Work Experience - Volunteering at the Hepworth

For my future career I hope to work as an in-house designer for a gallery or museum. This is because I have a passion for museums and galleries and find their style of design exciting and meaningful. For this reason, for my work experience I contacted the Hepworth Wakefield for a volunteering role to familiarise myself with gallery organisation, set-up and design.

In order to get into contact, I sent them an email stating my general qualities and love of the Hepworth. That day they sent me an email inviting me to a volunteer social set for the evening. I decided to attend this. In preparation I did a lot of research on the Hepworth and also thought about my own experiences which I could discuss with the other the team and other potential volunteers.

This was an excellent networking opportunity as many other people who were interested in galleries were in attendance. It also tested my ability to converse naturally about my practice which went well, despite the fact I was nervous to begin with. I was also interviewed that night, after a successful conversation with one of the staff. This required some quick thinking in terms of responses, since I was unprepared for the interview. It went well however and I made sure to be pleasant and attentive. As a result I got the role. 

During this event, I made several contacts in the art world, two of which I am still in contact with; which shows how it was rewarding to go to this event. Of course, the volunteering meant I forged many more contacts later on.