A survey of participants in Diversify, the Museums Association’s (MA) positive-action training scheme, has found that three-quarters were employed in museums within six months of completing the programme.
Diversify, which ended in 2011, came out of a collaboration between the University of Leicester’s school of museum studies and the MA in 1998.
The project was designed to address the under-representation of people from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds in museums and galleries.
One hundred and ten people from BAME backgrounds participated in Diversify between 1998 and 2010. A mix of bursaries and traineeships enabled them to pursue masters degrees in museum studies and obtain paid placements in museums.
Last year, 43 participants completed a questionnaire from the MA. It emerged that 60% were already working in museum management or were on track to progress to a senior level – a key long-term aim of the scheme. But the survey found that 7% of respondents had not found work in the sector.
Respondents highlighted how Diversify helped them overcome the cost of postgraduate museum studies training and pre-entry voluntary work.
One participant said: “I could not have afforded to volunteer for so long in order to get the experience required to get a good job in the sector.”
Diversify was extended in 2010 when the MA initiated the Next Step Grant scheme to support the professional development of BAME individuals and people with disabilities already working in the sector.
Maurice Davies, head of policy and communication at the MA, said: “The good news is that over the past decade or so, the proportion of minority-ethnic people working in museums has tripled, and Diversify has played a part in improving things.
"However, the bad news is that it’s still only about 7%, compared with more than 12% minority-ethnic people in the working-age population as a whole.”
A roundtable discussion on Diversify is to be held at the National Portrait Gallery in London next month, and a consultation on the future of workforce diversification has been launched on the MA website.
Click here to respond to the consultation
Diversify, which ended in 2011, came out of a collaboration between the University of Leicester’s school of museum studies and the MA in 1998.
The project was designed to address the under-representation of people from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds in museums and galleries.
One hundred and ten people from BAME backgrounds participated in Diversify between 1998 and 2010. A mix of bursaries and traineeships enabled them to pursue masters degrees in museum studies and obtain paid placements in museums.
Last year, 43 participants completed a questionnaire from the MA. It emerged that 60% were already working in museum management or were on track to progress to a senior level – a key long-term aim of the scheme. But the survey found that 7% of respondents had not found work in the sector.
Respondents highlighted how Diversify helped them overcome the cost of postgraduate museum studies training and pre-entry voluntary work.
One participant said: “I could not have afforded to volunteer for so long in order to get the experience required to get a good job in the sector.”
Diversify was extended in 2010 when the MA initiated the Next Step Grant scheme to support the professional development of BAME individuals and people with disabilities already working in the sector.
Maurice Davies, head of policy and communication at the MA, said: “The good news is that over the past decade or so, the proportion of minority-ethnic people working in museums has tripled, and Diversify has played a part in improving things.
"However, the bad news is that it’s still only about 7%, compared with more than 12% minority-ethnic people in the working-age population as a whole.”
A roundtable discussion on Diversify is to be held at the National Portrait Gallery in London next month, and a consultation on the future of workforce diversification has been launched on the MA website.
Click here to respond to the consultation