MAKING MUSINGS PART 5: IT TAKES (MORE THAN) TWO

Letter from the Editors | Kathleen Lew & Amy Intrator

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This is the fifth and final post of a series in celebration of the Master of Museum Studies program at the University of Toronto's 50th anniversary (MMSt50). To reflect on Musings' past, present, and future, we invited all previous Editors-in-Chief to return to Musings to write special Letter from the Editor posts. These articles highlight the significance of Musings both within the MMSt program, and for writers' professional careers. Kathleen Lew and Amy Intrator are the fifth (and outgoing!) Editors-in-Chief of Musings from 2018-2019.

As the first ever Musings Editor-in-Chief team, this year has been an extremely rewarding exercise of collaboration. We hope this practice of community– among Musings Executive, Contributing Editors, MMSt, and wider museum communities– continues with future years of blogging.

Musings' 5th Birthday Party: Amy Intrator [Left] and Kathleen Lew [Right]. Photo courtesy of Musings.

In Summer of 2018, we sat at a coffee shop in Kensington market and talked at length about our goals for Musings. This included creating a writing environment in which Contributing Editors felt comfortable asking each other for guidance and insight, further integrating ourselves into the MMSt community, and continuing to collaborate with institutions. Soon enough we had updated the Musings interface and logos, incorporated two new response-based columns (Program Reviews and Muse News), and were reaching out to fellow MMSt students, faculty, and alumni to join our community.

Part I of the Musings team celebrating #MuseumSelfieDay! Check out these awesome photos from @ROMtoronto to @pompeii_sites. #museumselfie #PhiladelphiasMagicGarden #templeofRamsesVI #MuseumSelfieDay2019 pic.twitter.com/j843TjLUKQ

— Musings MMSt (@musingsmmst) January 16, 2019

We made some major strides this year, but absolutely none of this would be possible without our committed Contributing Editors. We started our tenure as Editors-in-Chief as a duo, but our team grew larger and stronger as the year went on. In September, we were lucky to have Jordan Fee join Musings as the Communications Officer (you may recognize his handiwork if you frequent our Instagram page). We know it’s impossible to do justice to our amazing writers in a short blog post, but here is a list of some of our must-read articles written by some marvelous Musers:

1. Rebecca Barrett - WEIRD HERITAGE: 6 OF TORONTO'S QUIRKIEST LANDMARKS
2. Keelan Cashmore - ACCESSIBILITY: MORE THAN A BUTTON ON A DOOR
3. Elizabeth Cytko - MANAGEMENT SKILLS, ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING AND GOSSIP: ALUMNI CHECK-IN WITH DEBORAH ROBICHAUD
4. Rachel Dice - MORE THAN CLOTHES
5. Jordan Fee - "I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT THAT RIGHT NOW": HOW ANTHROPOCENE SUCCEEDS IN STAYING SILENT
6. Evelyn Feldman - ALLOWING "PUSSY" IN THE LIBRARY: ART CONTROVERSY ACROSS GLAM SPACES
7. Alexandra Forand - WE NEED TO TALK, OR NOT: LANGUAGE IN MUSEUMS AS A FORM OF CONTROL
8. Carly Hall - LET'S TALK ABOUT "POWER AND POSSESSION: THE ETHICS OF COLLECTING"
9. Casarina Hocevar - FINDING FOODWAYS, PART I.
10. Maddy Howard - WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
11. Selin Kahramanoglu - MONSTERS ON DISPLAY: AN EXHIBITION AT THE THOMAS FISHER RARE BOOK LIBRARY
12. Samantha Kilpatrick- A FUTURE TO IMAGINE FOR
13. Amelia Smith - WHERE'S THE T? TRANSGENDER INCLUSION IN THE MUSEUM
14. Samantha Summers - DANCING THROUGH LIFE: MMSt ALUM JOHN DALRYMPLE ON HIS WORK AT CANADA’S NATIONAL BALLET SCHOOL
15. Joanna Wreakes - MUSEUMS OR NOT? PART 3: SUBWAY SERIES STOCKHOLM

In addition to being Editors-in-Chief, we both continued our true passion project: writing for Musings! Here are a couple of our articles that we’re especially proud of...

Kathleen - GLOSSY GAL PALS MAKE THEIR OWN MUSES

Amy - EXHIBITING BANKSY: ACCESSIBLE ART OR VIOLATION OF ARTISTIC INTENT?

This year, three of our Contributing Editors created columns that addressed some of the most pressing issues in museums today. Amelia started Not Your Average Cistory, a column that aims to bridge the gap between Transgender Studies and Museum Studies. Ally started Breaking the Glass Case, a column dedicated to exploring the relationship between Indigenous communities and cultural heritage organizations. Evelyn started GLAM Guide, a column that looks at the intersections between galleries, libraries, archives, and museums. All of these columns are necessary additions to the Musings roster, and we can’t wait to see the future direction of the columns as they continue to evolve over time.

Having a team that consistently delivered awe-worthy content made it easier to expand our focus to include more outreach and professional development. For our first-EVER writing workshop, held in November, Sarah Hill from Lord Cultural Resources led a workshop about risk-taking and digital strategies. The workshop went so well that we offered a second one in March, led by Pym Buitenhuis, the Director of Marketing at Rotman School of Management, which focused on transferable writing skills. The workshops were possible thanks to the support of the MMSt50 organizing committee, who have been hard at work all year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Master of Museum Studies program. The partnership with MMSt50 is proof that collaboration makes Musings stronger.

Celebrating the past, present, and future of Musings! Photo courtesy of Musings. 

Although parting is such sweet sorrow, we are immensely grateful that we got to throw a 5th birthday party for Musings and celebrate the blog’s contributions over the past 5 years with Contributing Editors, alumni, faculty, and MMSt students. It is an enormous privilege to be a part of Musings’ legacy. We had the opportunity to celebrate this legacy with the Making Musings series, where we reconnected to all past EICs and continued to learn from the inspiring accomplishments of Jaime, Madeline, Natania, and Serena. We can’t wait to watch Musings evolve over the next 5-years and challenge the museum field to become a more critical, inclusive space.

Thank you to all of our readers for joining us on this year-long journey. These two Editors-in-Chief can’t wait to become two of Musings' most passionate readers and strongest advocates.

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