Labor Leaders Are Slamming the Tate After It Posted a ‘Head of Coffee’ Job Vacancy That Pays More Than the Average Curatorial Salary

British trade-union officials blasted the Tate this week after
the museum put out a job listing for a “head of coffee” position that pays nearly
£40,000 ($52,000)—a figure that surpasses the average curatorial
salary.

Alan Leighton, the national secretary of the Propsect union,
which represents 145,000 workers in a variety of industries, told
the Guardian that the job posting
stressed the comparatively meager salaries taken home by the UK’s
cultural workers.

“The pay discrepancy highlighted is a stark reminder, not that
the head of coffee is paid too much but that highly qualified
museum professionals are paid far too little,” he told the
newspaper.

According to a UK job-postings website, the annual salary
for assistant curators ranges from £18,000 to £25,000 ($25,000
to $32,000). Higher-level curators are paid between £26,000
and £35,000 ($34,000 to $45,000), and lead curators and heads
of collections start at around £40,000
($52,000). According to information available on Glassdoor, the average curatorial salary in
London is around £37,000 ($49,000).

The museum is now defending itself, arguing that the head of
coffee’s position is comparable to that of a curatorial team
leader, with a range of responsibilities. “It’s unfair to
compare a head of department with a curatorial role of a different
level,” the museum said.

In a statement provided to the Guardian, Tate said its
lead curators earned between £40,000 and £50,000 ($52,000 and
$65,000).

Available figures indicate that average curatorial salaries in
North America tend to be slightly higher than those in the
UK. A 2019 study by the Association of Art Museum
Directors analyzing the pay rates at 208 museums in the US and
Canada found that the mean salary for a chief curator was $141,804;
associate curators were paid just over $70,000; and curatorial
assistants took home around $45,000.

Still, US museum employees have been unionizing en masse in
recent months. Other grassroots efforts—including a viral Google spreadsheet documenting
art-world salaries across the country and a separate call
to end unpaid internships—point to a growing
concern with poor pay for cultural workers.

The post Labor Leaders Are Slamming the Tate After It Posted
a ‘Head of Coffee’ Job Vacancy That Pays More Than the Average
Curatorial Salary appeared first on artnet News.