggregate findings. No other parties will receive access to the private reports from Ithaka S+R.

What happens to the data when the study is over?

We will be publishing the aggregate dataset with ICPSR at the University of Michigan, specifically with an NEA funded database called the National Archive for Data on Arts and Culture, NADAC. ICPSR will ensure that museums and individuals are not re-identifiable.

Submitting Data

Could you send me a new survey link?

Of course! You can email us at sr-amsds@ithaka.org to request your link. You should be able to return to the landing page an unlimited number of times.

Could you remind me of the naming conventions for the spreadsheet?

Spreadsheets should be saved with the following name format: Your_Museum_Name_2025_Staff_Demographics.xlsx

When is my museum’s spreadsheet due back to Ithaka S+R?

Friday, April 7, 2025, is the deadline to submit spreadsheets to Ithaka S+R for Cycle 4.

Note: Please be in touch by email if your museum needs additional time to submit or if you will need to provide unformatted data.

How do I submit my museum’s spreadsheet?

Note: Please use “Your Museum Name 2025 Staff Demographics” as the email subject line to alert us to your attachment.

How will you/I know if my museum has submitted our data?

We track participation according to which museums submit their data by email. You can contact us at any time to determine the status of your museum’s data at sr-amsds@ithaka.org.

My museum does not collect data for some of the variables in the spreadsheet, AND/OR I am unsure what is meant by the categories for a variable. Can I leave those variables blank?

Some institutions do not track “Education” (Column I), “Protected Veteran” status (Column M) or “Disability Status” (Column N). If you are unable to fill in those variables, please select, “Data Not Collected.” If you are uncomfortable providing some information, please select “Decline to state.” If there are other variables (such as “Exemption” or “FT/PT”) about which you are unsure, please see below or contact us at sr-amsds@ithaka.org.

Spreadsheet Instructions and Commonly Asked Questions

When you click on the survey instrument link, a spreadsheet, titled, “2025_Art Museum Staff Demographic Spreadsheet_Template” will automatically download to your computer. You can access it via your browser or from your “downloads” folder. After opening the file, you will see a blank spreadsheet with headers. In the tab titled “Template”, columns B-N will have an arrow indicating a drop down list. A full list of categories for each column can be seen in the second tab, “Lists.”

It is important to use the categories we’ve provided. Submissions that do not conform to the provided categories may not be included in the analysis for the public report. Therefore, we will ask you to make changes and resubmit if the entries vary from the categories provided.

We ask that you complete one row for each employee in the museum. Please include all paid employees currently working at the museum. We ask that you do not provide their names.

Column A: Job Title

Please fill in the job title of each paid employee at your institution. This column does not have drop down options.

Column B: Job Type

Please match the job title from column A, to the job types indicated in the drop down menu.

Could you give an example of what job qualifies as a specific “Job Type” (Column B)?

Our team has prepared the following table to assist with classifying roles at your museum. Please contact us at sr-amsds@ithaka.org with any additional questions.

“Job Type”	Common Example(s)
Conservation	Project Conservator; Conservator, Archivist
Curatorial	Curator; Curatorial Assistant, Museum Specialist, Provenance research; Collections manager
Digital Strategy/Web Development	Graphic Designer; Web Developer
Diversity/Equity/Accessibility and Inclusion	DEAI Director
Educator/Learning and Engagement	Museum Educator; Education Coordinator
Exhibition Design (includes Fabrication)	Design Manager; Exhibitions Designer
Facilities, Buildings, Capital Projects	Building Services; Porter
Finance	Accountant
Food Services	Chef, Supervisor of Food Services, Caterer, Barista
Gardens/Grounds	Gardeners; Horticulturist
Human Resources	Human Resources Coordinator
Information Technology	IT Manager
Legal	Legal Assistant, Paralegal, Governance Specialist
Librarian	Library Associate; Museum Librarian
Marketing/Public Relations	Communications Assistant; Media Director, Publicist
Membership/Development (Includes Event Planning)	Event Planner; Member Associate
Museum Director	Directors, CEO
Preparators/Handlers	Preparator; Assistant Preparator
Public/Community Engagement	Public Programs Manager; Community Engagement; Government Affairs
Publication/Editorial	Editor, Multimedia Producer, Head of Publications, Label Editor
Registrar	Registrar, Cataloguer
Retail and Store	Retail Associate, Museum Store Manager
Rights/Reproduction	Registration Assistant Rights and Images, Photographer, Videographer
Security	Security Coordinator; Gallery Officer
Support/Administrator	Executive Assistant to the Director; Chief of Staff; Office Administrator, Receptionist
Visitor Services	Visitor Services; Tour Guide; Docent

Column C: Executive Leadership Position

For this column, please select “yes” or “no” if the employee is in an executive leadership or C-Suite position. For example: Chief Finance Officer, Chief Development Officer, Director of Development, etc.

