ALLONS À MONTRÉAL: MUSEUM STUDIES FIELD TRIP

Weekend Edition  |  Laetitia Dandavino-Tardif

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Group photo in front of the Centre d'histoire de Montréal. Photo courtesy of Laetitia Dandavino-Tardif.

For the Fall Reading Week (November 5 to 8, 2018), the Museum Studies Student Association (MUSSA) organized a field trip to Montreal, Quebec. 37 students, along with Program Director Cara Krmpotich, had the opportunity to visit museums, meet with museum professionals, and explore the city. Here is a brief summary of our busy 4-day trip:

Day 1

After a long bus ride (while watching Night at the Museum), we went out for dinner in Old Montreal. It was lovely to be all together and get to mingle with fellow classmates. 

 

Day 2

Morning: Pointe-à-Callière

Starting the day bright and early, the first institution we visited was Pointe-à-Callière, an archaeological and historical museum. Following a guided tour, we met Hendrik Van Gijseghem, Anthropology and History Project Manager, who presented the challenges associated with preserving the archaeological site, Fort Ville-Marie. Then, Élisabeth Monast-Moreau, Exhibition Project Manager, discussed the challenges of museum expansions, and the strategies used to incorporate technology in exhibitions, such as LED lighting.

"Pointe-à-Callière was my favourite institution for the way it portrayed Montreal's history. The comparison to European archaeological sites and how this one differs was especially interesting."

- Amelia Smith, 1st year MMSt Student

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Afternoon: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

On arrival at the museum, we were greeted by Anne Grace, Curator of Modern Art, Louise Giroux, Educational Programs Officer, and Thibault Zimmer, Education Projects Coordinator. Anne Grace gave us a curatorial tour of the temporary exhibition Alexander Calder: Radical Inventor. Louise Giroux and Thibault Zimmer showed us the educational department, talked about their health and well-being programs, and the launch of the MMFA online resource for teachers, EducArt.

Finally, we met with Director General and Chief Curator, Nathalie Bondil who shared with us her vision of the MMFA and her perception of the museum world. Her optimism about the future of museums was quite inspiring for all of us.

Day 3

Morning: McCord Museum

At the McCord Museum, Guislaine Lemay, Curator, Indigenous Cultures, presented about the history of the McCord Museum and walked us through the exhibition Wearing our Identity: The First Peoples Collection. Mélanie Deveault, Head, Education, Community Engagement and Cultural Programs, presented the museum's new educational mission. Accompanied by guides, we got a taste of the education program by participating in photography activities.

Lunch Break: Redpath Museum

Some students went to visit the Redpath Museum, a natural history museum, belonging to McGill University, to discover its collection of specimens and minerals.

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Afternoon: Centre d'histoire de Montréal

Returning to Old Montreal, we visited the Centre d'histoire de Montréal (CHM). Jean-François Leclerc, Director, presented the challenges associated with being located in a heritage building as well as the rebranding to the MEM (“Mémoire des Montréalais”) and moving downtown. Museum professional, Catherine Charlebois, gave a curatorial tour of the Explosion 67 - Youth and their World and its extensive use of technology.

"I really liked everyone we met at the Centre d'histoire de Montreal; they were incredibly invested in the community and the city and I'm excited to see what the new building will be like!"

- Toryn Suddaby, 2nd year, CPD student 

Evening: Emerging Museum Professionals Pub Night

The day was not over yet! Over 60 Museum Studies students from University of Toronto, Université of Montreal and Université du Québec à Montréal gathered together for a networking event. Check out a commemorative video of the vibrant pub night here.

Day 4

Morning: Montreal Holocaust Museum

The last museum we visited before hitting the road back to Toronto was the Montreal Holocaust Museum. After a guided tour, we met with Alice Herscovitch, Executive Director to discuss museum management. She emphasized the challenges related to the museum's sensitive subject matter of genocide. Finally, we were all moved by a survivor's testimony that contributed to our understanding of the events.

This trip was a great learning experience for all of us and valuable experience outside the classroom. We are very thankful for the generous welcome from the various museum professionals.

"The whole trip was definitely worthwhile, thank you very much for organizing it! I truly appreciated getting to know Montreal culture and museum professionals. I hope we can have many other joint programs in the future. All the museum tours were fascinating and  inspirational for our future projects. "  

- Selin Kahramanoglu , 2nd year CDP Student

To see more of our field trip, check out the photos here and follow us on Facebook,  Instagram and Twitter!

