A Sicilian town has been ridiculed for its attempts to hire a museum director who will not be paid for their time, with critics claiming the case is emblematic of a wider culture of disregard for arts professionals in Italy.
On 13 September, the town of Aci, near Catania, published a job advert for a museum director to lead the Civic Museum of the Norman Castle of Svevo. The posting indicates that only professionals with a degree need apply.
The museum is situated in a Norman castle built on a rocky outcrop in 1076 and is divided into three sections dedicated to mineralogy, paleontology and archaeology. Displays include solidified lava from Mount Etna, prehistoric tools and Greek-Roman vases, and the remains of animals that predate humans, including extinct species of dwarf hippos and elephants.
The advert includes a long list of duties, including leading overall strategy, developing annual research and education programmes, and overseeing maintenance of the museum. Candidates must have a degree in classical literature, architecture, natural sciences, archaeology or equivalent subjects. Hopefuls have until 14 October to apply.
In an article published last week, the editors of LiveUniCT, a news website run by students at Catania University, called the advert “disconcerting”. They added: “the position is offered completely without pay, but the qualifications required are extremely high [...] This contrast between lack of compensation and high expectations is not only unacceptable, but also deeply unfair.”
The Italian Confederation of Archaeologists demanded in a note circulated on Saturday that councillors in Aci remove the job posting, adding that the confederation was committed to “defending the role of cultural heritage professionals”.
Rosanna Carrieri, the president of the MiRiconosci heritage association, tells The Art Newspaper that the association had received multiple reports of job adverts for unpaid museum positions in recent years. "The Aci case is not anomalous,” she says. In 2019, a Modern art and photography museum in Senigallia, near Ancona, advertised for a director who would be given a three-year contract and work “completely free of charge and without any payment”.
Three years later, the town of Sora, in Lazio, attempted to hire an unpaid pensioner to lead an archaeological museum. The council withdrew the job advert after numerous negative news reports were published.
Carrieri says candidates were sometimes willing to work as unpaid museum directors to enrich their CVs or fill spare time, with successful applicants often either young or retired. “This is a result of the perception that culture is not about work,” Carrieri says of the unpaid director roles. “Many people see the arts as just about beauty, and not as a profession.”