Project Curator
British Museum

As a child I wanted to be an Egyptologist, learn ancient languages and discover treasures. I cherished this career goal until I started studying Art History and Archaeology at the Louvre. The more I read and worked in the cultural sector, the more I diversified my aspirations; I got particularly interested in curatorial work and, other than ancient history, I also became very keen on contemporary art, the history of religions, the notions of cultural hybridity, legitimacy and ownership of cultural heritage.   

The SOCL scheme opened my eyes to ideas around diversifying museum audiences, creating narratives through community engagement and giving a voice to all parts of a society. As Public Programmes Assistant at the National Army Museum, my role consisted in supporting the Public Programmes manager in organising and delivering the events of the Museum. 

Today, I carry on developing my curatorial skills working as project curator in the Middle East department at the British Museum and I would like in the next years to start a research project on the dynamics of cultural hybridity in the global art market.  

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Collections Assistant 
RAF Museum 

I have always been interested in working with museum collections. Whilst studying for my degree in archaeology at the University of Reading I worked with material objects and understood how these objects illustrate the journey of human history.  

Since graduating from university in 2015, I have volunteered at both museums and universities to develop my skills and knowledge with a focus on collections management and conservation. It was thanks to Culture&, who gave young people like me the opportunity to work in the heritage sector and take my skills to another level. Whilst working at Royal Pavilion & Museums as a Collections Assistant Trainee, I have been fortunate enough to work with different museum professionals allowing me opportunities that have been invaluable for me in my museum career. The best thing about working in museums is what I learn: object handling techniques, different types of conservation methods and applying these preventative techniques, cataloguing and documenting museum objects into the database. 

During my traineeship at Royal Pavilion & Museums, I have assisted in large-scale gallery installation projects. Contributing to the work for the Constable and Brighton exhibition at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery was an enjoyable and enriching experience, learning about acquisitioning, conservation and design. Another key area of activity was the archaeology gallery, which provided an opportunity to work on a new permanent gallery from the beginning. After finishing my traineeship, I wish to continue expanding my skills in similar roles and even specialise in areas of work relating to collections management and I hope to inspire younger generations from diverse background towards a possible future in the heritage sector.  

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Community Partnerships Trainee 
British Museum 

I studied BSc Psychology at university and completed my dissertation on, ‘The perceptions of mental health and suicide within sub-populations of Guyanese people living in England.’ I enjoy reading about hidden and forgotten histories and am interested in learning more about oral histories, community engagement as well as museum studies. 

Some of the areas I have been able to work on during my traineeship have been collections and conservation care, planning and delivering sessions and supporting BM events. I work with a wide range of audiences across the borough of Camden, delivering activities inspired by the Learning and National Partnerships’ handling collections, both at the museum and offsite.

I completed an audit of the collections with the help of a volunteer, which included over 600 handling objects. I supported the running of special events and exhibition previews. I made resources including object and activity booklets which can be used alongside outreach object themes such as adornment and textiles and constructed new themes for outreach with a colleague. I was also able to support youth volunteer groups, learning about objects, picking themes for hands on desks, delivery on desk and communication skills for sign-posting and collecting feedback from visitors within exhibitions.  This experience was enriched even further by the support and mentoring from my colleagues and supervisors. Each day holds new challenges and I’m constantly learning new things. I can’t wait to build on these in the future. 

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Interpretation Trainee at English Heritage Trust  
English Heritage 

I have a strong interest in history and art and how they are interpreted within cultural institutions. During my time at English Heritage I have had many enjoyable moments. One of them has been to lead on the delivery of an exhibition to celebrate 100 years of Marble Hill as a public park. I put together the exhibition with the curatorial team to enhance community connections with Marble Hill Park. I developed good project management skills to deliver the exhibition on time, within budget and within brand guidelines. Also in creating the exhibition, I got an understanding of copyright issues as I achieved image and film permissions from various sources. 

To start building a sense of shared ownership of the property between audiences and English Heritage. I have been organising and jointly giving group tours of Marble Hill House. Groups that wouldn’t have normally visited Marble Hill on their own accord, have now come to the property and a communication channel has been opened. The relationship can now be fostered to hopefully encourage repeat visits and a place for community events.  My time at English Heritage has been so mixed that I have enriched my knowledge of the heritage sector. I have been able to gain experience in creating exhibitions and to work with a range of people from key stakeholders to local residents. 

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Curatorial Assistant 
Science Museum

I believe I have a global perspective that allows me to see what connects different communities, countries and people. I have also worked with a wide range of collections and within a wide range of heritage institutions. I aim to consolidate all these experiences into a meaningful career in the arts and heritage industry. 

During my time at Birmingham Museums Trust as a Collections Support Trainee based at the Trust’s offsite storage facility, The Museum Collection Centre, I achieved and learnt a lot. I feel that the traineeship was very useful in developing my skills for working in the heritage sector in the future. I learnt about and got to apply practical skills related to collections care, management and documentation in all the various tasks I was doing, including assisting the Change Makers project with accessing objects for the #PastIsNow exhibition on Birmingham and the British Empire.  

