Last August a colleague from my graduate classes told me about this program. Within 20 minutes of reading the website I KNEW I had to apply. I was offered a spot a few days later and have been waiting for this day ever since. I leave for the trip in 14 hours!
It's definitely a once in a life time opportunity and I'm so excited for everything that's in store.
The program is an educational tour of 15 historic sites and museums between London and Bath, England. We'll go behind the scenes to talk to the professionals who curate, preserve, restore, interpret, design, and manage these sites. Many of my colleagues are from different countries so I'll get to network and talk shop with emerging professionals from around the world. I hope to bring back some rad ideas for Stan Hywet to think about. Listed below is my itinerary and the skills I'll be working on when on that site:
Beckford's Tower--- Buildings conservation and site management
Museum of Bath Architecture--- Audience development
the Royal Crescent--- Exhibition design
Stonehenge--- Reconstruction and education
The Roman Baths--- Interpretation
Fishbourne Palace--- Learning opportunities
The Regency Townhouse--- Practical skills in historic plastering
Kingston Bagpuize--- Management of private heritage sites
The Pitt Rivers Museum--- The ‘de-colonization’ of collections
The Bodleian Rare Books dpt--- Rare book conservation
Stowe Palace Estate--- management and site development
Windsor Castle--- Collections management
The Tower Of London--- Artifact interpretation and curation
Hampton Court--- Collections conservation and curation
Kensington Palace--- Collections conservation and interpretation
Apsley House--- Exhibition design
Not only is the program going to be off the hook, time outside of it will be too! You bet I'm going to spend a lot of time doing Harry Potter related activities and eating in pubs. I plan on going to see a couple musicals in the theater district and visiting museums outside of the program itinerary too. Stay tuned for museum musings and various shenanigans.
Museum Professional. Traveler. Cat lover.