Craigslist – Great source for entry level museum jobs
American Association of Museums – Good source for mid level and senior museum positions
Association of Science Technology Centers - Good source for mid level and senior science center positions
Association of Children’s Museums – Good source for mid level and senior children’s museum positions
Museum -L – Museum list serve, lists mid level and senior museum jobs
Coroflot – Good source for design positions, list museum jobs from time to time
Core 77 – Good source for design positions, lists museum jobs from time to time

Go to museum conferences and network, talk to people.  Get business cards and send thank you notes.
6. Volunteering – Volunteering at a museum is a great way to get your foot in the door.  It is the way I got my first museum job.  Also give you an opportunity to try working for different departments within the museum.
7. Floor Staff – I am a firm believer that everyone who works at a museum spends time working on the museum floor working with the public.  Getting a job as a cashier, museum store staff, security and education floor staff, are the most likely first jobs at a museum.
8. Museum Firms – There are many firms that provide services to museums, design firms, fund raising, Art handling, insurance, head hunters, IT, if you can’t find a job in a museum, try a firm supplying services to museums.
9. Informational interview / Interview – An informational interview is a great way to understand the dynamics of a particular museum.  Most museum staff are open to a 15-20 minute informational interview; be professional, show up on time, send a thank you note and be prepared with questions.  If you are interviewing for a job, stay concentrated on how your skills match the needs of the museum.
10. Keeping the job – Museums are slow moving political institutions.  Try to stay out of the museum politics, define your job as well as possible,  understand how your performance will be reviewed and be ready for change and challenges. Often the easiest way to move up the museum career ladder is to move to another museum.

Current Exhibitions related to Climate Change:

“Hot Pink Flamingos” at Monterey Bay Aquarium
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/storage/pressroom/presskit/pdf/Hot_Pink_Flamingos_Press_Kit_0310.pdf&sa=X&ei=kAHtS7qoLo7cswOS-ZC_Dw&ved=0CBkQzgQoADAA&usg=AFQjCNGW32TD8R9PsG_mDNgAPrHkpmRdiQ

Climate science gallery at the Science Museum, London
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/climate_science.aspx

Rising Currents: Projects for New York’s Waterfront at MOMA
http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1031

Earth Under Fire at AAAS
http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2009/1117art_exhibit.shtml

Green by Design at the Tech Museum of Innovation
http://www.thetech.org/exhibits/permanent/index.php?galKey=gd

Climate X at the Norwegian Technical and Science Museum
http://www.visitoslo.com/en/oslos-museum-of-science-and-technology-wins-leading-edge-award.49108.376058r99a.tln.html

Birch Aquarium at UCSD
http://www.aquarium.ucsd.edu/Exhibits/Feeling_the_Heat/fth_movies/fth_3min_sm.mov

Climate Change at the AMNH
http://www.amnh.org/rose/hope/climate/

Duplicate of Climate Change at PRAE in Spain
http://www.praecyl.es/exposiciones/cambio-climatico/

Bill Nye’s Climate Lab at the Chabot Space and Science Center
http://billsclimatelab.org/

The Last Days of Shishmaref at LP II, Rotterdam
http://www.thelastdaysofshishmaref.com/shishmaref3/cms/cms_module/index.php

The Ancient Basin exhibit at the Washakie Museum
http://www.washakiemuseum.org/ancient_basin_11.html

INLO International Action on Global Warming
http://astc.org/iglo/c3/science-center-activities/

Grasping Climate a traveling exhibition from Teknikenshus, Sweeden
http://www.teknikenshus.se/english/exhibitions/temporary/index.html

Climate Change at the Australian Museum
http://australianmuseum.net.au/blogpost/Thumbs-up-for-climate-change-exhibition/

I call lots of museums.  I have become fascinated by the telephone systems of different museums, some museum telephone systems are easy to navigate and some are nerve racking and frustrating.

Exhibitions are a form of communication and the culture of the museum offers the “voice” to that communication.  Is the “voice” a friend? A teacher? An older relative?  It is fascinating the different voices that are communicated for exhibitions.  I like thinking in analogies, often I learn more about the culture of a museum from their phone system than I do from their organizational chart.  Is the phone system user friendly?  Easy to navigate? Helpful?  Able to connect me with the information in the way I want to connect?

Think about your own museum phone system and try calling as a teacher wanting to book a school trip.  Try calling as a mother wanting directions, try calling as the vendor who works on the air conditioning, for each call were your needs met?  Could you connect with the appropriate person?

In many ways a phone system is like a museum, callers are contacting the museum for information tailored to them in a welcoming fashion at their own level, a tall order, but try calling American Express and see how you feel or call Fidelity Investments and see how you feel.  Information tailored to the visitor in a pleasant and efficient manner, it can be done!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703964104575335301840480246.html

The Museum of Modern Art attracted its highest-ever number of visitors, 3.09 million, during its 2010 fiscal year, according to estimates released Monday by the museum. (The tally is an estimate because the museum’s fiscal year does not end until June 30.) The figure represents an increase of 250,000 over the previous year’s attendance, and a 530,000 increase over the museum’s first full year of operation in its new building (fiscal year 2006).

“The Guggenheim Museum has become the emblem of the northern Spanish city of Bilbao and its main tourist attraction, but now attempts to spread its magic by building an extension in a nearby nature reserve have run into fierce opposition.

Provincial authorities want to call an international competition for a museum extension in the bucolic surroundings of the coastal Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve, 25 miles from Bilbao, hoping it will help boost the local economy in the same way the Guggenheim helped Bilbao.”

“That was part of the reasoning when officials at Kidspace Children’s Museum, bowing to economic realities, opted to put on hold an ambitious $20million, 9,000-square-foot building and instead create a Physics Forest that will feature 10 to 15 new exhibits in a naturally landscaped area shaded with transplanted native trees.”

Taman Mini, Indonesia Indah, Jakarta 13560
http://ppiptek.ristek.go.id

PRESS RELEASE

Dr. Legoh, Director of the Science-Technology Center, Indonesia announced today the planning of the new exhibition “Global Warming”. The exhibition is scheduled to open in early 2011. Dr. Legoh said “this is a critical topic for the future of Indonesia and it is our responsibility to educate the public of how they can make a difference”. The exhibition will be 235 square meters (2500 square feet) and will be a on the third floor of the Center. Hendra Suryanto; Science Officer said, “the Center is in the early stages of the planning of the exhibition and we excited to be part of a world wide effort to make a difference.

The Science-Technology Center, Indonesia is located in Taman Mini, Jakarta, Indonesia and is the largest science center in Indonesia. The Center is visited by 300,000 visitors annually and hosts 200 school groups per year. The Center is considered to be the finest science educational facility in Indonesia receiving a rating of excellent by more than 85% of the Center’s visitors. The center has a policy of social responsibility and will not turn away visitors unable to pay museum admission 15,000 rupiah. The Science-Technology Center, Indonesia is non-profit and an active member of the Association of Science and Technology Centers, the largest professional organization of science museums.

The Science and Technology Center has retained Museum Planer, LLC to assist in the planning and fund raising of the exhibition. Contact Mark Walhimer for information regarding sponsorship opportunities.

Mark Walhimer

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