My work experience week

20 February 2020

​Erin has spent the week at Culture Coventry, find out what she got up to...

During my week at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum and the Coventry Transport Museum, I have taken time to learn about all the sites and familiarise myself with the upcoming events and exhibitions. I have also researched information about the Lunt Roman Fort and Roman Britain to create accurate and informative posts on Twitter and Facebook. To do that, I had to learn how certain programs worked, such as Photoshop and Hootsuite. I spent time taking and editing photos for Instagram and other social media, as well as drafting and scheduling posts. In addition, I was shown how adverts were created and how to keep track of them.

(I took this photo of the Quinn exhibition, which was posted on Instagram)

Within the different sites, my favourite exhibition was ‘Taking Flight’ at the Transport Museum. It included an interactive wall containing information and facts about air travel and had the potential of bringing visitor’s drawings to life. The exhibition is an interesting and fun learning experience that allowed me to engage with the materials provided. At the Herbert, I also enjoyed exploring the new exhibition ‘Quinn: A Journey’ and learning about the story behind it.

I feel incredibly grateful to have been given the opportunity to work somewhere that has been so important to me and many others while growing up. The experience has impacted how I view businesses that promote and advertise online, as I often underestimated the amount of time and effort put into each post. I have hugely enjoyed working at the museum and gallery; it is filled with lovely people and has been an interesting and fun journey. Although only being here for five days, I have learnt a lot and I will be coming out of the week with many new skills and lots of knowledge.

In the future I would consider going into advertising and marketing as I’m eager to learn more about the job. Until then, I will use all the skills I have gathered this week in my school work and my own social media posts. As always, I will continue to support the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, as well as the Transport museum by attending events and exhibitions and frequently visiting the sites.