A miscellaneous bit of interesting information – I recently saw a job posting for the executive director of the Cultural Institutions Retirement System (CIRS). I was totally unaware of the existence of an organization specifically dedicated to providing pension and other retirement benefits for cultural organizations. I assumed most cultural organizations arranged for retirement services independently of each other or that employees received these benefits through their union membership.
In fact, that may be largely the case outside of NYC where about 50 cultural institutions in the five boroughs of NYC, plus one in Newark, NJ participate in the retirement system. Most members are museums and gardens, but there are a few unions and organizations like American Parkinson Disease Assoc., Inc. and Animal Care & Control of NYC, Inc. who also participate.
More surprising however is that an additional 100 child care centers also offer their retirement benefits through CIRS. The retirement system was started in 1962 by five museums, the child care centers started joining in 1964.
All in all, it seems like an interesting, though unexpected, alliance of organizational interests pooling their funds to provide retirement benefits to their members.