Photo taken by Odelia Cheung
Located on Leicester’s historic New Walk, Leicester Museum and Art Gallery is one of the UK’s oldest public museums, opening in 1849. It is home to a range of diverse exhibitions and collections, including extensive galleries focusing on Ancient Egyptian history, Victorian Art, natural history, and Dinosaurs. The museum is also home to a celebrated German Expressionism collection.
Although it currently remains closed due to Covid restrictions, the museum hopes to reopen to the public on 21 June, 2021.
Kerem Cetindamar is the Digital Project Manager for Leicester Museums & Galleries.
What is your favourite thing about working at Leicester Museums and Galleries and what are the biggest challenges?
Working with interesting and passionate people around precious, historical collections are my favourite things about being an employee of Leicester Museums & Galleries. There are many challenges working in a local authority museum environment, including funding, support, and politics. I feel the biggest challenge personally is understanding our potential audiences; making sure we have something to offer for our frequent visitors while also bringing in new and hard to reach visitors as well.
What career path did you take before working at Leicester Museums and Galleries?
I studied photography at university and worked in a few admin and public facing roles before getting a temporary job working on museum collection digitisation and documentation. I think my experience in a variety of entry level jobs unrelated to museums helped me to gain the general work experience needed to be a productive and valuable team member.
Have you always been interested in working in the museum sector?
I have always been interested in museums and galleries from a young age and was an avid visitor throughout my teens, but I had never considered that I could have a career in the sector until a couple of years after completing my degree. When the temporary photographer job came up, I saw it as a great opportunity to learn new skills, but it developed into where I am today.
What does a typical working day look like for you? Or is there a ‘typical’ day?
You’re right, there is no typical day in museums! My regular work includes keeping an overview of the Leicester Museums & Galleries main website plus several sub-sites that cover our collections and the general history of Leicester. Museums form a key part of the tourism strategy for Leicester and part of my job involves developing new digital resources that can be used by the public not just at Museum venues but at historical sites across the city.
Teamwork is also an everyday part of my role in museums. Most museum disciplines have parts to play in all our projects, meaning there’s usually a ‘digital’ element to any exhibition or event we’re organising. This means I get to be involved in a wide variety of projects.
Do you have any advice for people wanting to work in museums, galleries, and heritage sites in the future?
A passion for history, education, and an ability to work in collaboration with others are essential traits in forging a successful career in the museums, galleries, and heritage sector. Finding a way to balance the ‘academic’ side with the ‘entertainment’ side of this work is an ongoing challenge that you should be eager to take on.