Time goes so fast!
This was my last week working at this lovely regional museum. I have been here for 12 weeks and I really enjoyed this position. Although I have no experiences about museum education and public programs, this time I learned different skills. The internship was an excellent opportunity for my further study. Anyway, I still had a lot of works in this week.

The monthly meeting was held on Monday morning. I presented my works in detailed of the last 11 weeks, especially introduced the process of how to organize “touch-tables” programs. After that, I have a very short meeting with the museum curator and she arranged to me some final tasks. First of all, I checked out very carefully of all my paper works including “touch-tables” research report, “touch-tables” programs planning for young children and old people, educational resources of permanent exhibition, education worksheet and booklet for “touch-tables” programs etc. I have to make sure there was no spelling and grammar mistake of them. Secondly, I printed out different versions of posters and laminated them. Some posters will be pasted onto the wall in front of the museum. Others will be put into libraries, shopping centres, community centres, local schools and other museums and galleries. This was the first step to promote this education and public program. In addition, we also prepared to use other approaches includes direct mail, personal sales, advertisement and media release etc. Thirdly, I designed labels for the light table and sensory table. The label consists of picture and context. Therefore, visitors can easily catch up information through labels. Finally, I have to input the exhibition and program data into computer such as prop’s list. It can help the museum staff develop or redesign the “touch-tables” programs when I left.

I learnt a lot from the internship. It was really helpful. Hope I still can get a permanent job in the near future.

We spent two days to install a brand new exhibition last week. That was a documentary photograph exhibition. All of works were belonging to black and white photography. The theme of this exhibition was presenting a place in the wilderness. All exhibited works were collected by Brisbane artist Judy Parrott. She is a very famous female photographer and she travelled to the world’s southernmost continent on an Australian Antarctic Division Arts Fellowship in 2005. The exhibition presented the community life and extreme environment at several remote research stations of Ms Parrott. Besides a lot of black and white photography, the exhibition also displayed many found objects. Museum visitors can see a range of Antarctic items and listen to a collaged audio recording of ambient sounds, including the cracking of ice and the slicing of bitter winds etc. It was a very interesting and enjoyable exhibition. Otherwise, we also provided an informal public talk inside museum. The community residents can talk about the exhibition of “Antarctic”. They can have a cup of tea or coffee and eat some deserts through the talking. I hope all visitors can have fun here.

When I finished the installation, I was keep writing the “touch-tables” educational worksheets. During the last couple of weeks, I have completed the educational resources of our permanent exhibition and designed “touch-tables” programs for the public. However, I also got many small works to do, such as I wrote instructions of each educational booklet last Wednesday and arrange each items into the right kits of light table. After that, I have to numbering each object of “touch-tables” programs in case lost anyone. That was a big job for me. I brought plenty of objects for the visitors. And I needed to record the number on both objects and papers.

“Dress-ups” activities are very popular with people. Whatever, young children or adults like to play it. This time we are not only design different kinds of paper dress-ups activities for visitors, but also prepare to make real clothes for them. Actually, we got some clothes and hats already which local residents donated before. However, those clothes were pretty old and most of them were in tatter. Therefore, the museum curator and I decided to make new clothes for “dress-ups”. Our permanent exhibition presents the local history between the early 19th century and the early 20th century. Thus, I have to collect as many old photos as possible. And have a look what people wore during that period. After that, chose some interesting photos and sent them to dressmaker. The dress-ups clothes included women’s fashion, convict uniform, school uniform and sport uniform etc. It was really expensive for the special order. I contacted with the dressmaker and asked for a quote. There was 120 dollars for each.I also designed the other three worksheets for “touch-tables” audiences, such as home front theme, early settlers theme and local shops/businesses theme. These worksheets and educational resources were for young children from Kindergarten to 12 years old. Therefore, I must very carefully think about different questions for them. For example, I tried to introduce the local history and the exhibition object in simple languages. The educational kits were for local school’s teacher. Students can understand our exhibition and objects through these educational resources. Visitors also can learn the local plants, animals, famous residents and local businesses via these resources. I also have a formal meeting with museum curator on last Friday. We talked about all finished projects and the future plan of “touch-tables” programs. Next week, a new photography exhibition will be held in our museum. I also will join the installation job.

