Mentoring & the Museum Futures Summit

I have really enjoyed mentoring with Arts Emergency over the past year, which culminated last night with an online celebratory event. My mentee has been amazing to work with, and has succeeded in getting a new job on a graduate traineeship scheme with Waltham Forest Council during the past year. A massive highlight was when she spoke at the Museum Futures summit earlier this week, as part of the panel discussion I chaired on What's next? Supporting careers after traineeships (more information here). When I met her at the start of the year she said that she was nervous about public speaking and I said that by the end of the year I would invite her to speak with me at an event and it did happen. In her new job she has to present in real life and online, so has become more confident. I was thrilled she accepted when I asked her!

On the day, she came across as confident and clear, speaking about her experiences of the different traineeships and apprenticeships she has done, and how she believes that there should be better retention of trainees and opportunities for progression within the same employer. For this reason her new job is with a council rather than within the creative and cultural industries. One of the summit attendees posted in the chat box after hearing her talk:

Brilliant, thank you. We have a decent retention rate and a really good employment rate post traineeship but you make such valid points. You have pushed me to approach colleagues about their commitment to employing trainees at the end of their term. Some teams have a great record of doing this but others less so. There is so little recruitment anyway but still, there can be no guarantees but if someone has been with us for a year, our priority should be to turn them into someone who will be taken on should the opportunity arise. Sorry, long comment, thinking aloud, but mostly I wanted to say thank you for airing something important we don't hear very often. I'm really glad you are in a meaningful role.

And my mentee texted afterwards in response:

That has absolutely made my day, thanks for encouraging me to do this Rach. I was so nervous beforehand but it feels amazing to have pushed myself and even better to think it might have a made a small impact!

I am looking forward to staying in touch with my mentee and meeting in person for a coffee and exhibition trip, as our mentoring has been solely online. For anyone interested in mentoring I cannot recommend it enough; I get as much out of it as my mentees.

Museum Futures Summit

I am excited to be chairing a panel discussion as part of the online Museum Futures Summit on 8 March. The British Museum is hosting a one-day online summit to celebrate and learn from ten years of Heritage Fund Skills for the Future programming, which includes Museum Futures as well as dozens of traineeships across the UK.

The Museum Futures Summit aims to explore the impact and key learning outcomes of paid entry-level training programmes - including traineeships, apprenticeships, fellowships, and Kickstart placements - designed to increase representation and accessibility within the cultural heritage sector workforce.

The panel discussion will be the final session of the day and will focus on What’s next supporting careers after traineeships. For more information visit here

End of 2021 & heading into 2022

Unfortunately the end of 2021 was difficult for me after testing positive with Covid at the start of November. It has taken me a while to get my energy levels back up. One highlight of the end of 2021 was evaluating a pilot Creative Writing Traineeship for the Foundling Museum working with some amazing care-experienced young adults, many of whom have special educational needs and/or experiences of mental health. It was interesting to see how they connected with the Foundling stories and collection, both in terms of similarities and differences to their own experiences. They wrote poetry with poet Belinda Zhawi around themes of identity and stigma, and built relationships with each other over a period of ten weeks. Many of them did not have other friends who are care leavers so this was a safe space to be supported by their peers and to share their stories. I am excited to be working with the Foundling Museum again.

Thinking ahead to 2022, all of my work is aligned with supporting young people into careers in the creative industries and museums & galleries either through setting up programmes, evaluating or mentoring:

• Foundling Museum - evaluating the Foundling Museum’s Art Traineeship with care experienced young adults, which has been running for a number of years;

• Tate - evaluating year 2 of Tate’s internal mentoring programme for Tate Collective Producers paired off with Tate staff, following on from the pilot programme last year;

• The Photographers’ Gallery - continuing on year 5 of evaluating DEVELOP: Creative Careers through Photography for 14 to 24 year olds;

• Freelands Foundation - continuing the planning of Freelands Foundation’s first paid traineeship role to start in September 2022, including making connections with secondary schools, colleges and youth groups across London and forming a group of arts organisations who also run traineeships;

• University of the Arts London (UAL) - mentoring a young person who is studying or who has recently graduated from UAL;

• Art on the Underground - evaluating and mentoring on a secondment programme within Transport for London (TfL). Interestingly the person on this secondment is not a young person but someone who has worked at TfL for a number of years. So how does this change the support they need to transfer into a more creative role?

