Museums are places that have a lot of diversity in their collections, but the people who care for, analyze, interpret, and make decisions about  artifacts are often white and from middle or upper-class financial positions.

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Many museums know that having more diverse staff would make our institutions stronger, and could even improve our care for artifacts. Many museums want more diverse staff to work there, they're just not sure how to support them.

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Here's some information about getting a job in the museum sector:

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• Many people start working in museums as volunteers, or in entry level jobs like tour guide, educator, or front desk attendant. In the museum industry you can work your way into different roles once you get in the door.

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• It's important to have good reading and writing skills, and be comfortable on a computer using programs like email, word, and excel. You might not need a high school diploma, but you need the skills you'd get in English, CALM, and computer classes.

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• Some people get degrees from university to work in a museum, but it's not necessary. The Alberta Museum Association has (mostly online) courses you can take to learn specific skills like museum education, and collection care. When you take all the classes they have you get a "museum certificate" which is usually enough to qualify you for a mid-level job in a museum

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• There are a lot of other courses online too that you can take to learn museum skills. Sometimes if you are working at a museum in an entry level job, your employer will pay for your class fees to get more museum skills.

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• There are two professional associations for museum workers, the Alberta Museum Association, and the Canadian Museum Association. It is good to join these, or to attend their conferences. You can always write them an email to ask for a lower membership fee if you can't afford it. You have you pay yearly, but you get access to scholarships and grants.

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• The Alberta Museum Association has an email list, if you join it, you'll get information about museum jobs and other information about the industry. It's good to stay up to date what museums are doing.

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• You can always check museum websites for job postings. Or if you know of a museum you want to work at, contact their staff and ask for an "informational interview." At the interview you can ask for tips about how to get hired at that museum, and ask them what skills they want you to have

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If you think you might want to work in museums, heritage, tourism, or libraries, I would be happy to help you make a plan to do that, or to put you in touch with someone who could be a mentor. Please contact me.

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