Our museum belongs to a small regional museum, so we only have limited money for “touch-table” programs. However, this education and public programs relate to the permanent exhibition and it covers different themes. I have to purchase a lot of objects for children and older people. How to control the budget is a huge challenge for me. I tried to compare the price of each object through internet. After that, I contacted the seller and talked about the details of these items. I finished the budget plan on last Monday and submitted it to curator. She thought I should delete some objects, because we have to spend a lot of money on dress-ups activities. Therefore, I re-wrote the budget and finally we started to purchase all objects on last Tuesday.

Because of limited budget, I deleted some items what I wanted to buy for children and older people. Thus, I went to museum storage on last Wednesday and attempted to find more useful objects for “touch-table” programs. Luckily, I found many stones, plants specimens, traditional washboard and clothes, old bottles and picnic baskets and old photos etc. I put all objects on the light table and sensory table. Then, I took photos of them, because I have to make poster of “touch-table” programs.

Besides it, I also worked at other positions last week. For example, front desk services, packing down an old exhibition and contact delivery service. Otherwise, we also got 10 kids from local primary school to join the kids club on last Friday. This was a one hour arts education and public programs for children. It divided into there parts, first twenty minutes was story time. After that, we have ten minutes for answering questions. Finally, children spent half hour walking through the museum. We explored the objects together. It was really excited to work with children, especially when I saw their smiling faces.

Program planning is very important for museum education and public program officer. A good education and public program plan can assist museum staff organise and create activities easily. I submitted the program planning to museum curator including children’s and adult’s programs. At the same time, I also discussed them with her. Our permanent exhibition attempted to present 13 themes to visitors, so the education and public programs will relate to these themes. In fact, this was a big job for me. I have to decide to purchase different kinds of items, make budget, contact with seller, design educational kit, registering and numbering items and write condition report etc. I have already ordered one light table last week for children’s program. It was delivered to our museum yesterday afternoon. I was so excited to receive it. The light table was big enough for young children. It has a smoothly white glass top. Under the top was a series of LED lights. There were six boxes in front of the table. Children can play with friends or parents on the table. And they will explore different items and finish worksheet through playing. This program will help the young visitor understand the permanent exhibition. I particularly explored aboriginal theme and natural environment theme last week. First of all, I read the exhibition panel very carefully and tried to think about some interesting activities. Secondly, I made the education kit for young visitors, such as first aboriginal resident of this area, the life of aboriginal people in this region and what plants and animals lived in this area etc. All of educational resources can help young visitors learn something from exhibition. Thirdly, I design activity worksheets and booklets. These activity materials will put into box of light table. Children can finish them through playing. For example, the activity worksheet including colour in page, find the different spots, question & answer and dress up etc. Finally, I ordered many cute and funny objects from internet for children. Hope I will receive them as soon as possible.

At present, we have a big scale permanent exhibition in this regional museum and gallery. The exhibition was divided into three parts and displayed in three rooms. The theme of the exhibition was “Living on the Water’s Edge”. It attempted to discover the history of this Region. Room one mainly introduced the early period history, aboriginal residences, natural environment and industries of the Region. Room two presented the local businesses, shops and schools of the Region. Themes of the third room talked about entertainment and multiculturalism etc of this Region. I will organise and design the education and public program for this permanent exhibition. We named it “touch-table” program. The aim of the program was assisting visitors understand the exhibition and improving their interests in museum. Although I already have some ideas of the program, I also needed to do many basic works. For example, I decided to buy a light table for children and wooden tray for adult, I will buy different kinds of items for children and adult which related the exhibition theme and the most important thing is I have to design many educational resources for them etc.The display of room three was not finished yet, so I have to assist museum staff D finish it first. We went to museum storage room on this Wednesday and collected some items, such as chemical, fossil, antique camera, traditional typewriter and so on. At the same time, I also tried to find something interesting and useful for my programs. Worked at storage room was not easy. We wore gloves to protect works. And we moved items very carefully. The air of storage room was humid and uncomfortable. Lots of items were covered by dust and grim. However, I was so excited to see different artworks and antiques in here. Besides this, I also done other works this week, such as prepared condition report with curator for a temporary exhibition, front desk services and wrote delivery information of a finished Indian culture exhibition. I will write “touch-table” program planning on next Monday and present it to curator by next Friday.