Watch this space for future work announcements in 2022!

The Foundling Museum

I am excited to have been invited to evaluate a ten week pilot Creative Writing Traineeship for care-experienced young adults at the Foundling Museum, led on by poet Belinda Zhawi . This traineeship is built on the learning from the established Art Traineeships that the Museum has been running since 2017.

For more information about the Foundling Museum’s Traineeship programme take a look here

Working from home

I have been working from home as a freelancer on and off for a long time. Having moved house over the summer, we now have a shared working space in our garden and I am excited to get back to work this week!

Our summerhouse / shared working space

Tate TCP Pilot Mentoring Programme

From March to July 2021, I continued to work with Tate following on from the Routes In research I carried out for the Young People’s Programmes team. One of the recommendations was for long-term networking, mentoring, training and development, and I was approached to set up and evaluate an internal mentoring programme. This was run in partnership between Tate and Creative Society with the Tate Collective Producers (TCPs) paired off with a Tate member of staff (mainly band 4 level - i.e. Assistant Curator type roles).

The pilot consisted of nine mentoring pairs with the following steps:

• Step 1: Recruitment and planning (February/March 2021);

• Step 2: Training for Mentors and Mentees (end of March 2021);

• Step 3: Six fortnightly sessions of an hour long online or via phone call, alongside networking events to connect with each other and share knowledge and expertise (April to June 2021);

• Step 4: Monitoring progress, supporting mentoring pairs and evaluation (throughout);

• Step 5: Following up post mentoring with TCPs and future plans for mentoring at Tate (July 2021 and then ongoing).

The learning from the evaluation of the pilot will be taken forward into year 2 with the idea that the mentees from year 1 may get involved as peer buddies. Comments from the mentors included:

“I would tell other Tate staff that it's a really useful and important extension of what we do at Tate.”

“It's a great opportunity to reflect on your own practice as well as learning a new skill and supporting a young person into the arts.”

“I was really impressed by the perspective and ideas being presented by the mentee which I found exciting and inspiring.”

And feedback from the mentees included:
“I feel mentoring has allowed me to discuss my confusions around applications and interviews, and has given me the chance to speak with a young professional who is confident in their own line of work… I think it’s rare to be able to have employability conversations focused on a specific part of the creative sector.”

“I’ve enjoyed being a mentee and it has led me to find opportunities and it has made me believe in myself and what I can achieve.”

“The world started to open up 3 sessions in… I’ve got back on a better path for work and employment.” 

Voices that Matter

I feel privileged to have been working with some amazing women over the past few years as a ‘participant observer’ on the project Voices that Matter for the Whitechapel Gallery. The Gallery has partnered with local organisations NUMBI and City Gateway focusing on women’s voice, agency and social confidence.

For the most recent project with City Gateway, the women participants have been working with artist and filmmaker Hussina Raja to make a film Voices that Matter: Bidēśi Mahilā (Travelling Women). This is an experimental short film exploring what it means to ‘take up space’ in public spaces, whilst building a life in London, and longing for connection to Bangladesh.

Take a look at the film here

Art on the Underground Poster Launch

The Art on the Underground Sankofa Poster Project launch had to be postponed over a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic but the themes of the winning design seem even more relevant in 2021.

In early 2020 we approached Westminster City School, located between Victoria station and Westminster station, to do the Sankofa Poster Project consisting of a one day schools workshop led by artist Shepherd Manyika, in relation to Larry Achiampong’s commission. The workshop was with 22 x Year 10 students, who were all male and from multicultural backgrounds living across London and beyond. The day kicked off with an introduction about Art on the Underground and Larry Achiampong’s commission as well as his ongoing series Pan African Flag for the Relic Travellers’ Alliance, followed by workshop artist Shepherd Manyika talking about his own artistic practice. We then walked with the students to Westminster tube station to see Larry Achiampong's commission, along with some sketching at the station and in the surrounding area to identify other iconic London or British designs, like the Roundel. Back at school, students were set an individual poster design brief around redesigning an iconic London or British design in a way that changes its meaning and makes the individual feel more represented both culturally and personally, along with the idea of ‘sankofa’ - using the past to prepare for the future, relevant in Larry Achiampong’s commission.

