Museum events boost need for more security
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Attracting visitors to appreciate art while sipping wine or hosting a children’s carnival are popular approaches museums nationwide use to woo visitors and new members. At Carnegie Museums’ four venues, such events require more security guards to keep an eye on valuable art and larger crowds during evening and weekend programs.
Last year, the four museums welcomed more than 20,000 people through adult social programs, most held during evenings, said Betsy Momich, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit.
“This type of programming demands a lot of flexibility of a security team, as do the special-event rentals at our facilities, and the exhibitions at all four museums. By consolidating our security needs with one professional security firm, we feel our museums, visitors and staff will be better served in the future,” Ms. Momich said.
Earlier this month, the museum’s interim director, Kevin Hiles, notified the state Department of Labor & Industry that the museums would lay off 76 guards, 20 of whom are full time and 56 part time.
Guards who have been employed by the museum will have a chance to interview with 3G Security Solutions, which takes over July 8. That arrangement, Ms. Momich said, was part of the deal negotiated with the security firm.
The museums chose 3G because it is a spinoff of AM-GARD, a local security business. Jennifer Boczar, a member of the family that founded AM-GARD in 1970, established 3G Security Solutions in 2010.
“AM-GARD has been helping us fill in guards when we need them. We had a relationship with them and felt that they were a good fit to meet the security needs,” Ms. Momich said.
When Carnegie Museums began offering additional programs several years ago, Ms. Momich said, “Our department didn’t have the built-in capacity to respond to these needs. We were using more and more contract services to supplement our own.”
The motivation for offering more adult programs is all about appealing to new audiences and to current audiences in new ways.
Subcontracting the security work, Ms. Momich said, is not expected to save money, but it will allow the museums to provide security for Third Thursdays at Carnegie Museum of Art, 21 Plus Nights at Carnegie Science Center, and events at the natural history museum that have drawn up to 2,000 people.
The change in security comes before the museums open their summer camps, when hundreds of students attend classes. In addition, Carnegie Museum of Art opens the 57th Carnegie International, the oldest showcase of contemporary art in North America, from Oct. 13 to March 25, 2019.