Swallowed up in Museums

It has been a busy semester…err semester and a half. I seem to have disappeared, being swallowed up by life, immediately after the 2011 Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums Annual Meeting. Much has happened, most everything EXCELLENT!

Last September, for  my course ‘Creating an Exhibition’, we had the opening of an exhibition I co-curated with a fellow classmate, “The Way, The Truth, The Life: Sacred artifacts from Seton Hall’s Collections.” Below is a  picture taken at the opening. You can expect a full blog post (and more pictures) on this experience soon!

For those of you who read my last post about strategizing museum internships, you know how interested I am in the subject of internships within the museum field. Speaking at this conference, and subsequent conversations to it has inspired me to craft my thesis about professional guidelines and best practices in creating and/or improving museum internship programs. In brief, my thesis will contain three sections:

1. The first section of this thesis seeks to define the term internship and to differentiate it from volunteer and paid professional positions. It also categorizes internships in a number of types relevant to the museum field.
2. The second section is a guide for museums hoping to create and/or improve an internship program within their institution and will provide a template and examples of how to begin a formal program for graduate and/or recently post-graduate students, based on materials gathered from several museums and academic institutions.
3. The third section is a guide for students searching for an internship that will give them the type of experience that will qualify them for their career ahead and shares tips and tricks on finding the right internship, applying for it and then interviewing the institution to make sure it is the best possible fit for them.

Upon completion of this thesis I hope to launch a website I have been working on to make my thesis/guide available to museums, for free, across the world.  I hope that it will empower museums (especially smaller institutions) to create effective and valuable internship programs.  I also hope to host on this site an ongoing internship listing, free to all museums, students, and museum professionals. If any readers, museum professionals, internship coordinators at museums or universities have thoughts please feel free to contact me.

"Urban Owl" By Tricia Zimic

Though you may not believe it, I have many other things going on in life besides my thesis (okay, not TOO much, but some things).  I am currently working for a wonderful artist, Tricia Zimic, as her promoter, graphic/web designer, and all-out assistant.  My latest project though is attempting to independently curate a show including her work, as well as several other artists alike in theme.  Wish me luck, this is really my first time as an “independent” curator. Any advice is welcome.

Just last week I finally secured an internship. Internship AND Thesis in one semester you ask? That’s right! That’s what I get for working too many hours at paid jobs and not spending enough time getting an unpaid one in a museum! Story of the emerging museum professionals’ life.  My internship will be doing a sort of exhibition research and design at the Montclair Historical Society.  You all know my love of all things historical society AND historic house museum.  I’ll be keeping a journal for this internship, so you can expect more regular blog updates (I hope!).

Next week I am lucky enough to have been asked by the couple I nanny for to go to Aspen, CO for nine days, all expenses paid, in return for watching their two lovely little girls for only a portion of the trip.  How can one pass up such an opportunity? My plan, some babysitting, some tanning, lots of snow-shoeing (I’m not a particularly adept skier), and even MORE time sitting fireside working on my thesis.  Is it weird that I am looking forward to my vacation to have quiet-time to do my homework?

Annnnddddddd………….because blog posts without pictures are BOR-ING, here is one of my favorite pictures from my wonderful time spent at home in Iowa for Christmas. My adorable nephew Easton!