In the week of 11 May, my inbox was full of invitations for the
celebration of the European Museum Night and International Day of Museums. On
Facebook, it was no less tense, with museums and their governing bodies reminding
us that all roads would lead to a museum. A great party atmosphere, an enormous
offer all over the country, which was also translated into numbers. The media
reported that there were 140 activities on the occasion of the European Museum
Night (16 May) and 430 activities on International Museum Day (18 May) across
70 different Portuguese museums. The truth is that few of the activities
proposed responded to ICOM challenge to reflect on “Museums for a sustainable
society”. This left me thinking how museums actually perceive this yearly
challenge and if it has any impact whatsoever on their practices – on Museum
Day and in the rest of the year. Having said this, the richness and intensity
of the programme, as well as the celebratory mood, could make one believe that
the museum sector in Portugal shows clear signs of prosperity. Thus, news on 18
May of some museum staff going on strike, contesting the reduction in the
payment of overtime, as well as the fact that they were obliged to work on a
Monday (the day intended for weekly rest), were something of a marginal note (watch the TV report).
Post scriptum
In
the beginning of 2015, one of David Fleming’s first tweets was: “Hope museums
find their voice in 2015 in alerting the public to the impacts of austerity on
what we are able to do compared with before.” It was an alert that stayed with
me, even more so, because David is the Director of National Museums Liverpool
and one must admit that we are not very used to national museum directors, in England
or other countries, being so outspoken publicly and clearly showing that his
loyalty lies first of all with his museum and the responsibilities it has with
the citizens and not with the governement of any given time.
“Almost every
organisation is downsizing its activities, streamlining, re-evaluating business
models and searching down the back of the sofa for loose change. Right now,
even the most robustly funded organisations are propped up by the hours of
unpaid work their staff put in to serve and support the art they love.
Politicians are fond of calling out employers who exploit unpaid workers, but
it’s time for them to realise that the biggest exploitation of our sector’s
goodwill is the government itself. The British arts and culture sector, a world
leader and significant source of revenue from leisure and tourism spending, is
built on an exploitative foundation of unpaid labour – that we all willingly
collude in rather than sacrifice the arts ecology we love.”
This is a powerful statement and one that doesn’t relate
solely to the British cultural sector. It brought two things to my mind:
During the conference The Role of Culture, organized last April by the Secretary of State for Culture,
more than one colleague from the performing arts field - a field largely
chatacterized by intermittent work - confessed that, given the actual working
conditions, they feel utterly exausted and they keep asking themselves if it is
worth carrying on or if they should simply give up and stop. How and why should
one carry on, when all too often it is suggested to them that they offer their
work for free or get paid only from ticket sales revenue; when one, in order to
put up a play, must do absolutely everything: production, promotion, stagehand
work, cleaning, selling the tickets, as well as rehearsing and interpreting....
No similar stories were shared by those working in the museum
sector... And yet, we all know that if most museums are carrying on at this
moment, it is because, the more the government cuts, the more museum staff
invest: they invest their time, their expertise, they do extra hours for which
they are not paid for and they even buy material needed by the museum with
their own money or bake cakes and prepare coffee at home when the museum cannot
spend money on coffee breaks for conferences or seminars.
So one wonders: what does it take for one to say “Enough!”?
What does it take to acknowledge and let society know that this sector is
sustained (barely sustained) thanks to the sacrifice, personal investment and
exploitation of those working in it? Has Portuguese society felt the brutal
effects of cuts in the cultural sector? Will the government (this one or the
next) ever take responsibility and give this sector the conditions to function
adequately, if things are still happening and if everything goes on as if
nothing changed?
One last note: it is an illusion to think that things do
actually go on... No matter how much effort one puts, many of the activities
and events proposed end up being a repetition of what has happened a number of
times before, lacking originality, excitment or relevance. Planning and tasks
that need expert involvement are carried out by people who do a bit of
everything and the best they can. Sadly, this is not good enough. It’s not good
enough for the professionals in the field and it is not good enough for the
society this sector aims to serve. We all deserve better. In order to get what
we deserve, though, it is urgent to stop collaborating in our own exploitation
and the downgrading of the services offered by this sector to the society. We
cannot be co-responsible for the current state of things neither for their
perpetuation and worsening.
More readings:
Raquel Henriques da Silva, O rei nu na cultura em Portugal e uma proposta para fazer diferente
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