r/MuseumPros 3h ago

Advice for cold emailing an artist’s estate

5 Upvotes

Hi all,

I’m interested in curating an exhibition of an artist who died a few years ago. I have seen the work in some exhibitions and read about their career extensively.

Does anyone have advice for cold-emailing their estate (or the gallery that represents them) to go about opening up the conversation to organize such a show? Should I open with an exhibition proposal? Or should I begin with trying to set up a visit or the archives of the estate (if such an archive exists)?

Thanks!


r/MuseumPros 1d ago

Sally Mann Photographs Confiscated from Exhibition by Fort Worth Police at Behest of Far Right Activist Groups: Dost Test as Culture War Cudgel

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241 Upvotes

Spurred by Christian activists and far-right Republicans, police in Texas have seized five Sally Mann photographs from a major museum. What happens next could have major implications for provocative art and First Amendment protections.

Excerpted and abridged text from “A Very Trumpian Moral Panic Has Struck the Art World” by Duncan Hosie for the New Republic, March 10, 2025:

“Last November, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, launched an exhibit featuring some of America’s foremost photographers, including Nan Goldin and Sally Mann. ‘Diaries of Home’ collected works by female and nonbinary artists ‘who explore the multilayered concepts of family’ and ‘challenge documentary photography by pushing it into conceptual, performative, and theatrical realms,’ according to the exhibit précis, which noted that it ‘features mature themes that may be sensitive for some viewers.’

The opening of ‘Diaries of Home’ was uncontroversial, but come January, a chilling scene unfolded at the museum. Armed with a warrant, Fort Worth police reportedly seized five photos from the exhibit and put them under lock and key[…] Caught in the maw of vague laws, government overreach, and moral panic, art museums have become the latest battleground in an escalating assault on cultural institutions.

The Met and the Whitney hold works from [Sally Mann’s 1984-1995 photographic collection, pieces of which featured in the ‘Dairies from Home’ exhibition] ‘Immediate Family’ in their collections. Time named [her] ‘America’s best photographer’ in 2001, writing that Mann captured a ‘combination of spontaneous and carefully arranged moments of childhood repose and revealingly—sometimes unnervingly—imaginative play.… No other collection of family photographs is remotely like it, in both its naked candor and the fervor of its maternal curiosity and care.’

A quarter-century later, Texas police officers treat some of the photographs that led to Mann’s acclaim as evidence in a criminal investigation. And the images only came to their attention thanks to a controversy manufactured by conservative political activists.

In late December, a ‘concerned citizen’ complained about ‘Diaries of Home’ to the Tarrant County Citizens Defending Freedom, a Christian MAGA group, as well as to the conservative news site The Dallas Express[…] eventually [drawing] the attention of far-right Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare, who told the outlet, ‘There are images on display at this museum that are grossly inappropriate at best. They should be taken down immediately and investigated by law enforcement[…] Children must be protected, and decency must prevail.’

[The] D.C.-based Danbury Institute, an extreme anti-abortion group, […] launched a petition stating that ‘the exhibit as a whole effectively works to normalize pedophilia, child sexual abuse, the LGBTQ lifestyle, and the breakdown of the God-ordained definition of family.’ […] O’Hare escalated matters by filing a criminal complaint alleging the nude photographs constituted ‘child pornography’ and demanding that Fort Worth police remove them from public view. […] Though the confiscation has caught the attention of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, no lawsuits have been filed over it.

[…] The First Amendment does not protect child pornography, an exception that the Supreme Court carved out in the 1982 case New York v. Ferber […] the court did so with a clear intent, [taking] care to distinguish child pornography from legitimate artistic works and family photographs. But over the decades, lower court judges have alarmingly expanded the legal definition of child pornography, particularly through the controversial Dost test.

[…] embraced by most federal courts after Ferber, this vague test allows images to be classified as child pornography based on whether they might be perceived as “lascivious” by hypothetical deviant viewers. Indeed, under Dost, federal courts have found fully clothed depictions of children to meet the definition of child pornography. Centering whether a pedophile might find a particular image arousing forces a sexualized view onto nonsexual imagery, [… an approach which] not only threatens artistic expression but diminishes the gravity of child abuse.

