Would you like to volunteer for Kids in Museums?
We value our volunteers and the contribution they make to our organisation. If you would like to apply for a volunteer post, please email getintouch@kidsinmuseums.org.uk and include a CV. Thanks.
We’re very lucky at Kids In Museums to have several highly skilled and dedicated volunteers helping us run the organisation…
ELEE KIRK spent eight years working in science museum education, first at Thinktank, Birmingham science museum, and then at the Thackray Medical Museum in Leeds. During this time she worked with tens of thousands of visitors and school children, designing and presenting workshops, science shows, lab sessions, and family activities. In September 2009 she began a PhD in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester, looking at young children’s experience of Natural History in museums. She also carries out freelance education work for museums. She has wanted to work in museums since primary school, and so knows first hand how life changing museum visits can be.
MAY REDFERN is an independent museum consultant who has worked in the sector for the last 15 years: her work revolves around making the case for museums. She was inspired to volunteer for Kids in Museums when a museum colleague told her she should go to parenting classes instead of complaining that there was nothing to do for children in the boring museum that they were visiting at the time.
ROSE SILVESTER is the Kids in Museums website moderator. Rose works part time in the School of Chemistry at the University of Bristol, providing technical support for the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Service. An Open University degree project led to her joining Bristol Magpies (now called the Friends of Bristol’s Museums, Galleries and Archives or FBMGA) and serving on the committees of this Friends group for several years. She has also edited the Newsletter and Annual Journal for the British Association of Friends of Museums (BAFM) and currently volunteers at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection. All her museum activities are voluntary and unpaid and she is a firm believer in the mutual benefits of volunteering. Rose is also a member of the Friends of the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, the Friends of Somerset Rural Life Museum in Glastonbury, and a supporter of Farms for City Children.
JANE ALLNUTT taught in Primary and Secondary Schools for many years and has taken several thousand kids to museums during her teaching career, (plus her own two daughters!) Since leaving fulltime teaching she has volunteered with Children’s and Family Activities at her local museum where she is Newsletter Editor of the Friends of Chelmsford Museums. Jane has worked freelance for MLA, giving support and training in using the National Participation Database. She works as a freelance educator at an Essex Heritage Centre and for the Royal Collection.
MELANIE WILLIAMSON is a graduate of the University of Leicester where she studied an MA in Art Museum and Gallery studies and a BA in History of Art. She is trying to start her museum career; in the meantime she enjoys volunteering for Kids In Museums by updating their website. She is currently working part time as a visitor assistant in her local museum, Weaver Hall Museum and Workhouse in Northwich. She also works part time in a nursery working with babies and toddlers aged between 6 and 18 months old. Working with this age group has stressed to her the importance of involving children in museums from a young age.
MAGGIE MONTEATH taught throughout the Primary age group, including Early Years, for 20 years. Already a keen museum visitor, she organised regular class visits to heritage sites where she saw the possibilities of inspiring ‘awe and wonder’ through object handling. Moving into museum education Maggie set up the Education Service at Haslemere Museum from scratch and was proud to be listed among the final 20 museums in the very first Family Friendly Museum Awards. Maggie is now a freelance museum education consultant specialising in developing learning opportunities for the primary age group and their families. She is looking forward to introducing her young grandson to museums.
SUZAN ARAL has worked as a graphic designer and illustrator for over 20 years in cities as far afield as London, Athens, Hong Kong and Istanbul. Many projects she has worked on have been for museums and the creative sector. Her most rewarding design projects are those that help young visitors engage with museums and their exhibits.Suzan has always carried a sketchbook with her and whenever she gets the chance, she can be found sketching street scenes, market stalls and other details of everyday life that catch her eye.
JACK SHOULDER is a recent graduate from King’s College, London with a BA in Classical Studies and is seeking that elusive first museum job. To help with the hunt he volunteers with Kids in Museums, helping with the office and admin duties. He also spends his time volunteering at the Cartoon Museum, where he can actively implement the Manifesto to enhance the visitor experience.
KATE MACKAY studied for a Masters degree at the Natural History Museum, London, where she developed a love and fascination of museums. Kate caught the bug, and whilst working in publishing she also volunteered presenting specimens to visitors at the museum. She has taken part in environmental education camps for children, and has worked as a classroom assistant at primary level. Kate most recently worked for six years managing charity marketing communications, and is now a full-time mum to an already museum-hungry toddler.
MAR DIXON, a native of Pennsylvania USA and has lived in the UK now for 11 years. An active museum and gallery visitor she specialises in social media in the cultural sector. She jointly runs the website CultureThemes.com contributes to AskACurator.com, assists with the running of National PuppetryArchive, and is an assessor for Cultural and Heritage Venue Operation for the Creative Apprentice scheme. A strong believer in the Kids in Museums ethos, she feels that museums should embrace new media whilst also remembering their roots and considering families that will visit. She is married and lives in Shropshire with one daughter.
LLEWELA SELFRIDGE has worked for the Imperial War Museum, the Royal Ontario Museum (bilingual post Eng/Fr), the Science Museum and Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service. She has also worked with the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries (R.C.M.G. Leicester University) as an evaluator for the DfES’s “Museums and Galleries Education Project (2001) and co-authored the best practice guide Learning through Culture. She also worked as a researcher for their ‘Rethinking Disability Representation’ project, with specific reference to Birmingham Art Gallery and Colchester and Ipswich Museums.She also worked in Japan, lecturing on educational best practise in museums in the UK. Since 2007 Llewela has worked as a free-lance heritage consultant.
LEONIE SAYWELL knows the museum sector inside and out. She has previously worked at the National Portrait Gallery and the Natural History Museum in London and now spends lots of her free time taking her twin daughters to museums and galleries. Having negotiated some of the UK’s finest museums with a double buggy, tantruming toddlers and more lately school girls who are connoisseurs of a good dress up box and colouring in opportunity, not to mention experts on the best hot chocolates to be found this side of Scotland, Leonie feels amply qualified to contribute to Kids in Museums.
Leonie also writes a blog Rush Hour with Twins where she writes about her experiences of visiting museums and galleries as well as being a working parent of twins. Leonie works part time at a London University and is married to David, an expert on interactive media in museums. Leonie is originally from Liverpool, was educated in Wales and lived for a while in Yorkshire. She is now settled in London but loves to visit museums all over the UK
EMMA PATERSON is a third year History and Heritage student at Bath Spa University, and has spent time visiting schools to promote museums and heritage, as well as working with The Holburne Museum as a volunteer in their education department. Emma is hoping to work in the education sector in the future, and hopes that through volunteering with Kids In Museums, she can encourage more museums to take a fun and friendly attitude towards children and families.
