Vanessa started off her career in heritage with a Skills for the Future placement at the London Transport Museum. She now works in a collections role at the V&A. Here, she shares her thoughts on diversity, heritage training opportunities and her experiences of working at a leading museum of art and design.

What does heritage mean to you?

I think about heritage every day, although it took my traineeship to realise I was doing that. As a first generation British-Ghanaian, I make it a personal mission to find out as much as I can about Ghanaian heritage, as well as how I fit into 21st-century British society. Straddling two cultures isn’t always the easiest thing, but I’ve found art and heritage is a great medium to think about these conversations.

[quote]“Straddling two cultures isn’t always the easiest thing, but I’ve found art and heritage is a great medium to think about these conversations.”[/quote]

Open and honest dialogue is key, as well as representation: the more we see ourselves, the more we begin to feel included. There are many in the heritage and museums sector who are putting in lots of hard work to make sure this becomes a reality for those who have often felt excluded from dominant narratives. Reinterpreting history and heritage is an ongoing process - it doesn’t happen overnight. It’s rewarding when you see one more exhibition on Black History and Art, or one more conference about the lack of women leaders in the heritage sector.

Heritage means something different for everyone, but I feel it really is about exploring the past and our various histories, and seeing how it can fit into our modern-day realities. Heritage institutions have a responsibility to ensure that a variety of voices are heard. Not just for one-off events or themed programming, but consistently.

What did you most value about the Skills for the Future training opportunity?

The opportunity to gain new skills and learn about the museums and heritage sector, while earning a monthly salary. My traineeship through Cultural Co-operation's training programme, Strengthening Our Common Life (SOCL), enabled me to figure out what my interests were, and I enjoyed the responsibility I was given. Learning on the job allows you to make mistakes (within reason) and to reflect on practice. I also valued the opportunities I was given to network, to meet people in the sector working with issues such as diversity, inclusion and access, to ask lots of questions. Having the space and time to ask those questions enabled me to progress ahead of schedule into a role at the Victoria & Albert Museum less than a year into starting my career in the sector.

[quote]“Heritage institutions have a responsibility to ensure that a variety of voices are heard. Not just for one-off events or themed programming, but consistently.”[/quote]

I would not have been able to enter the sector on an unpaid volunteering role. Having the structure of a vocational course, with modules and meetings with an assessor, allowed me and my supervisor to work together on a wide range of issues such as marketing, interpretation, research as well as managing budgets and volunteers. Working in the London Transport Museum, I saw first hand what it means to constantly think and produce with your audiences in mind.

What do you enjoy about your current role at the V&A?

I enjoy working with some of the most important art collections in the country, and making those collections accessible to the public online. My interest in heritage started out with photographic collections and photographers, but my role in the Word and Image department has encouraged me to learn more about prints, paintings and drawings as well as photographs. It’s good to have an area of interest, but important to be aware of what is happening outside of that medium.

In an institution as large as the V&A, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with just how much is going on, but that can also be a good thing. I am learning about the loans process as well as couriering artwork. Essentially, in museums it feels like you never stop learning new things. That’s the best part of this role.

I have also joined a group called the African Curators’ Group, which looks at how African art and design, as well as African practitioners are and can further be a part of the V&A’s collections and programming. It’s important for people from diverse backgrounds to be embedded within institutions, because it opens up new ways of interpreting artworks as well as engaging with new and existing audiences.

What are the challenges of making a career in the heritage sector and what advice would you give to someone starting out?

I suppose issues such as low pay and a lack of opportunity is one huge problem for the sector, and it therefore excludes so many who have a passion and interest in working with heritage. There are volunteering opportunities, but volunteering isn’t an option for so many. That’s why traineeships such as Skills for the Future are important: they allow you to live and work in cities, within reason. It’s also important for employers to value work-based training in the same way as MAs and PhDs, which are also hurdles for many due to the costs involved.

Short term contracts are another issue, as well as the location of jobs. Many feel as if moving to London is the only way to break through into the sector, due to the larger number of institutions there in comparison to other cities. It should be addressed in a way that people feel they don’t have to move if they don’t want to. I’d like to see cities such as Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds given more support to establish programmes which can support more artistic talent.

[quote]“Be persistent: I applied for many roles before this one, and it’s hard not to feel demoralised. Eventually a door will open.”[/quote]

To anyone starting out, I would ask lots of questions and try and meet as many people as possible. During my traineeship, I emailed many people I admired, or were currently working in jobs I would like to do in the future. So many were instantly responsive, inviting me for coffee and an open and frank discussion about what they did and how they did it. No two stories are the same, but hearing the many varied routes into the sector enabled me not to feel so daunted by the task of looking for jobs. One of those people could become a mentor, or someone you build a strong working relationship with in the future. Be persistent too: I applied for many roles before this one, and it’s hard not to feel demoralised. Eventually a door will open.