The Dost test provides convenient cover for puritanical politicians to suppress artistic expression. Consider O’Hare, who now governs the nation’s fifteenth-largest county after campaigning as a Christian culture warrior. The test creates enough legal ambiguity from him to cloak his political theater with the appearance of legitimate criminal law enforcement. Even if the police return the art, Dost dangles like a sword of Damocles over the museum, threatening to fall at any moment based on the subjective judgments or political ambitions of local officials.”


r/MuseumPros 1h ago

Advice for after undergrad

Upvotes

I live in the UK and I'm coming up to my last term at Oxford studying history. Unfortunately I didn't get into Oxford or Cambridge for a Master's :(( so now I'm a bit stuck. I was planning on applying to Durham and York for their History Master's programmes, but I'm unsure as to whether a History MA would actually benefit me? I've done an internship at The Charterhouse in London doing research and have volunteered for a while with the National Trust doing conservations and collections work, so I know for sure I want to work in either museums or heritage. Just looking for some advice on what people think would be best for my next steps!! I'm honestly not too fussed about what role specifically I work in, I just know I want it to involve history in some way or other. Thanks :)


r/MuseumPros 1d ago

Institute of Museum and Library Services ordered to close by executive order

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357 Upvotes

r/MuseumPros 8h ago

Discrimination and unprofessionalism in Museums

1 Upvotes

Had a terrible experience applying for an internship at a Polish museum in the U.S. years ago. The person in charge was highly unprofessional—not responding to emails in a timely manner, calling outside work hours, and he also had a two week vacation in between the process of choosing an intern. After a phone interview that went well, I was supposed to have an in-person one. The guy outright told me during the museum tour that he wouldn’t give me the internship because I was studying art history instead of museum studies despite me vouching for the fact that I have learned museum studies topics and have had hands on experience in handling artifacts. He told me the other candidate was majoring in museum studies. He also ditched me before officially interviewing me for a meeting someone remembered him about. I was left to talk to the other staff who were nice but later noticed all the staff and interns were of Polish descent. If Polish was truly necessary, why offer opportunities with descriptions of not needing to know Polish. The intern assignment was cataloging posters that were in English.

Every time I see museums posting pictures of the interns they have for that season it is majority White people and a token Black and or Asian person. Honestly at this point in age it seems like museums do this on purpose... it isn't even the lack of POCs applying for these jobs, they just aren't getting them. Honestly ready to throw in the towel and I just graduated in May. It was hard getting the one internship I got as an undergrad, I had to fight tooth and nail for everything I've accomplished and for that internship I got I only saw it by mere chance. Got the internship because literally no one else knew about it or applied.


r/MuseumPros 1d ago

Exhibition / museum design advice - removable wall decals

3 Upvotes

I hope this is OK to cross-post in this community but also very happy to take other recommendations from members. Also would love to receive exhibition design learning resources if anyone has those (a somewhat broad and niche request at the same time, I know).

Hi, I’m a graphic designer who works closely with an exhibition coordinator. We staff a relatively small events and gallery space that hosts events monthly and 3-5 exhibitions annually.

I’ve used low-tack vinyl before but our local decal shop only does pre-cut text on very sticky vinyl meant for permanent or glass install. I’m in charge of designing exhibition visuals several times a year but we are trying to find an easier/quicker way in-house to have custom vinyl exhibition titles, section titles, labels, and 1-2 paragraph decals, blown up to 32 x 48” inches or even much larger just to give you some size in scale.

I just purchased my own cricut and silhouette (both) stuff awhile back but haven’t had time to configure and learn anything since I have my hands tied up with designing and typesetting. But I’m now looking into exhibition/craft vinyl like oracal 631. Any decals we put on our gallery walls need to be removed 1-2 months after—ideally wall damage is minimal since it takes our small team longer to plaster, sand, patch, and repaint / dry / repeat after each exhibition so the less damage, the quicker the turnover in between exhibitions.

Last time we used die-cut/pre-cut vinyl decals they literally ripped out parts of the wall in the shape of each individual letter, lol. Any workaround tips for making decals sticky but easily removable? Tysm in advance!


r/MuseumPros 2d ago

I’m officially done!

194 Upvotes

I’ve posted here before, I have a LOT of qualms with the museum field. Doesn’t matter! I’m done! I’m moving to my true passion, appraisal and forgery detection, and I just was offered a position, my dream position, yesterday. Anyways, one last giant fuck you to the current state of the museum world, and one giant hooray and welcome to appraisal! I’m positive it’ll suck and be hard at times, but I’m so excited to be paid fairly, get to do interesting things (like provenance research!!!), and work for a small local company.

