I honestly believe that my Front of House experience is going to stand me in good stead for my museum career.This was really made clear to me in an incident on the first day of my new placement.

I think that my Front of House experience has:

• boosted my confidence
• improved my communication skills
• given me an understanding of what visitors want from their museum visit
• an understanding of how people act in a museum
• an understanding of how visitors see a museum

Front of House Staff:

• Witness first hand what works and what doesn't in a museum
• Witness and hear what visitors do and do not like
• Can directly impact on whether visitors enjoy their visit or not!
• Should be listened to when they have an opinion or idea for the museum!

I know that this has been blogged about before. See museumuse and The National Museum of American History Are there some more I don't know about?  

For me, my experiences as a Visitor Services Assistant has really influenced how I think about and view museums. What has influenced you?

#WhyILoveMuseums

Tuesday 5th April was #WhyILoveMuseums day on twitter. Users were asked to post why we loved museums using the hashtag so it could be easily followed.

For me the amount of response was incredible and really showed how loved museums are and how important they are. Culture Themes has provided a very good round up of what happened on the day.

When studying and working in museums you can forget how much they mean to people. During this scary, unsettled time the economy regularly affects arts organisations and museums. It is refreshing to be reminded how important they are and why we should really fight to keep and support them. Twitter and events like #WhyILoveMuseums are great advocacy for museums and should be used to show how important they are.

Some tweets I particularly liked:

CraftCreative said: 'Museums allow me to tap back into the excitement I felt as a child on discovering something new.'

Erinkaela  said: 'Tangible objects have a way of making history more real and the power to spark thought, curiosity, and imagination.'

Museums365 said 'No matter where I am in the world, and no matter how lonely, I enter a museum and at once I am welcome there.'

Lapopessa said 'I love museums because they show us who we were, who we are, and what we can be.'

Thackraymuseum said 'Because this feed shows just what amazing, dedicated and passionate people work, rest and play in & with museums worldwide.'

missnae said 'They're safe spaces for exploring multiple viewpoints, supporting knowledge and understanding.'
TheMoSheringham said 'Connecting with people from the past and discovering their stories.'

BostonEMPs said 'because you can see the REAL thing in front of you. Whether its a van gogh or franklin pierce's pencil. that's powerful stuff!'

LindseyMilnes said 'Museums help people learn how to learn, are not just about teaching facts but experiencing life, feelings and emotions.'

I'm looking forward to future Culture Themes events and eagerly awaiting what happens!

My first exhibition

As part of my internship at Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service I have been working with the Community History Team to create a temporary exhibition case at Hollytrees Museum.

This case has the topical theme of Royal Celebrations to tie in with the upcoming Royal Wedding. It features nylon knickers, coronation ale, mugs and of course tea towels. It also shows how Royal events were celebrated in the past in Colchester through street parties and decorations, coronation teas and a full day of programmed events. The case shows that Royal events have been a big part of our lives and have been commemorated in a number of ways. It also perhaps, hints at the decline in the interest and respect for the Royal Family. Objects show that a hundred years ago Royal events such as a coronation or a wedding would have led to a day full of events. Whereas our most modern object is a (some might say distasteful) caricuture teatowel of Prince William and Kate.

I thoroughly enjoyed curating this case. Although I had been involved in exhibitions before this was the first time I had been involved throughout the process from researching, choosing objects, writing labels and installing the case. What I learnt most from this experience was to plan where labels are going! This was something that I hadn't really considered when planning the case and they ended up taking a lot of room even though my word count wasn't really that high!

What do you think of the case? Are you or is your museum doing anything for the Royal Wedding? What was your first exhibition that you curated?