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In the following conversation with Steve Perkins, Assistant Director of Cultural Property Security, we discuss how an education in the arts can facilitate a career in cultural property management and museum safety and security. We also discuss the importance of museum security in visitor experience, and how cultural property management and museum security activities support the mission of an academic museum and of the College at large. The transcript has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Amanda Skinner (AS): Thanks for chatting with me, Steve. What originally drew you to the field of museum security?

Steve Perkins (SP): My background, which is an arts background, is somewhat of an anomaly in this field. Most folks doing cultural property security management are former law enforcement. However, I am an artist and had an art career. I hold a BFA (1982) from Alfred University and an MFA degree (1986) from the State University of New York at Albany. I studied drawing and painting and also took photography and printmaking. My preferred subject matter was abstraction in college, and almost photorealism in later years. Now, I do plein air landscape, botanical drawings, and playful inventive things, which is kind of full circle to the stuff I was doing in college.

Though I enjoyed being an artist professionally, as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized the appeal of careers that include benefits and retirement. I first started working at º£½ÇÖ±²¥ College Museum of Art in 2009 as a casual Museum Security Officer—the rest of my experience in museum security evolved from there.

AS: How has your training as an artist helped you in the realm of museum security?

SP: What I’ve found is that my experience, education, and understanding of art and art history, and the art world at large, has been beneficial in giving me the language to work with curators, preparators, administrators, and registrars who run museums. I find this work to be very interesting, and I love being in an art museum. As an artist, I relate to it. As a young person I had thought I might end up teaching in an academic institution, but, interestingly, I found my way into an academic institution via this route instead. That said, underneath it I’m a bohemian artist with paint spattered jeans.

AS: Are you from Maine originally?

SP: I grew up in Herkimer, New York—an area in central New York known as dairy country and for early 20^th century manufacturing. I moved to Maine in 2000 to be closer to my family. I worked at º£½ÇÖ±²¥ from 2009-2018 before leaving to manage security and facilities at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College and then to the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College.

AS: In this role at the º£½ÇÖ±²¥ College Museum of Art, what does a “regular day” look like for you?

SP: My role typically revolves around activities related to staffing, hiring, scheduling, security technology, maintenance upkeep, and ensuring the adherence to policies and protocols. I don’t train new officers anymore, but I still oversee training and collaborate with campus safety and security to do so. With my colleague Amy Morin, Associate Director for Museum Finance and Operations, I also assist with facilities management of the Museum.

Visitor experience is also important to our department. The more knowledgeable the officers are about the collection and the College, the better equipped they are to do their job. Our primary job is life safety and collection security, but we are front facing and represent the College. The more we can help visitors enjoy their experience, the better.

AS: How do you stay up to date on best practices in the field?

SP: There are professional conferences I attend such as the International Foundation for Cultural Property Protection, which I’ve presented at a couple of times. I will be presenting again there in May. There’s going to be a panel discussion and workshop on threat scenarios for cultural property institutions—the current panel consists of risk management, attorney, insurance expert, visitor relations, and a safety and security position. I’m looking forward to learning what the other panelists are going to bring to the discussion.

AS: How does the work of the BCMA Security Team support the mission of the BCMA and the College?

SP: We support the mission of the Museum and College by facilitating safe and enjoyable use of museum spaces. We don’t work with students directly in any capacity, but we are always happy to see them, especially for events like Student Night!

AS: Do you have any advice for someone who might be interested in pursuing a career in cultural property management and/or museum safety and security?

SP: My advice would be for them to be well rounded in their knowledge of all aspects of museum operations, collections management, art history, etc. If you build a solid knowledge base, that foundation will serve you well. There are so many avenues in this field that someone can plug in to, and cultural property management is a good job if you love art. I’ve found that the academic museum world is particularly collaborative, of which I enjoy being a part. I also really appreciate the larger community of º£½ÇÖ±²¥ College, specifically. I am very happy to be here!

Amanda Skinner
Assistant Director for Museum Communications