The Bowes Museum Blog

I chose to do work experience at The Bowes Museum, as I would like to do a history related job once I have finished education and I thought that I would give me insight into how museums work, as well as what it could be like if I chose to work in museum in the future. 

Monday: 

Introduction at the start of the day that involved a tour of key areas of the museum for the work experience and introductions to many members of the museum staff. 

Attended an informative spotlight tour that was focused on the life of Joséphine and John Bowes, as well as the architectural design of The Bowes Museum. 

After the spotlight tours, there was a tour of the HIVE/create areas which involved everyone having to give a small presentation on objects in the Hive area after researching them using the information guides in the room. 

It was then lunch which was eaten outside due to it being a nice day. 

Following lunch we were asked to write a review for the spotlight tour and anything it did well or badly. 

Tuesday: 

There was an introduction to the learning team and an explanation of what they did in their role in the museum. 

There was a short tour around the Curiosity galleries and an explanation of what they did. Following this we were asked to create mindmaps based on the themes the Curiosity galleries were being redecorated with which were labour, childhood and storytelling. 

After lunch, we were directed to wander around the museum looking for objects that fit into the new Curiosity galleries themes.

Wednesday: 

Was with the marketing team with a task to create a marketing post for a item from the Joséphine: A Woman of Taste and Fashion exhibition. 

This involved researching the item through looking at the exhibition as well as searching for information about the context of the item online. After this was done the task was to create the marketing post in a variety of different formats for different social media sites. 

The item I was creating the marketing post for was a set of ecclesiastical garment created in about 1710 France. 

After the lunch break the researching of the item had been finished and it was time to begin creating the marketing post. After it was finished, it was scheduled to be released some time in the next few weeks. 

Thursday: 

This was spent with the production team in the morning, which involved helping to remove screws and carry paintings to the Curiosity gallery, followed by acting as spotters to prevent collisions when a painting that had been in an exhibition in Japan returned back to the museum and needed to be carried to the second floor galleries. 

The afternoon was spent with the enterprise team which involved sitting in on a meeting about the Winter Market followed by being shown how to organise displays in the museum shop and then getting to organise possible displays. 

Friday: 

This was spent with the collections team which in the morning involved joining a creative workshop that was being organised in the create gallery and going around the museum looking for objects whose pictures could be used in the workshop. 

In the afternoon we started cleaning and checking the light intensity of objects within a gallery that had just been changed. Following that that we were shown parts of the storerooms, after questions were asked about some of the objects in the gallery that had just been changed. 

I feel like I have learnt what it would be like to work in some teams in a museum. I have learnt how to create a marketing post for social media and have improved my researching skills though creating it. I also learned how to paint more effectively through helping paint plinth’s to be put in a gallery.