On Monday, February 7, 2022, Ithaka S+R opened Cycle 3 of the Art Museum Staff Demographic Survey—a survey funded by the Mellon Foundation and fielded in partnership with the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) and the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). Cycle 3 has now been open for approximately one month, and we would like to offer the following updates to support art museums still compiling their employee data and to address concerns for tentative participants.

Announcements

We are extending the deadline for art museums to submit completed spreadsheets. 

Please submit completed spreadsheets by Friday, April 1, 2022.  Finished spreadsheets should be named as follows: Your_Museum_Name_2022_Staff_Demographics.xlsx and emailed to Deirdre Harkins (Deirdre.Harkins@ithaka.org) using this subject line: Your Museum Name 2022 Staff Demographics.

Our “How to” webinar is now live on the AAM website.

Three Ithaka S+R team members presented a “How to” webinar with support from AAM. In the session, we cover background information, the process for submitting data, and the most frequently asked questions from participating museums. The recording with captions and the transcript of the session are available online thanks to our AAM colleagues. If you have questions not covered in the webinar, please contact us directly..

All art museums in North America are welcome to submit data.

If your museum is located outside of the United States, we recognize that some of our data formatting will be inconsistent with your records. In particular, we are aware that our categories for race and ethnicity reflect a US-centric approach to classification. We encourage museums in Canada or its Host Nations, Mexico, and the Caribbean to contact us if they are unsure about whether to participate or need support in formatting their data using our template. One of our organizational values is #belonging, and we are open to your comments and suggestions for how to make our study as inclusive as possible.

We have broadened our definition of “art museum” from previous cycles.

The most common question we have received is what  qualifies as an “art museum.” For the purposes of this study, we define “art museum” as “a non-profit institution that has a primary focus on collecting, conserving, and exhibiting fine art.” We do not include libraries, archives, historical houses and for-profit galleries, but we do include kunsthalles (non-collecting art museums). If you are still unsure, you may submit your data for us to review and/or contact us to discuss in more detail.

In select cases, your museum may submit data unformatted.

While our data format is the preferred structure of the data, we will accept unformatted datasets if your museum demonstrates need. Please contact us to alert us to your desire to submit and your challenge with the formatting. Special cases we consider include: museums with only one employee to complete the dataset, large museums with hundreds of employees, museums operating in languages other than English, and museums based in countries other than the United States.

Resources

  • Supplementary instructions for the survey (automatic download)
    • Step-by-step guide to accessing, completing, and submitting the spreadsheet
  • Slides from the “How to” webinar
    • Step-by-step guide to accessing, completing, and submitting the spreadsheet
    • Definition of “art museum”
    • Frequently asked questions
    • New survey link
  • AAM website for the “How to” webinar
    • Webinar recording with additional questions from museum staff
    • Webinar transcript
  • Contact us by email at any time
    • Troubleshooting with the survey platform
    • Classifying the roles in your museum with our categories
    • New survey link
    • Definition of “art museum” and scope of the study
    • Any other questions you may have!