REACHING OUT; REACHING IN: ALUMNI CHECK-IN

Alumni Check-In | Elizabeth Cytko

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University College and King's Circle. Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Cytko

As a new museum studies student, starting this degree can be overwhelming. A few of the things occupying your time include: learning all the theory, discovering free food events, project management, the names of your cohort and participating in extracurricular activities (and yes I am going to pretend riding the TTC counts as extracurricular.)

One of the first things you learn is that there are a lot more jobs in the museum industry than is “advertised” in popular culture. So many jobs, so little time, and how do you even begin to discover the pros and cons of each one?!

Being a student gives you a secret super power, which I suggest you use – Student Status.

via GIPHY

 Professional interviews are one of the best ways to make connections, make new friends, and discover potential paths for your career. Student status means having an excuse as to why you want to reach out to professionals in the field, and ask them what their job is about.

I know this from personal experience. For the past 9 months I have had the privilege to interview alumni from the Museum Studies program. This means I reached out to persons (who often I had never met before!) to ask them what life is like after graduation. The alumni have been friendly, gracious, and eager to share their experience.

Human impact on environment comes in all sorts of forms. Museum preservation is beyond objects, and includes complicated discussions. For example, how could a museum professional raise awareness for the need to preserve native prairie landscapes? Canola Field, Alberta. Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Cytko

Initially, what I had felt to be rather scary and intimidating has turned into a column I look forward to initiating. Who can I ask next? What exciting things are happening out in the field? Even though these alumni are across the continent and working in different museums, many of their concerns are shared. Through interviews, themes such as the environment, decolonization and technology are all repeated again and again. My eyes have been opened to the fact that the museum community is tight knit and comes together to work on some of the most complicated issues.

Some of the alumni have even thrown down challenges for the museum professionals (new and old) to tackle.

Kate Wolforth asks us to consider the waste of exhibitions, and what happens to the signage, packaging, and materials used afterwards. Is it justifiable that so much ends up in the dump?

Roderick MacLean asks how historic sites (and museums in general) can adapt to the longer visitor seasons due to global warming. Will it be the new trend to hire past the Summer season, into the Fall?

And Deborah Robichaud tasks new professionals to incorporate environmental scans into their daily practice, and ask “What are the big issues in the world and how do they affect museums?”

I am excited to present you the new interviews in this upcoming semester, and I hope that you too are inspired to reach out to the alumni network. Remember, in a few short years, you will be an alumnus, and a nervous student might reach out to you!


If you want to reach out to me, feel free to!

elizabeth.cytko@mail.utoronto.ca

MANAGEMENT SKILLS, ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING AND GOSSIP: ALUMNI CHECK-IN WITH DEBORAH ROBICHAUD

Alumni Check-In | Elizabeth Cytko

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Photo courtesy of Deborah Robichaud.

Deborah Robichaud graduated in 1980, in class 12 of what was then called the Master of Museology program at the University of Toronto. She has had a long and diverse career including acting as the Director of the Musée acadien, Director of Information and Extension Services at the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI), and Regional Manager of Arts, Culture and Heritage for the Department of Canadian Heritage. She is currently retired and working on her own personal projects, including keeping on top of current museum trends. We conducted our interview over the telephone.

What was the Museology program like when you were a student?

A lot of our main museology courses were done at the ROM and we were encouraged to explore. We had a little bit of money in a petty cash type thing. Our Director at the time was David Newlands and I would go up to him and say “Hi! I would like to do this!”which he would let me do. Nobody else was using that little fund, it had to be related to our program. I got to see lots of things using it. I think one time we went to Detroit with a group from the AGO to visit a Turner exhibit. It was a day trip there and back, so it [included] bus fare and lunch.

How has the program changed from when you were a student?

When we took Museum Studies it was really to learn about how to do things. When we got out into the real world there was still a lot to be learned. At the very end of the course we had taken all this theory and done a little bit of practice. Then they realized we had no management skills! So we did a three day intensive management class – MBO- Managing By Objective – they brought in a management guru and then they sent us off into the world with three days of management skills. In many cases, we did not know how to run the business and we were expected to step into that type of a role.

Also, the discussion of community engagement, transparency, inclusiveness, and diversity of cultures is different now. None of that was talked about when we were there [at UofT]. If you look back between then and now those are some of the differences.

What are some of the greatest risks you have taken in your career?

Moving from museum work to the government was probably the biggest challenge for me because it’s a whole different world. It took a while to move from a curatorial role to the public servant role. There was no manual. For example, there’s a different way to write a letter in government than as a curator when you’re writing to another museum to find out about a particular artifact. Bringing your content skills to a government system you learn a lot through osmosis, trial and error. In the grants contribution world, you could be someone who knows a lot about grants and contributions but know nothing about the discipline. We often brought people into government who knew a lot about the discipline that we were giving grants for, but not about the government process. Unless you have both sides you don’t have a balanced team. You have people coming in from the non-government side wanting to help the community, but you still have government rules to follow. That was probably my biggest risk and also in a sense a bit of a regret because I could only live vicariously through other people’s projects. You knew somebody else would have success with an exhibition, and you think, “Great! The government enabled this by giving them money.” As a result, I did research projects and exhibitions throughout my career, not a lot, but the ones I did were the ones I really wanted to do and I continue to do that since I’ve retired.

What was one of your failures, or missteps, that turned into a great learning experience?

One of the things I learned really early is when you’re in a new job you think, “Oh I have this” and then all of a sudden something blindsides you. Then you realize, “Wow I didn’t really understand that at all.” When you think you’ve got it, you need to stop and have another reflection on whether you’ve looked at everything.

Another thing I learned is you can only repeat gossip if you’ve heard it three times from three different sources who are not related. The one time I didn’t do that (I didn’t get into trouble or anything) I was like darn, I should have followed my rule! But usually by the time you get it from three different sources everybody knows it anyways. This has served me well.


What advice would you give to museum professionals entering the sector today?

Environmental scanning. You should question, “What are the big issues in the world and how do they affect museums?” Changes in the world affect funding programs.

It’s about statues (such as with John A MacDonald) and a more open museum where you have more physical accessibility. With the #MeToo movement how do you incorporate that into a museum? Everybody in the museum world needs to be looking beyond the horizon on an ongoing basis. See the big trends, how they may affect your world and have a strategy already in place.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.