Students

The path of a volunteer: working for Tate and re-finding an art practice

Maria studied at Wimbledon College of Art for an Art Foundation diploma and Leeds University, graduating in 2008 with a BA in Contemporary Art Practice.  She also lived in Brno, Czech Republic for a year with the Erasmus programme, studying at their school of fine art and producing an exhibition. She still maintains an art practice and is collaborating on a film project.

Maria currently works at the British Museum as the Coordinator of People and Place, a Strategic Commissioning Programme funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Her role involves the coordination of the programme at six regional institutions all working towards better practice for working with young people. Before this she worked at Tate Britain on a range of learning programmes and in administration after completing an internship in the learning department in 2008.

What have you done since graduating in July 2008?
Whilst unsure of in what capacity, I knew I wanted to work creatively in a gallery to pursue a career in the culture sector: being familiar with the role of a curator, I soon discovered there is a far greater variety of other jobs out there. I also realised the lack of experience I had for any of them!

This led me consider the voluntary roles available, sending speculative CVs to a number of places I offered my services for nothing, and heard nothing. But towards the end of summer 2008, larger institutions began to advertise internships. I applied for a few and eventually was invited to interview at the Tate Britain learning department.

I was lucky and got the job, however what followed was hard work. For four months I was thrown into assisting an ambitious national programme, working across the whole institution and learning very quickly. It was the best education I have ever had. After that I stayed on in a freelance capacity, working on the same programme for another two months. At the end of the programme I assisted in planning a community event whilst working part-time as the admin assistant for the department. It was whilst I was doing this that I applied for my current job at the British Museum.  I finally felt like I could tick all the boxes on the application form.

Did you stay in the same city at which you studied? Why you chose to stay or go...
I stayed in Leeds after graduating for about a month. I always knew I would return to London where I grew up. Not only am I familiar with the city, have family and friends, but I couldn't imagine starting my career in the arts anywhere else. I also moved back in with my parents, which made things a lot cheaper.

Initially it was difficult, I did not have the social network I had had in Leeds, didn't know any artists and I wasn't familiar with the art scene and where things were 'happening'. However, once I started to volunteer, working at very small galleries and then at Tate Britain I began to meet lots of like-minded people, and I am happy with the network I currently have, professional and artistic. I have even started working creatively in film with an artist I met, a pursuit far removed from my current professional endeavours.

What did you perceive you might do after your time at university, is this divergent or convergent to the situation you find yourself in now?
I am doing more than I could have possibly imagined after graduating.  My experience at Tate Britain was quite unique and specialised, but it was exactly what was needed for the job I am currently doing at the British Museum. It was very fortuitous for a job suited to my skills to have come up, and especially in the current climate, I feel extremely lucky.  I didn't imagine the world of work to be so transitory and unstable.

All the jobs I have had have been short-term contracts, relying on funding applications to secure positions: my current job being just the same. With the inevitable change in government approaching, job security in the culture sector is increasingly threatened: I did not expect the world of work to be such a turbulent place... I fear it will get worse before it gets better.

I have also surprised myself by starting a creative partnership with an artist I met since returning to London.  I felt quite despondent with art after my degree, and didn't feel I had any professional ambition to be an artist.  However, it is something that has crept back into my life, now I feel very liberated to be working on an art project away from institutional prescription. The collaboration is in very early days, but it is so fulfilling to meet and discuss art, share ideas and research in my own time and on my own terms. Fitting it around work is not a problem; it may however impose parameters at a later point.

Who do you find has influenced you since graduating?
I have received help and advice from a many number of different people I have worked with and met since returning to London. However there is a curator at Tate Britain who told me all about her career and what she has done since studying. Her path was varied and untraditional, and after speaking to her I realised that not everything rides on the next job. I remember feeling a lot more relaxed about what was to come, and more excited about the uncertain nature of a career in the arts.

What is the worse job you have done since leaving full time education? Is there anything you took from this that helped in some other way...
The worst job was working part-time during my internship as a gallery assistant at a very large London gallery.  Whilst I was happy to have some paid work the job was excruciatingly boring and didn't offer any chance of progression. There was also a distinct hierarchy, with the gallery assistants firmly at the bottom.

The worst thing is to feel useless and unappreciated at work, this job quickly made me realise how important being interested and challenged is to me.

When you were studying, what advice and encouragement was missing, can you provide this information in hindsight?
The focus of our professional development was solely for being an artist: something I always felt I did not want to be my bread and butter and there was little advice in other creative career paths.

What I don't think is appreciated is that an arts degree gives you a whole host of skills that are highly desirable to the work place. My current job involves a lot of organising and delivering of events: something my experience of putting on exhibitions during study has helped with. The process of producing these exhibitions was not encouraged much during term time yet it heightened industriousness and motivation, essential skills needed in the cultural sector, especially in a learning department.

What other information or advice can you provide that is relevant to your profession now that you think students should consider?
I was green and naive when I started working in a large institution, but it is important to realise as quickly as possible, that you have a lot to learn:

The most important part of my job is communication; a wide reaching skill I have forcibly improved on in the last year. The cultural sector is a very political and highly charged place, with lots of different people vying for themselves (and happy to take advantage of the smallest slip or badly worded e-mail) - I have found that avoiding political situations and staying as neutral as possible is especially important when starting out. I have instantly regretted siding with anyone in a working environment or being part of a close-knit group; instead valuing the importance of being friendly, helpful and positive to everyone. I know that my calm and positive attitude made me a preferred choice to work on interesting programmes: it was a huge contributing factor, placing me where I am today.

Look out for other Professional profiles upcoming on Students community: they are intended as informative yet short pieces of content for you to make use of and gain inspiration from so let me know if they are working.

richard.taylor@a-n.co.uk »

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Travelling from door to door and across the world: ceramicist graduate of 1997 Katie Adams on uncovering goals bit by bit and finding inspiration from the city within. Read on »

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Richard Taylor

Richard is an artist/writer living in Edinburgh and online editor on behalf of a-n The Artists Information Company, for the Degrees unedited and Students community sites.

www.rich-taylor.co.uk

First published: a-n.co.uk August 2009