
The disparities on the labor market in the heritage sector are due to several causes. The attractiveness of a career in the cultural heritage sector has declined in recent decades, the main causes being low pay and a lack of innovative employment practices to counterbalance the modest financial reward. Also, the young graduates of some specialized universities are not prepared in accordance with the offer on the labor market, potential employers being thus forced to apply practices that reflect the special legal status of employees and the type of work in the cultural heritage sector.
Thus, the National History Museum of Transylvania is involved in the project CultHeRit – Identifying solutions for labor market disparities in the cultural heritage sector in the Danube region by improving accessibility for young professionals, within a partnership between 13 institutions and organizations from 8 countries, coordinated by the Hungarian Museum of Applied Arts [IMM] – project leader and the following partners: the Museum of Applied Arts [MAK] and the Cultural Platform of Upper Austria [KUPF ] – Austria; The National Heritage Institute [INP], the National Museum of Transylvanian History [MNIT] and the Bihor County Employment Agency [AJOFMBH] – Romania; Republican Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments [RIPCM], Subotica Intermunicipal Institute for the Protection of Historical Monuments [IPCMS] and the Trade Union of Employees in Cultural Institutions [SKS] – Serbia; Museum of Decorative Arts [UPM] – Czech Republic; Institute for the Protection of Cultural-Historical and Natural Heritage [IPC] – Bosnia and Herzegovina; Museum of Arts and Crafts [MUO] – Croatia; Research and Education Center "Mansion Rakičan" [RIS] – Slovenia. During 30 months (01.01.2024 – 30.06.2026), the partners aim to optimize the labor market by inducing positive changes in the employment practices currently applied in the cultural heritage sector. This will be achieved by defining and applying a model of employment in the cultural heritage institutions of the participating countries in the Danube region. By increasing access to the cultural heritage sector for young professionals, the CultHeRit project will contribute to slowing down and reversing the migration of young people with higher education and retaining skilled labor in the targeted institutions, while increasing the diversification of the sectoral workforce.
The objective of the project will be fulfilled through a series of specific activities:
- Carrying out the transnational analysis of employment practices in institutes and museums in the cultural heritage sector in the Danube region;
- Defining the general employment model for young professionals at the partnership level;
- Application of the model by hiring a young professional for 1 year in 10 institutions part of the project consortium;
- Evaluation and improvement of the applied model from three perspectives: of the young professional, the employer and external experts;
- Optimizing the general model of employment of young professionals to be used later at the regional level;
- Elaboration of the Transnational Study on access to jobs and the employment situation in institutes and museums in the cultural heritage sector;
- Elaboration of the Transnational Strategy regarding the improvement of access to jobs and the employment situation in institutes and museums in the cultural heritage sector;
- Running a visibility and advocacy campaign.
Among the topics addressed in the working group meetings will be: legal status and employment conditions, gender equality, access to jobs for people with disabilities and disadvantaged groups, the feasibility of solutions identified at the partnership level in a national context, etc. The members of the working group will contribute to the definition of a general and desirable employment model, to the development of recommendations during the testing of the employment model, to its adaptation and modification in order to make a real contribution to the improvement of the employment situation in the heritage sector, as and developing analyzes and collecting data.
The first stage of the project is dedicated to the elaboration the transnational analysis of employment practices by providing and collecting data based on the methodology developed within the consortium, which will aim to analyze the current conditions and dynamics of the labor market in the heritage sector. MNIT, in collaboration with the National Heritage Institute, will collect data on local employment practices to analyze relevant university programs as well as student expectations regarding employment in the cultural heritage sector.
Along with all other partners, our museum will identify desirable and at the same time viable solutions on a large scale for the recruitment, employment and retention of young professionals in the sector, thus contributing to the definition of a general model of their employment, applicable at the level of all the countries involved in the project.
After adapting to national regulations, the partners will test the applicability of the model by employment for 1 year of a recent graduate in one of the areas with a shortage of personnel, who will work under the guidance of a mentor.
Through the experience of this stage, MNIT will contribute to finalizing the employment modele and will transfer elements of it to the internal practices in the field of human resources.
Ultimately, the CultHeRit project strives to ensure that the cultural heritage sector becomes and remains an attractive workplace, offering careers aimed at the professional development of young employees, and aims to contribute to the retention of the skilled workforce by increasing at the same time occupational and age diversity in the sector.
Project CultHeRit – Identifying solutions for labor market disparities in the cultural heritage sector in the Danube region by improving accessibility for young professionals is part of the Danube Transnational Cooperation Program, a financing instrument of Interreg that aims to improve the application of regional development policies and programs in the Danube area. The project will be implemented between January 2024 and June 2026 and has a total budget of €2.043.590, of which €1.634.872 is non-refundable funding.
