Why Museum Studies?
Museum Studies is an emerging degree that gives great insight into the future of museum and gallery work. While museum work once was viewed as an underpaid and less-valuable field, it is now deservingly being recognized in many areas of academia. Museum Studies is a broad academic field that delves into the history, goals, and operations of museums from a multitude of perspectives. Museum Studies scholars hold the belief that museum professionals serve as an intermediary between the viewing public and the museum object. Museums are one of the most significant institutions available to the public, and they not only educate but enrich and further a functional democracy.
In Museum Studies programs, students study various subjects such as anthropology, art history, and archeology, as well as learn museum positions from real-world experience. This forms a detailed picture of what goes into running or working in a museum field. The skills and knowledge from a Museum Studies degree can also expand outside of the museum world and into gallery, art advisory, and collection management practices. This is what Devon Vander Voort has done with her Museum Studies degrees.
Devon Vander Voort earned her M.A. in Museum Studies at Syracuse University, which provided them the knowledge and skills to establish a private art advisory and collections management firm soon after graduate school. Her degree program offered a curriculum of hands-on training, research, scholarship, and design that prepared them for a variety of positions in all aspects of museums and cultural heritage. Understanding the many museum positions helped DVV become an interdisciplinary business. Devon leaned into collections care and management, which she found a passion for while working at the Syracuse University Art Museum as a collection assistant. All the principles and knowledge that were acquired during her time in Syracuse directly influence how DVV cares for their clients’ collections today.
The Syracuse Museum Studies program gave Devon practical, hands-on experience with museum work. She learned a wide range of museum skills rather than only focusing on museum theory. Some of these more specialized skills included installation, condition reporting, practical application for art therapy, storage conditions, and museum protocols. She also engaged in much curatorial work during the program, which was always related to an exhibition on view in Syracuse-based galleries and museums. This curatorial experience now helps Devon curate her exhibitions she organizes for DVV artists. She handles and install artists’ work and finds the best design and layout for exhibitions.
The field of Museum Studies is continuing to grow among scholars and will continue to make necessary reforms and deconstructions to museums, as well as shape how the institutions present themselves. As a museum enthusiasts, Devon is excited to see these changes in action and are continuing to use her Museum Studies expertise to give her clients the high-quality and thoughtful care their art and collections deserve.
Listen to episode five of Art World Up Close to hear Devon discuss more about her Museum Studies experience here.
