GLAMOROUS GLAMS: 6 STUNNING GLAM BUILDINGS

GLAM Guide | Evelyn Feldman

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For my final Musings post, I wanted to celebrate the beauty of some GLAM spaces. Whether big or small, modernist, classical, or brutalist, GLAM buildings often have stunning designs.

In these stressful final weeks of the semester (if you are a student), I hope this post can give you a thoughtful break through the appreciation of some extraordinary, glamorous GLAMs.

Niterói Contemporary Art Museum 

This museum in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, looks kind of like a UFO. It finished construction in 1996 and was designed by Oscar Niemeyer.

The beginnings of its construction were connected to political scandal.

Niterói Contemporary Art Museum in Brazil. Source (top). Source (bottom).

National Archives building of the BAnQ

The BAnQ (Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec) has several facilities throughout Quebec, and was created in a merging of Quebec's national archives and national library in 2006, making it an example of GLAM convergence.

While the Grande Bibliothèque in Downtown Montreal is pretty stunning too, I decided to show off the somewhat lesser-known national archives, which are located in the Gilles Hocquart Building in Montreal.

The interior design was done in part by the Provencher agency, who also designed the beautiful First Collector Sewer and Québécor Pavilion renovation in Montreal's Point-à-Callière Museum.

National Archives of the BAnQ, Montreal, Quebec. Source (top). Source (bottom left). Source (bottom right).

Anne of Green Gables Museum

Maybe you're not a glam kind of person, and cozy is more your style. Then the Anne of Green Gables Museum at Silver Bush, in Kensington, Prince Edward Island, might be the museum for you!

The building housing this museum was used as the setting for Lucy Maud Montgomery's novels Pat of Silver Bush and Mistress Pat.

Not to be confused with Green Gables House, another related heritage site.

The Anne of Green Gables Museum at Silver Bush in Kensington, Prince Edward Island. Source.

The Guggenheim 

Okay, this one is a classic, but also a personal favourite. Isn't there something kind of glamorous about that swirling white gallery wall? 

Whether or not you're a fan of the white gallery wall, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York is certainly extraordinary. Completed in 1959, the Frank Lloyd Wright design recalls a nautilus shell, with a continuous ramp spiralling towards the ceiling.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Source (top). Source (bottom).

Calgary Central Library

Lastly I have to squeeze in a couple of libraries! First is Calgary's new Central Library, which just opened in November 2018 and is all the talk of library land.

A section of the Calgary CTrain, a light rail transit system, runs right through the middle of the building. You can watch a time lapse of the library's construction here.

The New Central Library in Calgary. Source (top left). Source (top right). Source (bottom).

The Toronto Reference Library

Let's finish close to home, with the Toronto Reference Library. While it may look a bit like a boring brick on the outside, the Toronto Reference Library's interior is stunning.

Maybe you've already heard of this one, but did you know that the Reference Library features in The Weeknd's music video for Secrets? Or that its floors used to be lined with hanging plants, evoking imagery of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon?

The Toronto Reference Library. Source (top). Source (bottom).

Really, there were hundreds--thousands--of GLAMs I could have chosen for this post. Some runner-ups include the Biblioteca Sandro Penna in Perugia, Italy (another UFO!), the Tama Art University Library in Tokyo, Japan, the Erawan Museum in Samut Prakan Province, Thailand (the museum is inside a three-headed elephant), and the Vennesla Library and Culture House in Vennesla, Norway (isn't culture house a neat term for a library?)

I hope this list of glamorous GLAM buildings has given you a break from the stressful final weeks of your semester--or any other pressures of your day.

FIVE JOB TITLES YOU MAY NOT HAVE CONSIDERED WITH YOUR MMSt DEGREE

ALUMNI CHECK-IN

BY: EMILY WELSH

Welcome to this season's final edition of Alumni Check-In! I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight five of our alumni whose job titles represent positions which may be unique or often overlooked by those considering what they may like to do with their own MMSt degrees. Where can our degree take us?


FIVE JOB TITLES YOU MAY NOT HAVE CONSIDERED

1. Registrar and Project Organizer, Archaeological Excavation

Alum: Kapua Iao
MMSt: 2010
Employer: Gournia Excavation Project

Since 2010, Kapua has worked as Registrar and Project Organizer for the Gournia Excavation Project. The Gournia Excavation Project by the University at Buffalo in New York studies the Late Bronze Age Minoan site present at Gournia, Crete. Kapua's responsibilities include organizing the project's personnel, budget and resources; creating collections procedures (accessioning, cataloging, handling); supervising and instructing summer collections volunteers; building and maintaining the databases; and acting as liaison to scholars and the public.

2. Heritage Information Analyst

Alum: Heather Dunn
MMSt: 1995
Employer: Canadian Heritage Information Network

Since 1996, Heather has worked with the Canadian Heritage Information Network under the title of Heritage Information Analyst. In this role, Heather has had the opportunity to work on a variety of interesting projects including working as co-editor on the Nomenclature 4.0 Museum Classification System and leading national working groups assessing, developing and implementing documentation standards for museum collections. Heather's work with metadata, taxonomies and open data projects is contributing to the interchange of museum information. 

3. Development Officer, Annual Giving

Alum: Meaghan Duffy
MMSt: 2009
Employer: Toronto Symphony Orchestra  

Since 2017, Meaghan has been employed in the Development & Donor Relations Department at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Previously, Meaghan worked as Development and Marketing Administrative Assistant & Direct Response Coordinator at the Canadian Cancer Society.

It is important to remember that with your MMSt degree you are not bound to careers in strictly defined heritage organizations! Your skills are valuable to many organizations and you should follow your heart to where you best fit in!

Remember to think outside of the box and always follow your heart. Source.

4. Service Design Lead

Alum: Stephanie Nemcsok
MMSt: 2008
Employer: Calgary Public Library 

Since 2016, Stephanie has been employed as one of the Calgary Public Library's Service Design Leads. The Calgary Public Library describes their responsibilities as follows:

"Service Design Leads design, develop and evaluate a range of system-wide Library programs and services in the following key areas: civic and digital literacy, early literacy, and services for Indigenous communities, newcomers, children, teens, and readers."

If you would like to learn more about this job's role in the shifting vision of the library, you can check out this expired job posting.

5. President and CEO

Alum: Shelley Falconer 
MMSt: 1994
Employer: Art Gallery of Hamilton 

Shelley has been the President and CEO of the Art Gallery of Hamilton since November 2014. After graduating from the MMSt program in 1994, Shelley's career has moved through a variety of positions including Director of Exhibitions and Programs at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Adjunct Faculty at the University of Toronto, and CEO of Cultural Asset Management Group.

Don't limit yourself in your hopes and dreams for your career after receiving a MMSt degree! If upper management is your dream, or if you have another dream position, aim for it and set yourself up for success. Never stop believing!

"Don't let your dreams be dreams." Source.

 If you are interested in learning more about where the MMSt degree has taken our alumni, check out this interactive map which pinpoints alumni we have discovered around the globe.

The interactive alumni map was created by this column's creator, Kate Seally.

Best of luck with all of your own career aspirations!