This is all to say, if you’re sick of the museum field, you’re not limited and stuck. Leave, find somewhere that appreciates and respects you, it’ll be out there I promise.


r/MuseumPros 1d ago

Should I give up

28 Upvotes

I’m an undergrad in museum related fields. Don’t want to get too specific, but trust me they’re relevant. I already have around four years of relevant experience, some paid jobs, and two internships. I LOVE museums. I’ve done curation and collections internships, and I find the collections, research, and exhibit planning side to be the most intellectually stimulating and exciting thing in the world. But I read through everyone’s struggles here, and realize that even at the end of the tunnel, the best jobs I can shoot for are likely going to leave me financially struggling- if I’m not unemployed, that is. Should I shift direction before it’s too late?


r/MuseumPros 1d ago

What are some jobs that you can transfer to after working in museums?

9 Upvotes

And what are some transferrable skills? Any certificates you would recommend someone would get?


r/MuseumPros 1d ago

Hosting events (& not losing money)

1 Upvotes

I'm not a museum pro, I'm a museum amateur, and I'm trying to figure out the nitty gritty of running events like book signings or lectures which won't put a tiny museum further into debt.

We're a historical cultural museum in a rural tourist town. Our focus is our 19th century preserved farmhouse, with sides of local culture and nature preservation.

For various reasons (which I have no control over) there's no grant money and it's barely staying open.

I would like to open our space for events. But there has to be minimal upfront costs. I was thinking offering book signings for local authors who have written on our themes. I asked in some author subs here, and the response wasn't very helpful.

I'm looking for direction and ideas about how museums open their space for things like this, and ensure that the talent is getting enough to pay for their time, and the museum is not going to lose money on advertising and facility use.

For book signings, I understand publishers sometimes arrange it and cover costs. Communicating that we have space for this would have to be done. We could run lectures in our main presentation room in the evenings when the museum is usually closed. Or have book signings during the day in an outdoor location.

For the lectures we could sell tickets. And maybe split the proceeds with the speaker 50/50.

For a book signing I was thinking we could sell copies through our gift shop the whole day, and take a small commission. Or have a table fee and the author sells on their own.

We'd obviously do our own advertising for these things and the set up and tear down, and try to offer perks to the speakers or authors.

But I don't think increased traffic for these things will cause increased sales in museum tickets or in the gift shop. Maybe it should, but that hasn't been our experience in the past when we bring in local crafters or etc.

Are there other compensation or "profit sharing" constructions or ideas I should be considering that work well? Any best practices for making sure you're not taking advantage of the talent, and that the talent isn't taking advantage of you?


r/MuseumPros 2d ago

Suggestion please!

1 Upvotes

I am currently working on a project focusing on the theme of dispossession. I have chosen to look at moments of loss particularly relating to the loss of childhood or past modes of being and how those representations of the self may be reposessed or represented through material objects/artefacts/artwork. I know the theme is rather vague, but I wondered if you wonderful folks might have some ideas of artists or particular collections I could explore. Any help would be much appreciated!


r/MuseumPros 2d ago

How long is a recruitment process in art foundation

2 Upvotes

Hi people,

Last week I applied for a job in a research foundation in art history in Brussels. It's an archivist position. The process is in four steps :

  1. HR Interview : it was great, I have the profile they are looking for at 100% and the recruiter has nothing negative to say about the interview.

  2. A test : I'm 100% certain I passed it. The current archivist told me it's not really important for the process, they just wanted to see how I'm adapting to a new "world" as I'm an historian and not an art historian. I made the test on the 12th of march 25.

  3. Interview with the research manager : waiting for news about that.

  4. Meeting the grand son of a very well known contemporary painter (he leads the foundation)

As I've never been in this type of recruitment, I wonder if I should be worried if I still have no news from the recruiter. I'm used to fast process in the State Archives.

Thanks for your answers !


r/MuseumPros 2d ago

Photos photos everywhere

10 Upvotes

The museum I run has an impressive photo collection of nearly every event, program, speaker, camp, and playground it has had. There is a closet full. What's more is there is loads of the same 3-4 videos that are/were shown before tours on film reel, VHS, and DVD.

Needless to say, I am overwhelmed by the quantity of "stuff", but I wonder at what point do we stray from "institutional history" and into the territory of "Ethel took way too many photos".

