2023 VIRTUAL SPECIAL ISSUE
Guest Editors: Alexandra F. Morris, PhD., Asami Robledo-Allen Yamamoto, Kate Zankowicz, PhD., and Andrea Kim Neighbors

Read the full collection here.

Museum education is in a state of crisis. This Virtual Special Issue is a call of solidarity with all those who have considered leaving the field but who are still inside, or who have already fled. According to Christine Maslach and Michael P. Leiter, burnout emerges as “a prolonged response to chronic interpersonal stressors on the job.” With burnout, you may find yourself experiencing microaggressions or tokenization due to being a part of a marginalized group(s), lack of support, mentorship, and/or pay, or overall absence of compassion, understanding, and/or empathy. This can be exhausting as you muddle through figuring things out independently while still acting as an advocate, resource, and sounding board. You may take on all this extra emotional weight for the good of the field, while wishing someone would just check to see if you’re okay. If this describes how you are feeling now, may this gathering of articles offer you insight and comfort during your time of need.

The collection begins with survey articles, revealing historical trends and data about the state of museum education. Next are articles about trauma and the weight museum educators carry to ensure visitor’s emotional safety when creating safer and healing spaces. The following articles address burnout related to climate change, and race, disability, and LGBTQ+ identities. We conclude the series of articles with an editorial focusing on love- hopefully leaving you feeling hopeful. 

As you read, remember that being burned out is a systemic problem. Burnout is evidence of systemic oppression, often cast as a “you” problem. It is time to dismantle the ableist paradigm of burnout being about individual shortcomings (ie. that you can’t handle the work because you don’t have enough of the fight in you.) Let us be inspired by Elaine Heumann Gurian’s words: “Museums are a business and they can be cruel places to work, but we can arm ourselves with love for ourselves, our work and one another.”

SELECTED ARTICLES

Year	Article Title	Authors
2022	Illness and Empathy: Promoting Anti-Ableist Practices in Art Museum Education	Asami Robledo-Allen Yamamoto & Beatriz Asfora Galuban
2022	Attending to Each Other: Centering Neurodivergent Museum Professionals in Attentive Facilitation	Sam Theriault & Rebecca Ljungren
2022	Museum Crip Space, By Any Other Name	Beth Ziebarth & Janice Majewski
2022	Exploring Trauma Responsive Educational Practices in a Museum	C. Aaron Price, Leila Makdisi, Gail Hutchison, Daniel Lancaster & Micere Keels
2021	The Privilege of Low Pay: Informal Educators’ Perspectives on Workforce Equity and Diversity	K. Rende, K. Fromson, M. G. Jones & M. Ennes
2021	The Significant Loss of Museum Educators in 2020: A Data Story	Amanda Krantz & Stephanie Downey
2021	Weaving Trauma Awareness into Museum Education	Jackie Armstrong, Laura Evans, Stephen Legari, Ronna Tulgan Ostheimer, Andrew Palamara & Emily Wiskera
2021	The Need for Educators of Color in K-12 Museum Tours	Jessica Fuentes
2020	LGBTIQ+-Themed Education at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna – Guided Tours with a Drag Queen	Benjamin Rowles
2017	Doing the Work: A Discussion on Visioning and Realizing Racial Equity in Museums	Radiah Harper & Keonna Hendrick
2016	Fostering Humanism in Medicine through Art and Reflection	Holly C. Gooding, Mariah Quinn, Barbara Martin, Alexandra Charrow & Joel T. Katz
1988	Journal of Museum Education, Volume 13, Issue 2, 1988
1999	Love: The Enduring Prerequisite at the Heart of Museum Work	Elaine Heumann Gurian
2009	The Museum Educator Crisis	Tina R. Nolan
2013	Carving a Strong Identity: Investigating the Life Histories of Museum Educators	Natasha S. Reid
2013	Fostering Hope in Climate Change Educators	Janet K. Swim & John Fraser