{"id":626,"date":"2018-07-31T11:28:24","date_gmt":"2018-07-31T10:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/?p=626"},"modified":"2018-07-31T11:48:41","modified_gmt":"2018-07-31T10:48:41","slug":"qa-museum-studies-ma-placements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/qa-museum-studies-ma-placements\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: Museum Studies MA placements at Seven Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year, Newcastle University Museums Studies MA<\/a> students Amy and Anna undertook placements with Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books.<\/a> Hear about how they found their placement experience in this post…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hi Anna and Amy! Please introduce yourselves.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Hello! I\u2019m Anna and I live in Gateshead, although I am originally from Northumberland.\u00a0I came to the Museum Studies MA course with the aim of beginning a career in the museums sector, alongside developing my practice as an illustrator.<\/p>\n

Hi, I\u2019m Amy and I\u2019m originally from County Durham. I moved to Newcastle 5 years ago when I got my place at Newcastle University to do my Ancient History BA<\/a>.\u00a0I decided to do the MA with the intention of (hopefully) being able to get a job in museum learning after. And after all there\u2019s no better place for history than in a museum!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Newcastle
Newcastle is home to many museums and attractions, including the Baltic art gallery and the Sage Gateshead. Image: Newcastle University, photography by Chris Bishop<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Tell me about the Museums Studies MA course \u2013 how are you finding studying at Newcastle?<\/h5>\n

Amy: I\u2019m loving it! I couldn\u2019t think of a city more suited to a Museum Studies course than Newcastle – there are so many museums and galleries on your doorstep you\u2019re spoilt for choice. I love Newcastle and can\u2019t imagine leaving!<\/em><\/p>\n

Anna: I could not have asked for a better experience, in all honesty. The course at Newcastle has a great reputation and as I was keen to stay in the North East to help contribute towards the growing arts industry here, it was the perfect choice.<\/p>\n

What attracted you to do a placement at Seven Stories?<\/h5>\n

Anna: What didn\u2019t attract me! Having specialised in creating illustrated books during my undergraduate degree, I have had an interest in the work that goes on at Seven Stories for a while. I previously had some of my illustration work displayed in the visitor centre, which I found very exciting.<\/p>\n

Amy:\u00a0I\u2019m a long-time fan of Seven Stories. I actually came to the opening in 2005 and met Jacqueline Wilson and Nick Sharratt; I LOVED Jacqueline Wilson\u2019s books so Nick Sharratt drawing me my own Tracey Beaker, on the cover of my tattered book, is one of my favourite childhood memories.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"St.
St. Wilfrid’s Primary School visit Seven Stories’ Time to Get Up Exhibition. Image: Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books, Image by Richard Kenworthy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
So, what have you been up to on your placements?<\/h5>\n

Amy:\u00a0I\u2019ve been based with the Creative Learning and Engagement team and I\u2019ve been able to learn a lot about Seven Stories offerings, both onsite and in schools.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve shadowed EY, KS1 and KS2 workshops as well as spending a couple of days with Creative Associates learning about the Reader in Residence and Reading for Pleasure offerings.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also being analysing and interpreting data regarding the learning programmes and spotting any trends and patterns. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Anna:\u00a0I have been primarily based with the Seven Stories Collections team.\u00a0My main job has been to catalogue the Fritz Wegner collection, which Seven Stories acquired in 2017.<\/p>\n

I have had the opportunity to work in the visitor centre on the de-installation of the Comics<\/a> exhibition, and on the install for the new Where Your Wings Were<\/a> exhibition. The tasks I was involved with included removing and packing artworks and display items, assisting in the hanging of artworks, and sourcing some images used in the displays.<\/p>\n

\"David
David Almond’s notebooks, part of the Seven Stories Collection. Image: Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
How is your placement helping you to develop the skills you\u2019ll need for a career in the museums sector?<\/h5>\n

Anna:\u00a0I came to the MA course at Newcastle University with little practical experience of working in a museum environment. The placement has helped me put my theoretical knowledge from the MA course into practice. Working at Seven Stories has given me access to experts in the industry and enabled me to work directly with the collection.<\/p>\n

Amy:\u00a0<\/em>I already have experience of delivering workshops and activities so doing my placement at Seven Stories meant that I could work with data, figures and reports to learn first-hand how data interpretation can be used to inform the future progression of a learning programme.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s something I normally wouldn\u2019t have had the opportunity to do and I\u2019ve really enjoyed doing something different!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Seven
Seven Stories. Image: Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books, photography by Richard Kenworthy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
What have you learned from your placement at Seven Stories?<\/h5>\n

Amy:\u00a0I\u2019ve learned so much but my favourite part was learning about how much stories and reading can positively impact a child\u2019s development and ultimately improve their academic performance and confidence.<\/em><\/p>\n

Anna:\u00a0I’ve learned that a huge amount of hard work, dedication and love goes into maintaining the collections! Before beginning my placement, I was of the belief that museum roles are well defined and separate from one another. I now know that multitasking and cross-discipline work is becoming a more common way of working.<\/p>\n

Is there anything else you\u2019d like to say?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Anna: I would like to thank all of the wonderful staff I have worked with. As an illustrator, it has been an absolute delight to work with original artworks, and it has really inspired me in my own practice.<\/p>\n

Amy:\u00a0I didn\u2019t know it was possible but my time here has made me an even bigger Seven Stories fan!<\/em><\/p>\n

Thanks Amy and Anna! It’s been a pleasure to work with you both and good luck with the rest of your MA studies!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year, Newcastle University Museums Studies MA students Amy and Anna undertook placements with Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books. Hear about how they found their placement experience in this post… Hi Anna and Amy! Please introduce yourselves. Hello! I\u2019m Anna and I live in Gateshead, although I am originally from Northumberland.\u00a0I came … Continue reading “Q&A: Museum Studies MA placements at Seven Stories”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6222,"featured_media":634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,38,18,27],"tags":[16,10,4,34,17,9,15,28],"class_list":["post-626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-collections","category-employability","category-students","category-teaching","tag-collections","tag-exhibitions","tag-partnership","tag-schools","tag-seven-stories","tag-student-employability","tag-student-placements","tag-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":640,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions\/640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}