Last Friday was Museology’s annual Internship Fair, where local museums and cultural organizations came together to chat with our students about internships, projects, and initiatives at their institutions. It was also a chance for students to connect with local museum professionals and get to know a little more about the organizations in our region.
We had a huge showing of support from our local community of museums, with representatives from 32 institutions. It seemed like every cross-section of our field was represented: from the Woodland Park Zoo to the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park; from small-sized historical societies to some of Seattle’s larger organizations like the Museum of Flight; and art galleries, granting agencies, and more.
With the tables set up with posters, tablecloths, and internship postings, what at first seemed like a career fair became a room for vibrant conversation, both between students and museum representatives, as well as among the tablers at the fair. It was where museum staff chatted with students to find out where projects and institutional goals intersected with students’ interests and goals, and where new ideas for collaboration between institutions were hatched.
And it is with these conversations that I witnessed the bond that goes beyond these particular museum representatives and these particular students. I saw a deeper relationship among organizations and our program, with a shared commitment to being sites of learning, to elevating emerging museum professionals, enhancing the work our organizations produce, and building a strong community of museum professionals in our area.
-Dylan High, Student Experience Coordinator