Work

Behind the Curtain: COVID‐19 as a Lens to Precarity in Museum Labor

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT Using in‐depth interviews with emerging and early professional museum workers in New Orleans, Louisiana, this article expands on scholarship around the perceived and actual value of nonprofit labor. It adds qualitative support to the argument that museum labor is real labor— open to exploitation and abuse while constantly negotiated internally and externally. The findings enhance an understanding of what happens when work asks too much and offers too little, underscoring that the future of the museum field is at risk if the institution is simply for the visitor and never for the staffer.

Source: Curator The Museum Journal

DOI: 10.1111/cura.70021

Author: Miriam Taylor Fair

Institution: Tulane University

Language: English

Topic: Museums and Cultural Heritage

Subfield: Museology

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Decent work and economic growth, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,900