Hello Paul,
I have followed your career and wisdom for many years. May I urge you in the strongest possible terms to be more thoughtful in your responses and to make fewer generalizations? Not every museum among the thousands in this country is a hotbed of burnout and discontent. But even if they all were, we'd still have thousands of people entering or wanting to enter the field. And what exactly would you advise all of these EMPs to do? Go find work in a corporate environment where CEOs are cutting jobs and using AI as the excuse? In an era where cultural work is denigrated and history generally is attacked, I am encouraged by the fact that new people want to join us in a field that is still relevant and meaningful. I won't drive them away. I will tell them what I tell anyone looking for a place to belong and wanting to find meaningful work . . . you might get everything you want. You might not. It might take a while. You might end up going in another direction, and that's just fine.
Do you remember what it's like to be a young professional? Who would have been able to talk you out of what you wanted to do? In my English doctoral program in the late 1990s, my class was told over and over that there were no jobs in English departments and maybe we should quit or be prepared to be creative. Most of my cohort did get jobs in academia or got creative. We were also being told this by freshly minted PhDs who did, in fact, have the kinds of jobs we wanted. That's what we sound like when we tell EMPs that the field is terrible. We got what we wanted, but you young'uns shouldn't bother.
Any of us at the mid- or late-career stage have an obligation to prepare, mentor, and support the next generation of museum professionals. That's what SEMC does consistently in its programming and conference. They are acting as a responsible support organization in our field.
Among my friends and my children, I know that workplaces of all kinds struggle with all kinds of issues, just like museums. The young people I know push back pretty assertively on the kind of treatment of employees you describe. I also know from my own experience in academia, government, and the nonprofit sector that in many ways all workplaces are actually better than when I joined the workforce.
We owe those who look to us for wisdom the truth and a dose of realism at times. The world will mostly take care of the realism for them. We also owe them support, mentorship, and nurturing.
Angie
Angie Albright, Director118 W. Johnson Avenue
Springdale, AR 72764
Original Message:
Sent: 5/16/2026 1:49:00 PM
From: Paul Thistle
Subject: RE: FREE SEMC Virtual Program 5/28: So...You Want a Museum Career?
Dear Presenters:
May I urge you in the strongest possible terms to include a warning for EMP attendees that careers in the museum field present a significant danger of over-commitment, overwork, & resulting burnout due to the fact that practitioners love what we do so much that healthy boundaries between work and liesure disappear. I have been analysing this problem & presenting solutions since 1983 on my Solving Task Saturation for Museum Workers blog. I have concluded that museum organisations are part of the problem by setting high expectations without necessary ways & means of actually achieving them. For example, see 46 fully-documented hits for the term "burnout" at https://solvetasksaturation.wordpress.com/?s=%22burnout%22 . Best wishes for a successful event.
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Paul C.Thistle
Director/Curator (retired)
Stratford, Ontario
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2026 01:34 PM
From: Heather Nowak
Subject: FREE SEMC Virtual Program 5/28: So...You Want a Museum Career?
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Heather Nowak
Program Administrator
Southeastern Museums Conference
Atlanta GA
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