hello,
One of the biggest things that I have learned during this internship is just how important events are to a museum. They are some of the main ways to bring in funds, they also bring in demographics of people that that might not otherwise come. I have also kind of learned how to see through the different kind of events, and their real purpose for the museum. I have attended a ton of events throughout the summer, and I have learned a lot from each of them. There have been more casual evening events each moth called “Mixed Media,” these target young professionals in the community by creating a kind of night life environment in the museum. They have cocktails and live music, it reminds me a lot of Late Nights at the DMA. These are clearly about bringing a different demographic into the museum. A majority of the visitors here are older retired people, and families. I think this is a great way of bringing new people into the museum.
We have also had a few other events that clearly target people for donations or gaining higher level memberships. These are a usually a lot fancier and they include members of the board and trustees getting involved. These can be fun but they are a lot more exhausting, because everyone is mingling more.
So, basically through these events, I have learned how important events are in general, but I have also learned how important it is for the curator to be a face for the museum. Our curator have been at every event and he always speaks or gives a tour. Generally, when preparing for an event, it often feels like we are planning an event for a celebrity to make an appearance, just because of the way we structure the event around him talking or mingling with people. This was defiantly something that I didn’t know. In my future career, I might need to be prepared to be a face for the museum sell myself in order to sell what I am doing.
P.s. just this evening we had a wildfire on the hillside surrounding the museum. I don't have much information. The museum was evacuated, and the fire consumed over 50 acres. As far as I can tell the fire did not reach the museum itself but it was completely surrounded. We most certainly will have some smoke damage. I attached pictures and I will keep you all
It is really interesting to see and learn more about how museums really function, even small things like events are actually very significant. I love it. Also, the fire is so terrible. I am glad everyone and the museum is safe, but it is so sad that one fire can consume so much in such a short period of time. I will keep you all in my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteHoly Hannah! This is scary stuff! Can you give us an update about the fire? I hope everyone was safe and the art too.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how the curator is the one that people fawn over... why not educators? Or conservationists? Or registrars? I think that society generally knows what a curator is and does but they don't know these other roles at a museum exist. Maybe if they knew, they would have new heroes instead :)