Inspire. Support. Create.




Kate Vandor

Curatorial Fellowship
The Holburne Museum
2018



The Curatorial Fellowship role was a new post in the Curatorial team at the Holburne Museum which enabled them to increase their capacity and challenged how they worked in a hugely positive way. Kate Vandor was appointed to this new and transformational role in which she workined on an exhibition of Middle Eastern Art from the Holburne’s collection, which was displayed for the first time following a major fundraising and conservation programme. The particular focus of the post was distinctive in that rather than filling a gap in junior staff for the institution, it created a specific project-based role which enabled the Holburne to build on the ambition of the project. A particular strength of the programme was that there was an opportunity for the post-holder to have added responsibility and to manage their own projects, but also to gain support and insights from the institution. The role offered a sounding board for them collectively to explore new ideas and also to think about how they could support the building of expertise and skills within the museum context.



“Working on Bath to Baghdad was an absolute joy and provided me with a job satisfaction that I’d never felt before. I was supported and encouraged from the get-go and I was allowed to be much more involved than I had imagined I would be – I feel immense pride in the work I contributed to the exhibition publication and feel extremely lucky to have been entrusted with the task of designing the exhibition layouts.”




 
Kate was able to bring a new voice and new perspectives to the team, which was important in engaging with audiences, particularly young people. She learned a wide range of new skills from project management, commissioning and overseeing graphic designs and working with the publication designer, object handling, working with conservators, volunteers, community groups and many more. Kate’s particular expertise in social media enabled them to develop a nuanced and creative social media programme around the exhibition. Kate put together a month-long programme of daily Twitter, Instagram and Facebook posts in advance of the opening to allow insights into the exhibition process and to build momentum. This was followed by regular posts and updates during the exhibition’s run. Kate’s template and concept subsequently formed the basis of a new social media plan which has now been implemented museum-wide. Alongside the main exhibition project, Bath to Baghdad, Kate was embedded into the department’s and museum’s wider work and supported many aspects of our programme from exhibitions, collections access, marketing, learning and retail. Kate was highly creative with a practical skillset and as she applied her considered approach to each challenge she built confidence in her own abilities.




“Being offered the Curatorial Fellowship role at the Holburne Museum marked the end of an 18-month struggle to find a job which would allow me to use the skills and knowledge I’d gained from not one, but two trips through the University system. By this point, a job in a Museum or Gallery seemed almost like an abstract concept and I’d had my heart set on the idea for so long that I almost couldn’t believe it was actually happening. I had the opportunity to work on an exhibition which was sharing a remarkable story for the first time in the Holburne’s history, and I hoped to gain hands-on experience of working as a Curator whilst also assisting in delivering an exhibition which would spark people’s imagination and encourage them to engage with museum collections and their untold stories.”



Inspire. Support. Create.




Kate Vandor

Curatorial Fellowship
The Holburne Museum 
2018



The Curatorial Fellowship role was a new post in the Curatorial team at the Holburne Museum which enabled them to increase their capacity and challenged how they worked in a hugely positive way. Kate Vandor was appointed to this new and transformational role in which she workined on an exhibition of Middle Eastern Art from the Holburne’s collection, which was displayed for the first time following a major fundraising and conservation programme. The particular focus of the post was distinctive in that rather than filling a gap in junior staff for the institution, it created a specific project-based role which enabled the Holburne to build on the ambition of the project. A particular strength of the programme was that there was an opportunity for the post-holder to have added responsibility and to manage their own projects, but also to gain support and insights from the institution. The role offered a sounding board for them collectively to explore new ideas and also to think about how they could support the building of expertise and skills within the museum context.

“Working on Bath to Baghdad was an absolute joy and provided me with a job satisfaction that I’d never felt before. I was supported and encouraged from the get-go and I was allowed to be much more involved than I had imagined I would be – I feel immense pride in the work I contributed to the exhibition publication and feel extremely lucky to have been entrusted with the task of designing the exhibition layouts.”

 
Kate was able to bring a new voice and new perspectives to the team, which was important in engaging with audiences, particularly young people. She learned a wide range of new skills from project management, commissioning and overseeing graphic designs and working with the publication designer, object handling, working with conservators, volunteers, community groups and many more. Kate’s particular expertise in social media enabled them to develop a nuanced and creative social media programme around the exhibition. Kate put together a month-long programme of daily Twitter, Instagram and Facebook posts in advance of the opening to allow insights into the exhibition process and to build momentum. This was followed by regular posts and updates during the exhibition’s run. Kate’s template and concept subsequently formed the basis of a new social media plan which has now been implemented museum-wide. Alongside the main exhibition project, Bath to Baghdad, Kate was embedded into the department’s and museum’s wider work and supported many aspects of our programme from exhibitions, collections access, marketing, learning and retail. Kate was highly creative with a practical skillset and as she applied her considered approach to each challenge she built confidence in her own abilities.


“Being offered the Curatorial Fellowship role at the Holburne Museum marked the end of an 18-month struggle to find a job which would allow me to use the skills and knowledge I’d gained from not one, but two trips through the University system. By this point, a job in a Museum or Gallery seemed almost like an abstract concept and I’d had my heart set on the idea for so long that I almost couldn’t believe it was actually happening. I had the opportunity to work on an exhibition which was sharing a remarkable story for the first time in the Holburne’s history, and I hoped to gain hands-on experience of working as a Curator whilst also assisting in delivering an exhibition which would spark people’s imagination and encourage them to engage with museum collections and their untold stories.”