Polly Redman, Museums Manager
Discover a career in museums with Polly Redman, Museums Manager.
Why do I love my job?
I love my job because I get to help people learn fun and interesting things about history and museums every day. I enjoy creating exciting displays with objects, working with lots of different people, and helping families and children explore the past in creative ways. I love sharing stories from the past and make the museum a fun and welcoming place for everyone. It makes me happy to see people enjoy the museum and discover something new.
What did I love doing at school?
I loved history at school and being creative doing art, being part of the school play and doing show and tell.
Childhood hobbies?
I loved the film the Little Mermaid when I was growing up. Ariel collected things she found from shipwrecks and displayed them in her own little museum. I really connected to this because I collected things too and loved making little displays and being creative and showing them to my friends or at show and tell at school. I also loved drawing, painting and visiting museums.
How to get into the sector?
There are a lot of different types of job roles in museums such as archaeologists, historians, technicians, builders, teachers as well as people that work in the museum shops and do the marketing so there are many different ways and interest that can help get into this sector. Many museums are also small and only have a couple of paid staff that need to be good at multitasking. There are university degrees that you can do specifically for museums, galleries and heritage but this is not the only way to get into the sector. If you get a chance to volunteer in your local museum that is a great way to get experience and really learn what it is like working in Museums and helps get you started.
Related jobs?
Historian, librarian, archaeologist, teacher, writer, artist.
Career high?
The best moments for me is when someone comes up to me to say how much they have enjoyed their visit and why because the visitor is for who I do my job and that feedback is my biggest reward but having a member from the Royal Family visit was also a really big deal for me as well as publishing a book explaining why the museums and heritage sites in Essex are really important.
Top tip: Visit museums and volunteer where you can. - Polly Redman, Museums Manager