Column D: EEO Job Category

Please select the corresponding EEO job category for each employee. EEO stands for Equal Employment Opportunity, overseen by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). According to the EEOC website, “Most employers with at least 15 employees are covered by EEOC laws.” Though we are using the EEO-1 Categories as the standard for this cycle of the survey, we will also accept EEO-4 Categories.

Note: If your museum does not use EEO job categories at all (e.g., your museum is located outside of the United States), you may leave Column D blank.

Column E: Exemption Status

Please select whether each employee is exempt or non-exempt. “Exemption” in Column E refers to an employee who is “Exempt” from overtime provisions of the US Department of Labor’s Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), because they are classified as an executive, professional, administrative, or outside sales employee. Exempt employees must be paid on a salary basis. “Non-exempt” refers to an employee who is not exempt from overtime pay, and is entitled to pay for all hours worked beyond the standard 40 per week. Non-exempt employees may be paid on a salary, hourly, or other basis.

Note: If your museum does not classify employees as “Exempt” or “Non-exempt” (e.g., your museum is located outside of the United States), you may leave Column E blank.

Column F: Employment Type

Please select the employment type for each employee (regular employee, contractor, paid intern, fellow, work-study).

My museum has employees that do not fit within the categories for “Employment Type.” How should I categorize them?

One of the special cases we encounter concerns student workers. If your museum employs undergraduate or graduate students (either in partnership with academic institutions or solely under the umbrella of the museum), please select “paid intern” as their employment type. At this time we are not collecting data on unpaid interns. In the case of students who may work at the museum through a work-study arrangement, please select “work-study,” as their employment type. As work-study employees are typically not paid by the institution, their data will not be included in the final report. Contact us by email at sr-amsds@ithaka.org, if you are unsure.

My museum does not collect data on our interns. Should we still include interns as employees in the spreadsheet?

If you do not collect demographic data for paid interns, we ask that you still indicate their presence in the museum through the “Employment Type” variable. Where possible, include their “Job Title” (Column A) and “Job Type” (Column B). For example, a curatorial intern would fit in the “Curatorial” Job Type.

Column G: Permanent or Temporary

For this column, please select if each employee is a permanent employee (without a set end date), or a temporary/ fixed term employee.

Column H: FT/PT

Please indicate if each employee is a full time or part time employee.

Column I: Education

Please select the highest level of education each employee has completed. This is something that is not commonly tracked, so if you are unable to fill in this variable, please select “Data Not Collected.” If you would prefer not to share this information, please select “Decline to State.”

Column J: Race and Column K: Ethnicity: Hispanic, Latino or Spanish Origin

Please indicate both the race of the employee and whether their ethnicity is of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin. The race and ethnicity variables have been separated to correspond to the way that the US Census has collected data. If your museum collects Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin status as a race category, for those individuals please select “Decline to state” for Race in column J and “Yes” for Ethnicity: Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin in column K. These two variables will be combined in our final analysis, corresponding to common practices among demographers. If your records indicate that the employee is of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin, but you do not have race recorded, you can also select “Decline to state” for Race and indicate “Yes” for Ethnicity.

Column L: Gender

Please select each employee’s gender as listed in your HR system. If you are unable to fill in this variable, please select “Data Not Collected.” If you would prefer not to share this information please select “Decline to State.”

Column M: Protected Veteran Status

Please indicate each employee’s protected veteran status. This is something that is not commonly tracked, so if you are unable to fill in this variable, please select “Data Not Collected.” If you would prefer not to share this information, please select “Decline to State.”

Column N: Disability Status

“Disability status” refers to whether an employee has indicated a physical or mental impairment that requires the employer to provide reasonable accommodations if requested. It is very common that this data point is not tracked, and in this case you may leave Column N blank or indicate “Data Not Collected.” If you would prefer not to share this information, you may select “Decline to State.”

Column O: Year of Birth

Please indicate the year in which each employee was born. If this data is not available please indicate “Data Not Collected” or if you would prefer not to share this information, please indicate “Decline to State.” This column does not have drop down options.

Column P: Year Hired

Please indicate the year in which each employee was first hired at your institution, regardless of position. This column does not have drop down options.

Submit

Once you have completed the survey please save it with the format of: Your_Museum_Name_2025_Staff_Demographics.xlsx

We ask that you please upload your completed spreadsheet via your survey link through Qualtrics, a secured survey platform. If you have any issues doing so, you may send your completed spreadsheet by email to sr-amsds@ithaka.org as an alternative. If you choose to email us the spreadsheet, please use “[Your Museum Name] 2025 Staff Demographics” as the email subject line to alert us to your attachment.