A few years ago, I tried to do something about the lack of professional standards in our industry. I began developing the foundations of an Art Technical Standards Committee, with the aim of creating documented, shared professional standards that training and development could sit behind. A reference point for the sector. Something that would give meaning to phrases like "best practice" and "professional baseline" rather than leaving them open to individual interpretation.

There was genuine interest, people were willing, and the conversations were really good. But the scale of the task became clear very quickly to me. Mapping competencies across different role types, defining terminology that works across institutions of vastly different sizes and collection types, aligning approaches to handling, installation, packing, storage, documentation and condition reporting, building governance structures, managing consultation and administration across siloed organisations and businesses and freelancer workers — this is not a spare-time project.

It…

In this post, I want to talk about one of the most consistently raised issues since this series started — what happens when the people responsible for hiring art technicians don't fully understand what the role actually requires, and the consequences that have for everyone involved.

Since starting this series, a number of people have got in touch privately to share their own experiences. And one theme has come up repeatedly — being hired into a role by someone who didn't fully understand what the job actually involved. Or being brought in with less experience than the role required, without the support structure to develop properly once there.

I want to be clear: this isn't a criticism of the individuals making those hiring decisions. In many cases, they are doing their best with limited knowledge and limited resources. But it is a structural problem — and one that has real…

There is a gap between organisations that need freelance art technicians and the systems, knowledge and culture needed to work with them effectively — and what a better approach actually looks like in practice.

Most arts organisations rely on freelance technicians to some degree. For many, freelancers are the majority of their technical workforce — brought in for installs, de-installs, collection moves, and everything in between. And yet in many organisations, the infrastructure for finding, booking, supporting and developing that freelance pool is remarkably underdeveloped.

The people making those booking decisions — technical managers, registrars, gallery managers, project managers, operations managers — are often doing so without a clear picture of what the local freelance market looks like, what different technicians are capable of, or what a fair and sustainable rate looks like for different levels of work. That's not a criticism of those individuals. It's a structural gap that…

Organisations are spending significant amounts of money on technical labour — just not in ways that make financial or professional sense. In many cases, it isn't working for them, for the workforce, or for the long-term health of the art technical sector. Let me tell you the whys…… 

Through ArtTechSpace, a number of institutions approached me, seeking an alternative to using external supplier companies for their staffing needs. They wanted people they could trust, consistency across projects, and technicians who understood the materials being worked with and the working environment. And they wanted it to cost less (classic) but with the money going directly to the people doing the work rather than disappearing into company overheads.

The demand was real. The logic was sound. But structural and financial barriers meant it never got off the ground.

And that tells us something important.

Because those same institutions — the ones who…