Museum Trainee 100-hour Paid Placement

ABOUT HACKNEY MUSEUM

Hackney Museum is the community history museum for the borough. We work with local people to collect and share stories and objects about the area’s histories.

ABOUT THE ROLE

This role is exclusively for Hackney residents aged between 18-24 years old and is for 100 hours, which can be worked flexibly over several weeks in agreement with museum staff.

This 100-hour paid placement opportunity is part of a wider project called Reimagining Hackney Museum: Empowering Communities with Collections. This placement is expected to take place between the months of March and May, depending on when community engagement can be organised.

This project is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to transform Hackney Museum’s permanent exhibition sharing stories of migration and settlement from prehistory to modern day. This paid role is an exciting opportunity to help audiences engage with local history in new and exciting ways.

KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• In this role, you will be supporting Hackney Museum’s project, Mapping My Kurdish Community. This project aims to learn about the experiences and recent history (1970s-present) of Kurdish communities in the London Borough of Hackney.
• You will support research and take part in engagement activities with Kurdish community groups and individuals to further knowledge and understanding of these communities’ experiences in Hackney.
• This work will lead to the creation of digital content such as a blog, and will develop Hackney Museum’s object collections to better represent and reflect the experiences of Kurdish communities in Hackney.
• This work is part of a bigger project to create a new Hackney Museum for the borough.

SKILLS YOU WILL GAIN

• How to create engaging, story-led digital content
• How to use museum/archive collections for research
• How to research recent local history (1970s-today)
• How to approach and engage with a community for research purposes
• How to write a blog using research and people’s personal experiences

YOU WILL LEARN

• How different generations of Kurdish communities formed in Hackney and their impact locally

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS

• A person aged 18-24 who lives, studies or works in the London Borough of Hackney
• Somebody who is interested in engaging with and sharing the stories of local communities in the London Borough of Hackney.
• A person with familiarity with Kurdish communities in the London Borough of Hackney.
• Basic IT skills
• Ability to speak or understand spoken Kurdish would be helpful, but is not essential

WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU

• Training and support
• Experience of working in a team
• Experience of contributing to a wider project
• A work reference for two years from the placement

TRANSPORT

• Travel reimbursement for transport around the borough during working hours for community engagement and research