The next few weeks we will be posting reflections from students who attended the American Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting and Conference, held in St. Louis, Missouri, May 6-10. A few weeks ago, at the American Alliance of Museums Annual Conference, I attended a session …
The next few weeks we will be posting reflections from students who attended the American Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting and Conference, held in St. Louis, Missouri, May 6-10. This first post comes from Erica Colwell, a current M.A. candidate in the Museum Education program. …
Hey everyone! We are both so excited to step in as your new editors for this upcoming year. To get started, we have some brief bios about ourselves, so you can get to know us a little better. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you throughout the next 12 months! As always, feel free to send us any articles or material that can be used for future blog posts.
Andrea Woodberry– Hi everyone! My name is Andrea, I am heading into my second year in the Tufts Museum Education program, and I’m excited to be editing the blog with Dominique this coming year! I am originally from Minnesota and graduated last year from Luther College in Iowa with a history major and minors in French and museum studies. I said goodbye to the corn fields and blue lakes to pursue a degree in museum education. History was my entry point into a love for museums and through an internship I quickly realized museum Ed was the place for me. I love finding points of connection between museums and their visitors. I see museums as places for people to come together and am passionate about developing ways for museums to continuously deepen new and existing audiences’ experiences. While my background is in history and culture museums, I love discussing how museums of all disciplines can learn from each other to benefit the whole field. In my free time I like to bake, read, and explore. I’m looking forward to connecting with you all through the blog this year over events and topics in the museum field!
Dominique Marcial Hey museum-lovers, I am a Northeast Pennsylvania native with an affinity for canonical literature; Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby, you name it, I’ve read it. I am a frequent jogger, with a tendency to listen to Indie to get me through the pain past mile 5. I have a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature (surprise, surprise) from Lafayette College, and originally intended to become a teacher. Yet after a summer internship at a local museum, I fell in love with the idea of free choice and object based learnings in the museum setting. Low and behold, here I am, pursuing a Master’s in Museum Education at Tufts. I also work at the Concord Museum and intern at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.
My love for museums stemmed from an early age. I was the type of child who would ask to go to local historic houses or museums as birthday gifts. The narratives behind the objects drew me in. As an ardent reader, I loved the stories behind the objects regarding past owners, or creators of the objects, as well as their purposes. As a woman in my early twenties, with a little more museum experience under my belt, I can say that I am truly invested in the community relations and services a museum provides to its local sphere of influence. Whether that be through school programs, senior tours, or public programs, the museum acts as a medium of information regarding not only its collection, but also contemporary social connections and conversations. It is truly up to us as museum professionals to make more accessible connections with the community to be a source of education, contemplation, and even change.
The first post of this new editorial season is going to come from Dominique, discussing three Boston museum exhibits this summer that hone in on social provocation, demonstration, and change. Here is a cursory look at (in my opinion) the most socially contemplative and thought …
This past week, the American Alliance of Museums 2017 Annual Meeting was held in St. Louis, Missouri. This year’s theme was “Gateways for Understanding: Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion in Museums,” a topic that continues to become more crucial to discuss than ever in recent years. Dr. Francis …
As graduation quickly approaches, I wanted to take a moment to say farewell and introduce you to our new editors. At the end of the month, I will be graduating with a Master of Arts degree in Museum Education. My time at Tufts and with the blog have been a wonderful learning experience (and fun!), and I know myself along with the rest of my cohort have grown in so many ways over the last two years. I have very much enjoyed editing the blog this past year, especially getting to know those of you who have shared your thoughts and ideas with the blog community through comments and guest posts. I am truly thankful that I have had this opportunity, and I am excited to be able to take these experiences with me in the future.
I am very happy to announce that your new blog editors will be Andrea Woodberry and Dominique Marcial! Both will be entering their second year in the Museum Education program. Dominique and Andrea have also written posts for the blog already – you can check out Dominique’s work here and Andrea’s here. While I will be sad to leave the blog, I know it will be in wonderful hands with Andrea and Dominique.
Andrea and Dominique will be taking over the blog at the end of this month. Stay on the lookout for a post from them introducing themselves and telling you all a little more about them!