Finally, I finished the research report of “touch-table” programs by last Friday. That was really a big job. I spent nearly two weeks to do that, because I believed that a good research could help me organize the program more easily. I also had done lots of tasks this week. First of all, I submitted the hard copy of my research report to museum curator on Wednesday morning. At the same time, I still needed to give an oral presentation to her. The main aim of the presentation was introducing contents of research report and my research methods. Basically, we spent more than one hour to talk about this report. She agreed with my ideas about the “touch-table” programs and also gave me many useful suggestions about how to improve the report. For example, wrote more details to describe why set up this program for public, what was the benefit for both museum and visitors and use more quotes to support the report and so on. Through this meeting, we also talked about the next step about “touch-table”. I was really appreciated for her advices.

I went to powerhouse museum, maritime museum, and Sydney children’s museum on Thursday. The purpose of the trip was viewing their permanent exhibitions and collecting public program catalogues and educational resources. Before started to write my program planning, collected more information from other museums were essential. The “touch-table” programs belonged to a very special public and education program. It was for the permanent exhibition of this regional museum which I worked at. The permanent exhibition mainly exhibited local history and people’s life in the 19th century. The curator introduced me a lot of articles and documents which talked about local history. I have to read and understand them as soon as possible. The kids club of this Saturday was celebrating Easter Day. I prepared PowerPoint to talk WWI stories, colour in worksheets and drawing materials for children with museum volunteers. Hope children will love it. Happy Easter~~~

This week was quite busy. I did front desk from 10am to 1pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Because I have no previous experience with front desk job, so the museum provided me a quickly training. Somebody may think front desk is a simple job, however, I believed that it is a serious matter. I have to introduce the permanent, temporary exhibitions to the visitor, answer their questions and take notes etc. Some useful tips for answering calls: telephone calls received at the museum & gallery should be answered as quickly and efficiently as possible; answer incoming calls as follows – “Hello XX museum & gallery, this is (stating your first name clearly) how can I help you?”; unanswered calls should divert to another member of staff or to voice mail; staff making outgoing calls should identify themselves by name and section, as appropriate, and should clearly outline the purpose of the call.

In addition, I also assisted the local female artist to install her artworks on Wednesday afternoon. She is a nice person and also interested in art administration area. We talked about lots of art administration issues with each other. Especially she concerned the relationship between artist and curator. We believed that some matters should be improved, such as artist and curator need more communication, curator should understand the creative background of artist and so on. She exhibited more than forty works this time, including charcoal drawing and black-white photographs from small size to large size. We spent the whole afternoon to install these works. This was a complex process. Measure height and width of the wall, calculate distance between each work, test the temperature and humid level of room, use different lightings and display artworks by theme etc. We also put two desks and several chairs in central of the room. Visitors can look those albums and write feedback to the artist. I was so happy to do this. Hope I can have more opportunities to install exhibitions in the near future.

Our museum is run by the local city council, as an important cultural department to collect, preserve and exhibit works related history and heritage of this regional area. Basically, all collect materials will be used in permanent and temporary exhibitions. The museum also provides lots of activities for the local community and residents, such as interesting education and public programs and some special events. During the last two weeks, we organised and launched education programs for primary and secondary schools. This week my job was learning how to collect objects. Currently, the museum staffs are preparing a new exhibition for visitors. This exhibition explores the different experiences of men, women and children who lived in this regional area between 1930s and 1940s. Therefore, we have to collect different objects and photographs. All of them should present the stories and history of local communities. Although we can find some books and photographs in national library and local library, we also need more artefacts to show people’s everyday life, for example, dress, home ware and so on. Because the exhibition will be focused around four main themes, so objects could relate to any of the themes.

Last week was a very busy week. First of all, we wrote an exhibition report. This report outlined the main purpose and content of the new exhibition. At the same time, it also listed some available items for the exhibition. After that, we designed poster “call for objects and photographs for the new exhibition”. These posters will be shown at different places, including museums & galleries, libraries, community centre, schools and shopping centre etc. Finally, we made donation form and receipt form for the new exhibition. Besides these, we still sorted many previous donation forms. Last Friday, I also worked with volunteers to pack down the Indian culture exhibition.