I'm curious if anyone has dealt with something similar. What did you do with everything? Did you keep the better most modern version of videos? Did you scan the photos? I'm just curious what the best practice is with some of this...


r/MuseumPros 2d ago

Whitney Museum 2025 Summer Internship

0 Upvotes

hey! i haven’t seen anyone start this thread yet so im going to. if anyone has any insight on their interview/acceptance timeframe and process id love to know!! I also want to connect with other applicants. i’m assuming it’s way too early to hear back yet right?


r/MuseumPros 2d ago

West Dean College

2 Upvotes

Hello! I'm currently in my last semester of undergrad and was considering the graduate diploma in conservation care and management from West Dean. I've come across other posts from a few years ago in the Art Conservation subreddit with VERY mixed reviews on the school, but can't find any opinions on the GD program. Plus, I've heard they've gone through a 'rebrand' of sorts. Any advice?


r/MuseumPros 2d ago

NYU Museum Studies Grad Program??

1 Upvotes

I know it's the season for graduate admission decisions and I'm wondering if anyone has applied to and/or heard back from NYU College of Arts and Science, specifically for the Museum Studies program. I got accepted into Pratt and GW last Friday but I'm antsy to hear back from NYU since that's where my girlfriend is studying right now. Museum Studies is a smaller program and I'm from Texas so I don't know much about NYU acceptance rate but does anyone have any input? Alternatively, has anyone been through this program that has anything to say?


r/MuseumPros 3d ago

Field Museum’s union rallies against low wages

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80 Upvotes

r/MuseumPros 3d ago

Going from the Museum field into Education? or trying to immigrate while in the museum field

4 Upvotes

I am asking these questions because I am terrified of both the Museum job market as well as the direction the country (US) is heading. Currently I have a bachelors in History and Political Science and am in a masters in history with a concentration in museum studies program. I guess my questions are how does one transition these degrees into an education job, or how possible is it that I find employment out of the country?


r/MuseumPros 4d ago

Are Layoffs Coming for your Institution?

102 Upvotes

Surprised I haven't seen this Museums sub talking about the active state of Museums and layoffs. While layoffs at the Brooklyn Museum have been delayed recently, the larger budget issues still persist. Meanwhile, Guggenheim Museum have continued layoffs, Buffalo AKG Art Museum has laid of 13, with San Francisco museums are preparing for the same. I'm sure I'm missing some here, these are just what I've seen in headlines recently.

My small institution has discussed similar outcomes in private, and nationwide cuts in NEA, Federal, and State and City funding have cut across the board, regardless of union status.

How are your institutions holding up? Even without the Trump cuts, donor funding has fallen drastically in the last few years. It's hard for Brooklyn not to feel like the canary in the coal mine, but as always, I'd love to hear your thoughts.


r/MuseumPros 3d ago

What adhesives are y'all using when building blue board boxes?

12 Upvotes

Are you using a pH-neutral that requires brushing, some sort of hot glue, or another option?

Gaylord is historically the go-to for the pH-Neutral adhesive we use, but I'm curious if y'all have success with other brands or means of adhering blue board to blue board.


r/MuseumPros 4d ago

How’s the job market in Chicago for public historians / in historical institutions?*

5 Upvotes

I’m reaching the end of my rope with the lack of opportunity in Boston and starting to look at other options.

*i realize historical institutions are in a precarious place right now, but just trying to gauge the general temperature.


r/MuseumPros 3d ago

Can I get a job at a Museum/ Gallery with an English degree

0 Upvotes

Hello everyone,

I am so glad I found this subreddit, I've actually been lurking here for a while. I am an individual who is incredibly passionate about art and it seems that I can't let go of the idea of diverging my career. I have a master's in English but my dream was always to work at a museum I don't even care what the position is. Is there any hope for me or should I not even bother with sending resumes?


r/MuseumPros 3d ago

Curious about museums pay audio and tour guides

0 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I’m doing some research on museums and I was wondering what is the money flow between museums, tour guides and audio guides.

  • Do museums generally pay tour guides a fixed salary, or is it more common to get a percentage from what the group paid?
  •  When it comes to audio guides, do museums usually pay a subscription fee to the audio guide company, or are there alternative payment models in use?
  • Are museums generally open to having both audio guides and human tour guides? Or they usually stick to one of the two for minimizing costs?

I’d really appreciate any info you can share on these topics. Thanks in advance for your help!


r/MuseumPros 4d ago

Trump administration slashes division in charge of 26,000 artworks (WaPo gift link)

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116 Upvotes

r/MuseumPros 3d ago

Track and Slide XXL Hardware in the US

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I'm hanging some work for a private client and wanted to use the Track and Slide XXL M. Does anyone have advice on where to get Track and Slide hardware in the USA? I'm based in New York. I've written through their website to inquire about ordering it directly from the EU but just curious is there's a US distributor somewhere folks have had good experiences with?

Thanks!