As an extension to the project the students created a poster design (started during the workshop and completed during further school lessons) with one student’s work chosen by Shepherd Manyika to be displayed in a poster site at Westminster tube station during July and August 2021. At the launch event the winning student, Niaz Rahman attended with his family. Niaz unveiled his own poster in situ and announced to the public over the station tannoy system to look out for his artwork.

For more about the project take a look here

“They watched the video of Larry Achiampong’s work and said they liked the way he was fighting for social justice, equality for all with his work and it had more meaning than they realised when they first saw it. The idea that the colours of the roundel are very imperialist had never struck them so they looked at the colour in Achiampong’s designs and the underground differently following the workshop.”

(Head of Art, Elaine Chance)

The winning student photographing his poster design on display at Westminster tube station

Evaluating the DEVELOP Programme at the Photographers' Gallery

I am thrilled to have been invited by The Photographers’ Gallery to continue working as the evaluator on their DEVELOP Programme for young people aged 14-24 who are interested in Creative Careers through Photography. This is my fifth year working on the programme which will include evaluating Zoom sessions as well as in person events at the Gallery later in the year. In addition I will be working with a group of 20 participants across the year sharing their journeys with them via Zoom, phone chats and monthly Padlet posts.

Southbank Centre Curator Development Programme

In line with most of my current work which focuses on supporting young people into the museum and gallery sector workforce, I am pleased to be advising on a forthcoming Curator Development Programme cross-site at the Southbank Centre. Watch this space!

Mentoring

Yesterday I met my new mentee through Arts Emergency. I’m excited to be mentoring her across the next year especially as we have a shared passion. I’ve also recently been matched with a new mentee with UAL for the next six months. In addition, for the first time in a long time, I currently have a mentor myself via the Group for Education (GEM), and I have just started setting up a pilot mentoring programme internally at Tate with Creative Society as a partner. So this week the theme is definitely mentoring!

GEM Training Session, Young People – Career Opportunities and Progression Routes into the Sector

I am running this event for the Group for Education in Museums (GEM) on Wednesday 3 March - advertised as follows:

“This past year has been particularly difficult for young people with both COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter affecting mental health and well-being, along with the unpredictability of future study and employment opportunities. 

Consultant for Arts Education and Evaluation Rachel Moss will use her experience in setting up paid traineeships, evaluating young people’s programmes, and as a mentor for young people, along with her What Next? Research report for Tate’s Routes In Programme, as a springboard into looking at how we can support young people into the sector workforce. 

This 2-hour course will include: What do we mean by young people? What careers support is already on offer for young people? What is enabling change? What steps do the sector need to take to address the gaps? The session will be delivered via interactive presentation and discussion along with time to create actions for you to take away and implement in your own organisations.”

Take a look at the event details & book a place here

Clay Station Traineeship 2017, Art on the Underground in collaboration with A New Direction and Create Jobs. Photos: Benedict Johnson, 2017

Reflecting on 2020 & heading into 2021

For myself (like most people) 2020 has been a difficult year. Museums and galleries (like many other industries) have been hit hard by the COVID-19 lockdowns with venues closing, opening, and closing again a number of times. As a freelancer I am not attached to one organisation so have not been involved in the difficult planning for safe visiting of audiences inside buildings. However, I have needed to adapt with clients disappearing, work being postponed and engagement work moving online. I am proud that I have been able to continue working from home alongside home schooling and other family difficulties. I completed the research for Tate’s Routes in Programme, mentored a young person remotely, evaluated a number of online programmes and also ran online training for a few new clients.

