Curate your Career 2018

Curate your Career: Employment pathways in Museums and Galleries provided a series of informal ‘In Conversation’ sessions with museum and gallery professionals, targeted exclusively at an Access Melbourne student cohort to provide insights, guidance and advice on how to compete for jobs and other opportunities in this competitive sector. Access Melbourne is the University of Melbourne’s equity program for domestic students. Eligible students fit one of the following criteria: under-represented school; from a remote or rural area; disadvantaged financial background; difficult circumstances; disability or medical condition; non-English speaking background; recognition as an Indigenous Australian; non-school leaver entry pathway.

The program included four themed ‘In Conversation’ sessions with early career museum and gallery professionals. Session themes were: ‘Skills expected of current graduates’, ‘New and emerging jobs in the sector’, ‘Internships, volunteering and other opportunities’ and ‘Networking’. At each session, the Project Manager engaged two early career professionals in conversation about relevant topics to current students, focusing on how to gain entry to the field and the current opportunities in the sector. Events took place in August, September and October 2018.

Presenters for the four forums were drawn from professionals from museums and galleries across Melbourne, with a particular focus on Indigenous professionals, those in the Gen X and Gen Y demographic with the most significant recent experience in pursuing roles in the sector. Representative of the sector also, the forum presenters were primarily women. Professionals from Melbourne’s major cultural institutions participated including staff from the National Gallery of Victoria, Museums Victoria, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. Staff from Buxton Contemporary and the Ian Potter Museum of Art on the University’s Parkville campus were also represented along with the strong regional presence, the Shepparton Art Museum.

In total 54 students were engaged during the program, with a number of students attending several sessions.

  - 11% of students surveyed identified as Indigenous or Torres Strait Islander.

  - 55% of participants rated the event as ‘excellent’ (out of a range from excellent to poor)

- 50% of participants found the speakers to be ‘extremely engaging’ (out of a scale from extremely to not at all engaging).

 - 88% of participants surveyed found the event provided information and resources that they had not been able to access elsewhere

 - 100% of participants would like the University to run events of its kind in the future.

Curate your Career was funded by an Equity Innovation grant, awarded through the University’s Engagement and Partnerships office.