Laetitia Dandavino-Tardif
President, Museum Studies Student Association 2018-19

RELEVANCE BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

RESEARCH COLUMN

BY: LANA TRAN

I’m driving a proverbial bus right now, and if you have a moment, take a ride with me.

Now that first semester is nearing its end, it’s time to take your pulse. We all wrote letters of intent before signing up to become the next generation of museum professionals. What was your intent? What was the intention of your intent?

In truth, our submissions are self-promotion tools, demonstrations of our love for the field –what we can do for museums, and what they can do for us. While we extrapolate our intentions to the role of museums in society, many of us smuggle that bit of selfish ambition: the curator with the corner office. Let’s start by curating our Pinterest boards – ethno-bling and hanging showpieces for that dream job.

We still speak about civic engagement as if we are not civilians –What should we teach them? Will they understand? Will it be entertaining? Again, intention comes into play: We speak of idyllic museums, decolonizing museums, new museums. But this is a classroom, and its easy to speak in should be’s.

Take your pulse: are you living outside the classroom? Have you stepped outside the safety of (a written paper, an exhibition assignment, an internship) and tried something completely unrequested, but sorely needed? When a civic issue gives you a twinge, ask yourself what action you can take with the resources at hand. It could be an ad-hoc workshop, a guerilla exhibition, or a collective of students who feel the same way. The license to make mistakes and learn from them has an expiry date –it is much harder to gamble with institutional time and money than your own. Clichés be damned, now is the time to experiment.

Whether the supercilious tone of this article irks you or bores you, we all need to recognize that academia can be just as insular as museums themselves.

THE INVOLVED GRAD STUDENT

THE GRAD SCHOOL GUIDE

BY: JENNY FORD

There is a life outside the classroom. It’s full of Netflix, wine, and snacks! Okay, maybe some nights, but what about the broader museum world? There are a ton of opportunities to get involved in the museum community, where you can not only gain experience, but also help position yourself for when you graduate.

VOLUNTEERING

Yes, yes, we’ve heard it all before; volunteer while you’re in school. But the old adage is still a sure fire way to get yourself out in the museum world, make contacts, and apply what you’re learning. Almost any museum will take volunteers. Some include the ROM’s hands-on galleries, the Aga Khan Museum, and the Myseum Toronto. Nowadays, volunteer positions can be like jobs – apply early, treat it like a job interview, and watch for postings.

View of the ROM Hands-on Biodiversity Gallery, Source.

 WORK-STUDY

There are also a ton of work-study opportunities on or off campus. These may include working with a U of T collection, planning a program in another department or campus organization, working as a student ambassador, or working as a research assistant at the iSchool. Take the time to slog through  the postings, and check back for updates. You'll also probably receive emails from the iSchool about potential opportunities starting closer to September.

iSKILLS WORKSHOPS

iSkills workshops help hone and specialize your skills - from 3-D printing to design programs. It's a great way to round out your skills and become familiar with programs and techniques that might give you a leg up in the job world. Watch out for emails about the other workshops throughout the year, such as the much anticipated mount-making and photography workshops!

Learn how to do this in a 3-D printing workshop! Source.

STUDENT COUNCIL

Care about your student experience?  The Museum Studies Student Association (MUSSA) has a number of positions reserved for first-year students. Check out the openings to be filled in September! It's a great way to help shape your grad school adventure.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

From conferences to mentoring, there are a number of opportunities to make contacts and understand trends in your chosen field. The Ontario Museums Association (OMA) Conference is always a popular one, as well as the OMA professional development opportunities. iSchool alumni also have a number of nifty professional development activities lined up, from networking events to job shadowing programs.

Come to the OMA conference! Source.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT...

But believe it or not... there are other things to do besides museums. Take a pottery-making class! Get out and enjoy the sun, a movie, or go for a run! Grad school can be intense and it's nice to gain perspective on the real world.

Could this be you in your spare time? Thank the movie Ghost for this one.Source.

Happy grad-schooling!