Moving into 2021 being in tier 4 will be difficult and with COVID-19 numbers rising. However with vaccines beginning to be rolled out I am hopeful for myself and the sector moving forward, providing there is government support. I will be continuing to work with Freelands Foundation, The Photographers’ Gallery, Whitechapel Gallery and Art on the Underground, as well as mentoring again with UAL and for the first time Arts Emergency. In addition I’ve been approached to run a training session on young people’s career opportunities and progression routes into the sector for the Group for Education in Museums (GEM). This is the area of work I am particularly passionate about and follows on from my research for Tate.

After the unpredictability of last year who knows what will happen in 2021 but I do hope that everyone in our sector can take the opportunity to look after themselves because well-being, as well as funding, will be key for our resilience moving forward.

Mentoring for Arts Emergency & Being Mentored via GEM

Back in October I attended mentor training with Arts Emergency. Earlier this week I found out that I have been matched with a mentee and I am excited that I will be meeting them online in the New Year; maybe even in person as the year progresses! For more information about Arts Emergency take a look here.

Next year I will also be a mentee having signed up to the Group for Education in Museums (GEM) Mentoring Programme. I see mentoring as a two way process and learn a lot as a mentor, but having freelanced now for the past 5 years it feels like a good time to reflect upon my own practice. For details about the programme check here

Fair Museum Jobs Careers Summit

This week I’ve sat on a panel at two Zoom sessions as part of the Fair Museum Jobs Careers Summit. If you haven’t heard of Fair Museum Jobs (FMJ) take a look here.

“Fair Museum Jobs is a grass roots, collective movement. Our objective is to establish a better standard (‘The Manifesto’) for museum job recruitment based on these principles of fairness, transparency, equity and inclusivity. We believe recruitment based on these principles is fundamental to creating a museum sector that is resilient, relevant and representative of all society.”

The FMJ team is made up of six individuals working in the sector and this week they have been joined by lots of speakers for an amazingly wide range of sessions for their Fair Museum Jobs Careers Summit.

I have been excited to join two of the panel discussions as a speaker - firstly on Making your application processes fairer & more accessible, and secondly What’s it like to work in museum learning? I am also attending two of the sessions to listen to the speakers - one on Unions in the heritage sector, and the other on Anti-racism in museum recruitment.

Most of the sessions will be available as recordings online at a future time so keep an eye open on their website #FMJSummit

Making your application processes fairer & more accessible panel Zoom discussions

Delivering Zoom workshops

Having been a participant or evaluator on many Zoom workshops it has been fun to do some delivery too. Last week I delivered a session for Tate at the Routes In Network meeting, presenting the key findings and recommendations from the summary report of my research, What Next? Supporting young people from under-represented backgrounds into creative careers at Tate and across the sector.

In addition, I facilitated a workshop for the Museum Futures trainees at the British Museum covering some of the topics in my Tate research and seeing which were most relevant to them. We also looked at what it’s like to be a freelancer, thinking about both the benefits and challenges.

I am really passionate about expanding the progression routes for under-represented young people into the sector so I was also pleased to recently attend a training session with Arts Emergency with the plan that I mentor a young person for them next year.

Summary Report for Routes In Young People’s Programme 2020

The final summary report that I wrote for the Tate Routes In Programme has now been shared with the Routes In Network members and is publicly available. This research was commissioned to foreground the next phase of the Routes In programme. It explores what careers support is already on offer to young people in the sector, what initiatives are enabling change, and where the gaps are. It is written for Tate, and for the Routes In Network, but some recommendations will apply or will be able to be adapted by other organisations depending on their resources. I will be presenting the research at a sharing session with the Routes In Network members in a few weeks time, with a chance for them to ask questions and to feed into the future plans for Routes In based on the recommendations from the report.

This report is now available to download from Tate’s research centre for learning website here

New clients & new Contracts

I am very pleased to be back - post COVID-19 lockdown - to evaluating the DEVELOP Programme for The Photographers’ Gallery, and the Voices that Matter Women’s community project for the Whitechapel Gallery. I am also excited to be working with Freelands Foundation again, finalising the plans for a forthcoming trainee role.

