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…

I want to talk about what happens to knowledge when experienced technicians leave — through retirement, physical and mental burnout, or simply moving on — and what organisations can do about it before it's too late.

Every time an experienced technician leaves this industry, something leaves with them that we haven't worked out how to keep.

I've been to a lot of retirement parties in this industry. Some of them twice — because the person was asked to come back after they left, once everyone realised that sitting with them was decades of knowledge that nobody had thought to capture, document, or pass on properly. That's not a criticism of those individuals. It's a reflection of how little we invest in knowledge transfer until it's almost too late.

And the retirements are coming faster now.

Our workforce is ageing. The people who built their careers in the 80s, 90s and…

There's a contradiction sitting at the heart of our industry that I don't think we talk about: we say we need experienced art technicians. But where are those experienced technicians supposed to come from? The magical art technician tree?

Entry into the art technical profession has predominantly been informal forever. You got in through word of mouth. Through someone you studied with at art school. Through being in the right place at the right time, knowing the right people, volunteering for the right institution. Through slowly building confidence over years of watching and doing and making mistakes when the stakes were low enough to survive them.

That's how most of us got here.

But that system only works when access to those spaces is broad. And is it still — I don't think it is.

Art education, where most technicians came from, has shifted significantly. Educational costs are high. Working…

So we all know art and artefacts don't protect themselves — skills and knowledge do.

But here's the uncomfortable truth that I think we need to sit with for a moment:

What actually happens when those skills aren't aligned across a team / workforce / industry?

When something goes wrong in our industry, the instinct is to look for fault. Who moved it, who packed it, who installed it, who condition reported it? And sometimes that's the right question. But most preventable damage doesn't come from carelessness — it comes from inconsistency. One technician was shown one method, another learned differently, materials and resources vary between sites, and shortcuts creep in quietly under the pressure of a tight work schedule.

And here's the thing — the damage that results from this rarely looks dramatic. It's a scuff on a frame, a stress mark on a canvas, packaging that wasn't quite…

Museums, galleries, studios, archives, heritage sites and logistics companies all share one responsibility:

Safeguarding objects of cultural and historical significance.

So riddle me this…

We invest in climate control.

We invest in security systems.