🗝️ Starting My Curator Apprenticeship: A New Chapter for Me and the Museum

Hello everyone!I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve just begun a Level 7 Curator Apprenticeship through Teesside University. This is a two-year programme designed to develop curatorial professionals through academic study and workplace practice—and for me, that means bringing everything I learn directly into the heart of Staithes Museum.

I’ve worked at Staithes for a while now as a trainee curator, and then a Curator / Manager, doing a little bit of everything—from digitisation to social media, from writing exhibition panels to fixing the rolling ball clock with string and goodwill (and youtube tutorials). But this apprenticeship gives me the chance to step back, think critically, learn from sector-wide best practice, and grow into a fully-fledged museum professional.

🔍 My Strengths and What I Want to Learn

Working in a tiny, independent museum has meant I’ve had to be creative, resourceful, and determined. I already bring some strong skills to this apprenticeship:

• Communication: writing brochures, engaging visitors, running the website and social media

• Volunteer management: supporting our amazing team with HR processes, training, and pastoral care

• Documentation and digital innovation: writing policies, building interactive displays, designing spreadsheets to track everything from oral histories to object locations

But I also know where I want to grow. In particular, I want to:

• Understand museum ethics and collections care in more depth

• Learn about budgeting, fundraising, and working with external designers

• Build academic research skills

• Gain confidence using sector frameworks like Spectrum and the Museum Association Code of Ethics

In short: I want to go from doing things because they seem like a good idea, to doing them because I know they’re best practice. I want to make confident, well-informed curatorial decisions that make our museum stronger, more inclusive, and more sustainable.

📚 What the Apprenticeship Involves

The apprenticeship is a mix of university-based learning and on-the-job application. I’ll have online seminars every other Thursday, intensive study weeks in Middlesbrough, and ongoing assignments and assessments (including a portfolio, exhibition proposal, and final professional discussion).

At work, I’ll need time every week for:

• Reading and reflection

• Developing new curatorial skills

• Working on my apprenticeship portfolio

• Trying out what I’ve learned—in real time, with real objects, people, and problems

This means I’ll sometimes need to work from home to concentrate, or attend events elsewhere to broaden my experience. I’ll still be doing museum work—but now, every task will double as a learning opportunity.

🫂 How Staff and Volunteers Can Support Me

This apprenticeship is both a personal journey and a shared opportunity for the museum to grow. You don’t need to be a museum expert to help—your support, experience, and perspective are all incredibly valuable. Here’s how you can get involved:

• Offer Feedback If I share something I’ve written, designed, or presented, please take a moment to tell me what you think. Your honest feedback—whether it’s a question, a concern, or “this bit made me laugh”—helps me reflect and improve.

• Attend My Presentations (if you fancy it!) Throughout the year, I’ll be delivering a few informal presentations and workshops to help consolidate what I’ve been learning. If you’ve got time, I’d love to have a friendly face in the audience. It helps me meet my apprenticeship goals—and makes it feel a bit less like shouting into the void.

• Support My Study Time I’ll be setting aside regular hours each week for reading, research, and portfolio writing. Sometimes that means working from home or being less visible on the museum floor. Just know that I’m still working hard—just in a slightly different way!

I’m hugely grateful for your support as I navigate this exciting, occasionally overwhelming, and deeply rewarding experience!

📖 What I’m Looking Forward to Reading This Week

My next university session 2 weeks from now is all about “Locating My Practice”—thinking about who we are as curators, where we’ve come from, and what we inherit when we work in museums. I’m especially looking forward to reading:

• “Project Art Works” (On Curating, Issue 54), about how internal policies within a collective, highlighting how organisational frameworks shape curatorial practice.

• “The Museum is Not Enough” by Paul B. Preciado, which boldly critiques traditional museum structures

• The Museums Association’s Decolonising Guidance, which asks hard questions about power, inclusion, and who gets to decide what belongs in the museum

(You can find the full reading list at the end of this post!)

🏛️ What This Means for Staithes Museum

This apprenticeship will give our museum access to new ideas, sector knowledge, training opportunities, and stronger networks. It means:

• Better documentation and collections management

• More inclusive and creative interpretation

• Thoughtful, ethical approaches to community engagement

• A stronger case for future funding

• A growing team of professionals who bring new skills to the table

And it’s not just me who benefits—everything I learn will be shared with our volunteers, trustees, and visitors.

📚 Full Reading List for weeks 1 and 2

• Museums Association – Decolonising Museums Guidance

• Paul B. Preciado – on the Necromuseum

• Irit Rogoff – Smuggling: An Embodied Criticality

• ICOM – Key Concepts of Museum Definition Debates

• Nina Simon – The Participatory Museum (Intro & Ch. 1)

• Dorothy Price – Why Is My Curriculum White?

• Curatopia – Chapter 10: Community Engagement and the Complex Curator

If you see me scribbling in a notebook, staring at a spreadsheet in despair, or buried in a PDF—don’t worry! I’m learning. And I can’t wait to share what I learn with you all.

See you in  Staithes, 

— Rosie 🖋️