MUSEFLASH: STAYING AND STRAYING FROM THE MUSEUM AT MUSINGS SECOND WRITERS WORKSHOP

Weekend Edition | Amy Intrator

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This year, for the first time ever, Musings is hosting a series of writing workshops for Contributing Editors and fellow MMSt students. For each workshop, a professional shares their writing advice and helps bridge the gap between our current academic writing and our future writing as museum professionals. The workshops are part of MMSt50 programming, which celebrates 50 years of the Museum Studies program at the University of Toronto.

The workshop facilitator, Pym Buitenhuis, presenting at Musings Writers Workshop. Photo courtesy of Amy Intrator.

On March 6th, Musings hosted our second Writers' Workshop, which focused on transferable writing skills. For more coverage about our first workshop on digital strategies, be sure to read Samantha’s article. Our workshop facilitator, and trusty guide, was Pym Buitenhuis. Pym is both a graduate of the program (MMSt Class of 1989), as well as the current Director of Marketing at Rotman School of Management. Right from the get-go when Pym shared her career journey from museums to the corporate world, it became clear that she had a wealth of professional experience to share with students.

Pym sharing her career journey from museums to the corporate world. Photo courtesy of Amy Intrator.

Considering Career Paths

One of the themes throughout the workshop: a Museum Studies degree might take you in surprising directions. People might assume that a Museum Studies degree means that you’re striving to be a curator. However, Pym mapped out some of the various routes that graduates of the degree might take from further education, to ancillary industries like graphic design, to the great beyond of work outside of the sector.

A map of some of the possible careers after graduating from Museum Studies from ancillary sectors to general management. Photo courtesy of Amy Intrator.

Transferable Skills

It can be dizzying to consider the various routes, inside and outside the museum sector, that Museum Studies graduates might pursue, but Pym helped us consider how our studies are building a foundation that will serve us in various roles.

Pym detailed the skills she found most transferable between the program and the world of work under the following categories:

1) A holistic understanding of organizations

2) An understanding of both marketing and communications

3) An understanding of leadership and management styles and practices

Pym provided a clarification between the role of marketing (a.k.a. paid media) and communications (a.k.a. earned media), and it was during this discussion that it became clear that museums need professionals who can pivot between the two forms of communicating ideas. Museums sit in the “sweet spot” between marketing and communications, as staff need to both inform their audience in a compelling manner, as well as persuade the public that their museum is a place worth visiting and investing time.

Pym provided additional tools for communicating ideas in writing, but most importantly, she provided me with a sense that the Museum Studies program has fostered professional skills that will serve me in my career, whether I choose to stray or stay within the walls of a museum.