In addition I am working with the British Museum for the first time, running a Zoom session for their Museum Futures Trainees, focusing on routes into the sector and on becoming a freelancer.

Evaluating from Afar

It’s been an interesting experience moving my evaluation of participatory projects from face to face to online over the past month. For digital events I’ve been posting questions in the chat box, carrying out observations and using Zoom polls. In addition I’ve been trialling platforms like Padlet (for young people to share their experiences and to connect) and Mentimeter (for questioning, voting and generating word clouds with groups). As things move forward it will be interesting to see whether digital events stay popular, most likely as part of blended learning. I for one have been enjoying the ease of engaging from home, both as an educator/evaluator and as an audience member.

Summer Family Fun

This year rather than our usual month-long trip to France we did a two week camping trip to visit family around the UK along with day trips out from London. With vulnerable family members to consider, we have on the whole stayed outside with lots of walking, cycling, pony trekking and swimming in lakes, and even the sea! In addition we have embraced outdoor heritage by visiting National Trust and English Heritage properties, amongst other attractions, including:

• Eltham Palace - a firm family favourite after the last visit when we were wowed by the Art Deco interiors of the Palace and the adult dressing up area. This time we visited before the building had reopened so we were able to explore the gardens which we didn’t have time for last time. English Heritage provided family trails, with noticeboards as a reminder along the way, which definitely added to our visit. My children and their friends also detoured off into the long meadow to spot grasshoppers, butterflies and other insects;

• Osterley Park - another place we usually visit in summer as a half way point to meet friends and as we have never been in the house our visit was similar to last time. We took the play trail through the woods and had a great view of the House. Only the rope swings had been tied up and weren’t to be used this time;

• Chiswick House and Gardens - again we just explored the gardens, not the house, with friends who live near there. We were impressed with the size of the gardens and the statues we spotted especially as this is accessible for free - a great resource for locals during lockdown;

• Owl Sanctuary & various Farms - we camped on two different farms with the first also having an owl sanctuary, at Red Lion Farm in Haughton near Stafford. The staff kindly opened up early for us as we had to head off and we had a personal tour meeting owls with names like Frodo and Bilbo, and one called Molly that featured in a Harry Potter film! The farm animals varied from cows, horses, ducks, chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs, to alpaca and even Meerkats;

• NorthBay Heritage Railway - in Scarborough we enjoyed taking the heritage trains from Scalby Mills to Peasholm Park with the chatty train driver filling us in on the history from when it opened in 1931. We also tried out the historic water chute at Northstead Manor Gardens - lots of fun but we got rather wet;

• Scarborough castle - we loved the calm of the castle in comparison to the hectic South Beach below with it’s great views and headland space. As this was another English Heritage property we did the family trail again and even played a game which reminded me of What’s the Time Mr Wolf and Grandmother’s Footsteps from my childhood;

• Cinder track - from Scarborough to Whitby there is a track that follows the route of the disused railway, that you can cycle or walk along and it is relatively flat. We cycled from Scalby to Hayburn Wyke where we stopped for lunch in the pub there before visiting the nearby waterfall and cove;

• Sculptures along Scarborough beaches - there are a number of statues including ‘Freddie Gilroy and the Belsen Stragglers' by artist Ray Lonsdale, based on a retired miner who turned out to also be one of the first soldiers to relieve the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at the end of World War II. It represents all the normal people that were pulled out of an ordinary life and made to fight for their country;

• Beverley Minster - sadly you can only look at the exterior of the Minster at present unless you attend a service. I was looking forward to finding my Great Uncle Lesley Gabbott’s name on a plaque inside as he fought for a local regiment in World War 1 but we will have to go back.

I would like to thank all of the staff for making our visits thoroughly enjoyable. I am sure that it has been difficult for each attraction to work out the best approach to be able to reopen post the COVID-19 lockdown. Booking in advance has been no problem and having limited numbers of people has actually made our visits more enjoyable. We are planning to return to visiting museums and galleries soon but having a summer of relatively good weather has definitely been a bonus for staying safe!

Freddie Gilroy and the Belsen Stragglers by artist Ray Lonsdale