Traineeships at Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
Case study: Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery (BM&AG)
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery is part of the Museums & Heritage division of Birmingham City Council. Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery has a commitment to developing workforce diversity.
BM&AG has worked with the city council, MA Diversify scheme and other partners to run a positive action traineeship scheme since 2001. To date BM&AG has hosted seven two-year entry-level placements, leading to a museum studies postgraduate qualification, and nine 12-week work experience placements for those in higher education. It is currently hosting three Diversify traineeships.
Before setting up the traineeships, BM&AG looked at the different postgraduate courses in the Midlands and met course tutors before opting for the University of Leicester, which had substantial experience of working with diversity. In 2001, two traineeships were advertised in specialist publications such at The Voice and Eastern Eye as well as The Guardian and Museums Journal. Of the 28 valid applications received, 12 candidates were shortlisted for interview.
One of the first successful applicants was Gurminder Kenth from Birmingham who had previous experience working as a visitor assistant at the city's Ikon Gallery.
As part of her traineeship she worked on 'The Human Condition' exhibition in the Waterhall. On completion of her traineeship, Gurminder became co-ordinator for Cinema India/V&A image & identity partnership leading to the Cinema India exhibition in the Gas Hall in summer 2004.
Later that year, she was appointed deputy curator manager at Birmingham's Museum of the Jewellery Quarter (MJQ)/Soho House and is now curator manager at MJQ on a job share basis.
The second round of traineeships in 2003 attracted 24 applicants. Jane Arthur, head of collections at BM&AG, says: 'Seventy five per cent of applicants responded to advertisement in local media - important as we did want to get a strong local response.'
BM&AG has now offered seven traineeships, supported by a combination of various sources including Diversify, Birmingham City Council's Bridges into the Future positive action training fund, collection services revenue and MLA though the Renaissance initiative.
Partnerships to deliver positive action traineeships are becoming more common. In partnership with Wolverhampton Art Gallery (WAG)/Bantock House, BM&AG hosted a traineeship for Vanessa Mitchell, who did a masters in museum studies as a distance learning student at the University of Leicester.
Vanessa divided her time equally between BM&AG (beginning of the week) and at Wolverhampton Art Gallery/Bantock House (end of the week). A formal, written agreement was drawn up between both museum services and Vanessa to cover this arrangement. At BM&AG Vanessa was supervised by the principal curator, human history and at Wolverhampton by the curator/manager of Bantock House & Park.
Jane Arthur comments: 'We try to continually improve the traineeship experience which is why the latest two-year trainees are on four days a week to allow time for the self directed study.' She adds that as trainees gain more confidence and experience, BM&AG tries to provide an environment where they can lead on projects and take responsibility for discrete areas of work.
From 2006/07 and in conjunction with the Museums, Libraries & Archives Council, BM&AG and Leicester City Museums are piloting two management-level traineeships. They have been chosen to host the pilot as both services have a successful track record in social inclusion and workforce diversity.
To see more case studies, please click here
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery is part of the Museums & Heritage division of Birmingham City Council. Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery has a commitment to developing workforce diversity.
BM&AG has worked with the city council, MA Diversify scheme and other partners to run a positive action traineeship scheme since 2001. To date BM&AG has hosted seven two-year entry-level placements, leading to a museum studies postgraduate qualification, and nine 12-week work experience placements for those in higher education. It is currently hosting three Diversify traineeships.
Before setting up the traineeships, BM&AG looked at the different postgraduate courses in the Midlands and met course tutors before opting for the University of Leicester, which had substantial experience of working with diversity. In 2001, two traineeships were advertised in specialist publications such at The Voice and Eastern Eye as well as The Guardian and Museums Journal. Of the 28 valid applications received, 12 candidates were shortlisted for interview.
One of the first successful applicants was Gurminder Kenth from Birmingham who had previous experience working as a visitor assistant at the city's Ikon Gallery.
As part of her traineeship she worked on 'The Human Condition' exhibition in the Waterhall. On completion of her traineeship, Gurminder became co-ordinator for Cinema India/V&A image & identity partnership leading to the Cinema India exhibition in the Gas Hall in summer 2004.
Later that year, she was appointed deputy curator manager at Birmingham's Museum of the Jewellery Quarter (MJQ)/Soho House and is now curator manager at MJQ on a job share basis.
The second round of traineeships in 2003 attracted 24 applicants. Jane Arthur, head of collections at BM&AG, says: 'Seventy five per cent of applicants responded to advertisement in local media - important as we did want to get a strong local response.'
BM&AG has now offered seven traineeships, supported by a combination of various sources including Diversify, Birmingham City Council's Bridges into the Future positive action training fund, collection services revenue and MLA though the Renaissance initiative.
Partnerships to deliver positive action traineeships are becoming more common. In partnership with Wolverhampton Art Gallery (WAG)/Bantock House, BM&AG hosted a traineeship for Vanessa Mitchell, who did a masters in museum studies as a distance learning student at the University of Leicester.
Vanessa divided her time equally between BM&AG (beginning of the week) and at Wolverhampton Art Gallery/Bantock House (end of the week). A formal, written agreement was drawn up between both museum services and Vanessa to cover this arrangement. At BM&AG Vanessa was supervised by the principal curator, human history and at Wolverhampton by the curator/manager of Bantock House & Park.
Jane Arthur comments: 'We try to continually improve the traineeship experience which is why the latest two-year trainees are on four days a week to allow time for the self directed study.' She adds that as trainees gain more confidence and experience, BM&AG tries to provide an environment where they can lead on projects and take responsibility for discrete areas of work.
From 2006/07 and in conjunction with the Museums, Libraries & Archives Council, BM&AG and Leicester City Museums are piloting two management-level traineeships. They have been chosen to host the pilot as both services have a successful track record in social inclusion and workforce diversity.
To see more case studies, please click here