Other projects I have helped on at Birmingham Museums Trust include the Arts Council England funded ‘Birmingham Manufactures’ project. I have worked with the project in a number of ways. This includes surveying historical and archival records of objects in the Science and Industry collection and documenting any information that was not currently in the database to improve the electronic collection records. I have also helped catalogue objects in the collection and conducted research to establish further details about collection items. 

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Junior Learning Producer  Historic Royal Palaces 

I have always been fascinated by storytelling and history. I firmly believe that by looking into the past we can shape the future. This naturally led me to be interested in the museum and heritage sector. Museums can certainly contribute to a better quality of life but of course, not everyone enjoys visiting such sites or feels welcome at them. It has been this particular reason that has spurred me to work with adults that do not see museums and heritage sites as a space they can claim as their own.  

Whilst at Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) I was placed within the adult learning team, working alongside my supervisor and Learning Producer, Kim Klug. I was able to work on a variety of provisions provided for adults at the different HRP sites. At Kensington Palace, I primarily worked on a community access programme, Build Your Own Discovery, for adult groups who face real or perceived barriers to engagement with the Palace. I was responsible for finding suitable groups, providing training to group leaders and offering on-going support to them through the creation of resources and guides. 

2017 was also the year that saw a blockbuster exhibition at Kensington Palace, Diana: Her Fashion Story. This provided the opportunity for me to work alongside Learning Producer, Rosanagh Fuller, to organise exhibition late openings for adults throughout the summer. I was responsible for helping to create the content and format of the evenings as well as sourcing relevant partners to work with.

Both projects were a success, the exhibition lates were sold out events and Build Your Own Discovery engaged with over 1,600 individuals, its highest number of participants reached in the programme’s 5-year history. My aspirations for the future are to continue to work on and deliver projects within museum and heritage sites that seek to diversify audiences.   < back

Junior Learning Producer  Historic Royal Palaces 

During my time as a Junior Learning Producer at Historic Royal Palaces, it has been my goal to create opportunities for a diverse younger audience within the Heritage and Museums Sector. I am a passionate believer that these spaces nurture a great platform for young people to learn and connect to their past. During my placement at Historic Royal Palaces, I managed a range of programmes and projects across informal and formal learning, targeted at our young audience (4 – 19 years old). I supported the management of the Time Explorers Challenge, a year-long flagship CPD school programme which involved 4,800 school students and co-ordinated a variety of work experience students and young volunteers as part of our Work-Based Learning Programme.

Alongside such projects, I have also had the pleasure of presenting at a Historical Association Conference, producing a showcase magazine and assisting the organisation of our annual youth-take over Music Festival with a reach of over 1,200 students. 

Inspired by my traineeship at Historic Royal Palaces, I also founded an award-winning Intern and Apprentice Network across our palaces named HRP Emerge which I chose to create in response to the needs of fellow trainees, interns and apprentices.   < back

Collections Management Trainee 
Norfolk Museums Service 

I studied History, Literature and Culture BA (Hons) at Brighton University and since then have been focused on learning through interdisciplinary methodologies. The SOCL traineeship offered me a chance to engage with contemporary heritage practices and to challenge myself.  As a queer intersectional feminist my focus during the traineeship was to investigate areas of interpretation and under-representation within cultural heritage institutions, through critical engagement. This action produced a range of interesting questions, particularly in terms of metanarratives and re-examining past interpretation, necessitating discussions and debates throughout the year with curators, colleagues and peers.   

I led on a range of collections based projects throughout the year, including managing an art store move (over 100 paintings), auditing and documenting a collection of glass plate negatives (over 2000), improving store management and documentation for collections based at different museum sites, and training students and volunteers in collection management skills and processes.  

I initiated and led a queer heritage project focused on improving the representation of queer people within the museum through re-interpreting previously accessioned objects and encouraging contemporary accessioning.  I also worked on the initial stages of a Suffrage project in the last few months of my traineeship. This included researching local Suffrage activists and nominating a candidate for the WLGS (Women’s Local Government Society) Suffrage Pioneers Project, before meeting with curators and colleagues to discuss future programming possibilities for 2018.

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London Transport Museum 
Contemporary Collecting Curator 

I fell in love with history at a young age and now continue to pursue my passion for people as a museum curator. For me, discussion on race and culture is important, as the more you learn, the more you understand the interconnectivity and uniqueness of different communities.  

I have held positions in various community organisations over the years and now continue to focus on representation and inclusion as the Contemporary Collecting Curator at the London Transport Museum. My primary focuses in collections management are in exhibitions, data management, and digitisation. Through collections management, I aim to positively impact the way in which we see our everyday lives, whether through contemporary collecting or through revisiting the past and revealing/ remembering hidden histories.  

I created poster parades for the themes of “Reimagining Historic posters” and “The Flow of the River” in my time as a trainee at the London Transport Museum. This has given me great experience in project planning, label writing, conservation and managing a team. Both parades covered topics such as design, legacy, and innovation; the first poster parade being a comparison of similar older and more contemporary posters, whilst the “flow of the river” featured a variety of river styles and audio accompaniment. I began preliminary work on the Frank Pick slide collection at the end of 2016. Over the course of a year, the project involved digitalizing, cataloguing and researching pre-WW2 lantern slides, a collection which belonged to a major former CEO of London Transport. 

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