CURATOR PROFILE: AN ENCHANTING INTERVIEW WITH ALEXANDRA KIM

BY: BRITTNEY SPROULE & KATHERINE HANNEMANN

As part of Irina Mihalache's Curatorial Practice course, we had the pleasure of speaking with museum professional and dress historian Alexandra Kim. She spoke about her role as former curator for Kensington Palace, specifically her work on its 2010-2012 exhibition titled The Enchanted Palace. She also gave us insight into some of the challenges and discoveries of her curatorial work as well as her growth and development as a museum professional.

Curatorial Practice (MSL 2000) group with Alexandra Kim (3rd from the left)
Photo Courtesy of Irina Mihalache

 

Getting Started

Kim described how she knew early on that she wanted to work in museums, in part inspired by her interest in the history of dress. She completed a BA in Modern History, followed by an MA in the History of Dress and an MA in Museum Studies. As she discussed her work, Kim spoke of her interest in the human connection with the past and reflecting on how people actually lived. She relayed that she always knew she wanted to be a curator, as it involved this very real research element: the ability to look into the past and also share it in the present with other people. For Kim, an exciting aspect of curatorial work was the question of how to help people understand the past in a creative way.

Before arriving at Kensington, Kim worked various contract positions, which led to the position of curator at a regional museum for over six years. This involved working with collections of dress textiles, art, and studio ceramics. When discussing her opportunity to work at Kensington following this position, Kim spoke of her readiness for "change and challenge," drawn to the possibility of new curatorial experiences that involved dress. As Kim discussed, working at Kensington made her realize just how different historic houses and buildings were in comparison to other types of museums.

In this setting, she was faced with several new challenges: among them, how to present the building alongside the collection and the implications of displaying objects in an iconic historic palace in contrast to other museums.

Queen Victoria's bedroom, installation by fashion designer William Tempest

Curating The Enchanted Palace at Kensington

In collaboration with the performing arts company WildWorks, Kensington Palace staged a multimedia exhibition throughout the palace's State Apartments titled The Enchanted Palace. This exhibition combined fashion, performance, and light installations to tell the palace's history in an engaging manner. Kim recounted her experiences working on this innovative exhibition.

[For a peek at the exhibition, check out this BBC audio slideshow]

When we asked Kim to describe one of her most memorable experiences curating The Enchanted Palace, Kim noted that she was "blown away" by how effective simple ideas could be. She discussed an example of the relatively low-tech process involved in projecting princesses' silhouettes dancing on the ceiling as part of one of the installations. In order to capture the silhouettes, Kensington staff members were filmed dancing in costume behind a sheet. Yet these simple elements composed a memorable and extraordinary scene, which caught visitors by surprise and even inspired some to join in the dancing.

"Hegerow" by artist Angela Singer
Part of a cabinet of curiosities featured in The Enchanted Palace

Because the exhibition was so collaborative in nature, involving the entire Kensington staff as well as the theatre company WildWorks, we asked Kim about the benefits and challenges of this process. Kim mentioned that, because the Historic Royal Palaces is such a big organization (in charge of five palaces and around 600 staff members), standard operating procedures are typically very well established. The challenge, then, was to change Kensington staff's accepted ways of working, and negotiating with colleagues to work with outside partners, including theatre designers and fashion designers (among others). According to Kim, although this process could be quite difficult at times, by the end, most people -- staff and visitors alike -- felt that it was worthwhile. 

As Kim recounted, all parties benefited from this collaborative approach, gaining the opportunity to see familiar objects in a familiar setting through fresh eyes. 

Vivienne Westwood's installation - Dress for a Rebellious Princess

Looking Back

Finally, we asked Kim to share one thing she wished she knew as an emerging museum professional. Kim reflected that she is not a particularly outgoing person -- especially when she was starting out in her career. She "wished [she] had been braver in going out and talking to museum professionals about how they got to where there are," which, as Kim noted, often includes a mixture of many factors plus serendipity. Kim urged, the more people you talk to, the more things you find out that may help you. Further, she also found that people are very ready to share their knowledge and experience. 

We would like to express our gratitude to Alexandra Kim for her willingness to participate in an interview with Musings and for sharing her exciting stories with our class!

For More Information...

The Enchanted Palace
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/mar/25/princess-diana-home-enchanted-palace
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/apr/02/enchanted-palace-art-kensington
http://www.wildworks.biz/1.5/projects/the-enchanted-palace/