A View from the Marketing Cupboard

The last few months have been packed full of surprises in the Marketing Cupboard. From unexpected gifts, to trying on one of Downton’s finest tiaras, there’s been plenty of content to capture, and evenings of being slightly appalled at my working screen time.

Being rugby tackled in the Clode Gallery for a TikTok wasn’t something I had on my Autumn bingo sheet, but it serves as a reminder that you have to be ready for anything in museum life. If comical insights into Gallery Stewarding interest you, here is a video of me being flattened by Lex.

September marked the start of “Pulling Prints,” a free printing programme for 18-25-year-olds to show their passion for art, learn new methods, and use cutting-edge facilities. The brand new Print Workshop Newsletter has arrived, and I’m sure Jilly will have more insights into the programme there – make sure you keep an eye out.

From my perspective, it’s been fascinating to see a different side of learning at GH. Namely, having young artists surrounded by their peers, in residence in the Print Workshop. Their work so far have been fun, thought-provoking, and authentic. I’m really looking forward to more masterclasses before Christmas, and spending time with the artists as they build to their exhibition at the Mill Tye Gallery in March.

In other developing news, we’ve recently signed up to Bloomberg Connects. It’s a really exciting digital interpretation platform that allows visitors to further explore the collection and exhibitions, even from the comfort of your own home. As someone invested in digital curation and accessibility, it’s been immensely rewarding to engage with the collection in such an involved manner. Mixing curation with content creation has been so much fun, and I feel very lucky being able to include voices from all over the museum.

We’re launching our platform in early December, so make sure to download the app in preparation – more on Bloomberg Connects in the coming months.

Finally, we were lucky to have a couple more work experience placements in the lead-up to the new academic year. It was particularly inspiring meeting Madeleine Snow, a Fine Art & Art History Student at Newcastle University, hopeful of a future in Art Therapy. I was able to sit down with Maddie to talk about art, her experience at GH, and entering the heritage sector as a young person.

You think Sudbury is such a small town, and it’s quite easy to overlook its historical aspects of silk weaving, and housing Thomas Gainsborough. His paintings are beautiful, and it’s really nice that it highlights what Sudbury has to offer.”

It’s nice to be in a place where everything and everyone knows so much. Even just listening to the conversations that people are having at work, it’s fascinating to be able to have just a glimpse of what it’s like to work here, and the inner workings of a gallery.”

Heritage is notoriously difficult to get into at the entry level, if such a thing even exists nowadays. It was a pleasure to speak to Maddie, someone so alert to the realities of the industry, yet driven to make a positive and lasting impact in the community.

It’s been easy to get caught in the whirlwind of my first summer here, but there’s been so much to enjoy, and even more to look forward to. It’ll be over faster than I think, but I can’t wait to see the colours fully change in the garden, and to be part of my first exhibition changeover.

Fresh labels are already going on the walls – will report back when the new artwork arrives!