What an awful name, what a dreadful title for a section of a publication dedicated to museum sciences! Lavoro, it reeks of grandparents, or rather great-grandparents, of black-and-white photos, of mildew, of creases, of staleness. Surely, an Anglo-ministerial term like job would have been better: so refined, so uncommitted, yet so modern and international, so jet set.

The name may well be dreadful, but it reflects the reality of the situation: many aspire to work in the educational, exhibition, and museum sectors, but they simply cannot. Often, when they do find something, it’s underpaid, precarious work that bears no relation to their academic path (though this disconnect is just one of the many hypocrisies of the national education and training system, which we intend to address in a dedicated space).

Network Museum Lavoro is a program whose aim is to understand why there is neither the will nor the capacity to create, or rather, to express, job opportunities within the cultural sector. It seeks to give voice to the many professionals and missed or denied opportunities that remain unheard.

We believe that investigating these issues is not only appropriate but absolutely necessary for a project like Network Museum, which for over twenty years has sought to embody the role of a scientific, non-journalistic publication dedicated to museum sciences.

Within Network Museum Lavoro, space will be dedicated to the professional profiles, expectations, and opinions of those—young and not so young—who aspire to work in the museum, exhibition, and educational sectors. Their voices will bear witness to the many skills and talents that are being lost, perhaps due to more or less concealed forms of cronyism and a congenital incapacity within the sector, further complicated by relentless bureaucracy that stifles every initiative, and by the institutional self-referentiality too often exploited by the politics of the moment.

We wish—why not—to become champions of the many who have been excluded, to embrace their demands, and, like Socratic gadflies, to seek a deeper understanding of employment conditions within the sector. By raising awareness among relevant institutions and stakeholders, we aim to stimulate initiatives and strategies that investigate the phenomenon and, perhaps, contribute to achieving even the smallest of results.

Further information about the Network Museum Lavoro program can be requested at: info@networkmuseum.com