Student Name:

Gemma

Programme of Study:

Museum Studies (MA) 2016 -2017 Academic Year

Career/ Sector Interests:

Curatorial/Exhibitions/Collections Management

Placement Venue:

Discovery Museum (TWAM)

Placement Duration (30 or 12 days):

30 days June – July 2017

What type of activities did you undertake whilst you were on placement?

Whilst on placement I undertook a great range of activities and experiences. My placement supervisor was extremely supportive and helped tailor the placement to areas I both particularly enjoyed as well as those I did not have a great amount of experience in previously. I also got to shadow my supervisor in a lot of the work she undertook in order to get a wider experience of how her work tied in to the many other areas of the museum and how her job functions on a day to day basis, which provided me with a brilliant insight into the sector.

Some of the main activities I undertook on placement were:

- Research into the collections ahead of the Esme Fairbairn project the Discovery Museum is undertaking in 2018/2019 which will centre on women and their experiences.

- The accessioning of new items, including some material used in the Donald Trump Newcastle Protest.

- I also completed the evaluation report for the temporary installation regarding the protest and the public response to it.

- Helped facilitate/research new content for the Tiny Sparks learning programme

- Updated the toy and doll records within the social history collection.

- Shadowing my supervisor which enabled me to sit in on programming meetings, TWAM’s Try New Things internal scheme meetings as well as planning for the implementation of Arts Council’s Creative Case meetings.

What were you placement highlights?

Although I loved every minute of my placement some of my highlights were:

- Assisting with the research/planning of the If You Lived Here… event ran by Discovery whilst I was on placement. It looked at the issue of global displacement and involved the installation of a UNHCR shelter on the Discovery Plaza which I was able to help with the curation of.

- I also got to assist with an event at the Shipley Museum with Circa Projects, Word Is Sudden, which involved providing collections assistance and gave me the opportunity to see external re-interpretation of collections and facilitate public object handling.

- I was also able to attend a Museums Association Transformers Event held at the GNM as an early career professional which was incredible and gave me an invaluable insight into some of the amazing work being undertaken in the sector nationally.

- I also loved working on the development of the Tiny Sparks programme, as it is based solely on female scientists in order to promote gender equality and combat the limited number of women in STEM currently. Seeing the children’s reaction to the activities and understanding how exposure to these kind of messages at a young age fully reinforced the incredible work Discovery does to me.