The Night of Museums becomes "the night of protests"

The grievances of employees in the cultural sector are boiling over. There is also an exact date for this. This year's edition of the Night of the Museums will be a special one, not because it marks 20 years of existence, reason for celebration under normal conditions, but because it will probably bring with it the biggest protest of the museums since "89, said Dragoş Neamu, coordinator of International Relations and Cultural Projects - RNMR.

According to Neamu: "You will notice that many museums in the country do not appear on the Night of Museums 2024 program, their representatives can be found and supported in Piaţa Victoriei. It is about a protest that I, personally, consider legitimate and support, for that the stake is a 20% increase in salaries in the museum sector, for any professional position, to balance the great inequities and discriminations that exist within the cultural sector between, for example, museums and theaters". He added that "there are other issues related to investments and a certain particular attention that must be given to an institution that is essential for the mind and education of a nation". "There have been many lobbying actions, great efforts made by some people, too few, who sincerely love museums and dedicate themselves to them by sacrificing their own convenience and personal interests. You can also find them in the CulturMedia Union and in the National Network of Museums in Romania and at the Ministry of Culture", said Neamu. According to the representative of the National Network of Museums, there will be many museums and cultural entities that will participate in the event. Neamu mentioned that he also supports this approach because the public must enjoy an event that happens once a year and which they look forward to. In addition, there are private museums and museums that are not affected by these social problems in the community, have other credit administrators or, simply, have other visions regarding their relationship with the public and state institutions. Dragoş Neamu also stated: "The Night of the Museums is not an exclusive event of the museums subordinated to the Ministry of Culture or of the Town Halls and County Councils in the country, it is of all types of museums, and the organizers have some obligations towards all those who represent this sector and regarding the status of organizer and official partner in Romania of the European Night of Museums. There are many nuances in the middle, which makes the objective assessment of the situation extremely complicated, especially when in the middle there is a lot of frustration, humiliation, disappointment, but also a lack of knowledge, empathy and understanding. I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything, and here I'm explaining things for those outside the museum community." He added that "solidarity for the cause of museums exists, it is well represented, to the same extent that respect for the public we want close, including for this cause, is sufficiently demonstrated by the program of this year's edition".

The trade unions in the field of cultural heritage protection associated within the National Federation of Trade Unions in Culture and Mass Media "CulturMedia" - CNS Cartel Alfa will protest on May 18, on International Museum Day, in front of the Government, accusing underfunding in the field. According to a press release from the National Federation of Trade Unions in Culture and Mass Media "CulturMedia" - CNS Cartel Alfa, on May 18 the European public is invited to the Night of Museums, which will be held internationally in 2024, under the motto "Museums, Sustainability and Good condition" and it should have been "a generous event", a celebration and an anniversary moment of reference - 20 years of the Night of Museums in Romania, but things are different. The unionists accuse the "continuous degradation of the work environment" in the institutions with a role in the management of the national cultural heritage, "discriminatory treatment" between the performance institutions and museums and libraries, "humiliation and ignorance" of the professions related to the protection of the national cultural heritage, "cultural policies and inadequate wages", "misery to which the workers in the field are condemned", despite the complexity of the professional training and the difficulty of the professions specific to the field, the "sentence to premature extinction" of the specialists in the field, who leave the system with "misery pensions", the "dramatic depopulation and deprofessionalization" of the field. The protest on May 18 will take place according to the following schedule: 4:00 p.m. - meeting in front of the National Library, between 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. - picketing at the Ministry of Culture, between 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. - protest in the Square Victory.