P.S. A new exhibition will be displayed at the main gallery next week. Hope I can find something interesting.

The first week of my internship was research week. Before started to think about the “touch-table” programs, I have to do a lot of research works. What is “touch-table” program? Why present “touch-table” at this regional museum & gallery? What are the benefits of “touch-table” programs for both museums and visitors? Many different questions appeared in my mind. Besides collected relative information by myself in city library, I still joined the monthly meeting with the other staff on Wednesday morning.

The meeting was lasted for nearly three hours. Everyone reported their previous jobs and the coming planning. For example, exhibition schedule in 2009/2010, details of artworks’ delivery and installation. We spent a lot of time talking and making the new customer service guidelines for city museum & gallery, library and community center. In my opinion, good customer service guidelines are really important for every art museum and gallery, whatever the main museums or small regional museums. Some objectives of this new guideline are ensure that our museum & gallery resources are used efficiently and effectively when dealing with clients, ensure that all our clients are treated fairly and with respect, provide staff with a guide on appropriate ways to demonstrate excellent and efficient customer service and so on. As one staff of this regional museum & gallery, I have to learn and understand the customer service guidelines very carefully and try to provide a professional and efficient service at all times. Some useful instructions such as keep smiling, listen to what clients have to say, explain all reasons why you are unable to fulfill a request, suggest relevant courses of action for clients to follow and refer complex enquiries to the relevant subject expert etc. I believe that every art organization will have different customer service guidelines. Any good recommendations for customer service guidelines?

I worked as the exhibitions and programs organizer in this city museum & gallery. The curator asked me to do a brand new project. My responsibility was to improve visitor interaction with exhibitions at this regional museum & gallery through the development and installation of “touch-tables”. The “touch-tables” programs especially for young children and old people who with disabilities. I worked three days per week and eight hours per day in this museum.
In the next three month, I have to finish different kinds of tasks. For instance, Research the benefits and challenges of installing “touch-tables” in this regional museums and galleries. At the same time, I also need to develop an exhibition brief for the creation of a “touch-table” in museum’s permanent exhibition. Source quotes for potential objects and resources for the “touch-tables” are also important. After that, I will create and install “touch-tables” in the permanent exhibition. Finally, I will develop procedures for the creation and installation of “touch-tables” for permanent and some temporary exhibitions at this regional museum and gallery. If I have enough time, I will develop additional education resources for the museum’s exhibitions.
During this period, I also have to practice some other skills as part of my internship, including object handling, preparing new exhibitions, artefact research, developing museum procedures, customer services, front desk, storage management, networking with staff and volunteers from a range of museums and galleries etc. This is an excellent opportunity for me to improve my art knowledge and gain more work experiences.
About my internship, I will directly report to the museum curator. Moreover, I also will meet with the museum curator and manager on a regular basis to discuss work progress. At the same time, I also need to join the museum staff monthly planning meeting and produce planning reports to the curator.

Internship is the core course for master of art administration students. When I decided to study this degree I already knew that internship was a big challenge for me. There were two reasons to explain why it was a challenge. First one was I have no visual art background, so how to learn more knowledge as soon as possible was a big question. Another one was work experiences. I believed that all art organizations preferred to take someone who has work experiences. Therefore, I started to collect internship information from the first session.
In fact, maybe I can get a full-time job if I undertook my internship in China. However, gain more local experiences were also important for me. Finally, I decided to work in Australia. In the past few weeks, I applied for many art organizations, including main art galleries & museums, commercial art galleries, private art companies and so on. Some of them did not give me responses. Others told me there were no available positions. I felt unhappy and frustrated for a long time.
To be honest, I was really interested in education and public programs. To work in this specific area was the best choice for me. Although some galleries and museums can offer me different projects, I still wanted to do something real interesting. Finally, one regional art museum offered the public program for my intern. Lucky me! I visited this museum and provided my resume to the curator. At the same time, I also wrote a work plan to talk about my ideas about that project. This regional museum & gallery belongs to a very important department of city council. All museum staffs were friendly to me. I will finish some special public programs in the next 10 weeks. Hope everything goes alright.

Hi

Just checking this works...its quite cool the blog spot, i better get around to setting one up!