Ben Street – Freelance art historian, lecturer, and writer – graduated twenty years ago from University of Edinburgh and has worked in museum education, A-Level and Masters teaching, broadcasting, book writing… its been a patchwork career that Ben couldn’t have imagined!
Ben came from a state 6th form college and hadn’t done art history before university. He found the degree unengaging, but is passionate about engaging the public with art history.
He spent 12 years as an educator in the National Gallery, Dulwich Picture Gallery and Tate working on schools programmes, as a storyteller and lecturer, writing audio guides and doing in-gallery tours
All of this is art historical work! You are engaging the public in art history – this is highly skilled work and should be more respected by the academy and ‘traditional’ art historians!
Freelance writing can be a good way to continue to think about art – engaging with the public is a different kind of learning process. Art history is in desperate need of new, fresh ways of thinking and learning.
Being a self-starter is important – being a freelancer gives you flexibility but there are downsides. You have to create your own opportunities and institutions don’t always support freelancers – things like sick pay and pensions aren’t always offered.
Create things that exist outside of institutions. You can approach institutions and develop new events and projects. What are they missing? What can you offer? From this, create your own mailing lists of people that come to your events – these might be useful in the future!
Broaden your art historical knowledge – let go of your specialism when you are outside academia. It helps refine your abilities to teach and communicate – sometimes how you talk about things is more important than what you talk about!
Ben's top tip: sustain your own peace of mind and make time to look after your mental health.
Thank you again to @thebenstreet for taking part in todays #arthistorycareers event!

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More from @DECRarthistory

27 May
Madeleine Haddon is working in a curatorial role with @MuseumModernArt on an exhibition on Matisse and was a recent Teaching Fellow at @EdiArtHistory and is passionate about making art history accessible to a broader range of audiences.
#arthistoryPDD
1/4
Madeleine speaks frankly about visiting museums growing up but not always being comfortable in those spaces, seeing herself reflected in the 19th-century art history being taught or the faculty teaching the subject.
2/4
There must be a dual effort between academia and museums to make art history more diverse and inclusive – these goals are not distinct!
3/4
Read 4 tweets
27 May
Our #arthistory PDD panel on Teaching and education featured @LeniaKouneni who is 1 of only 2 permanent lecturers in art history at @univofstandrews and before this held multiple short-term and fixed term contracts.
1/10
She finished her PhD in 2009 and had a short career break in 2012 to have children. Lenia sought out her education-focused position which is teaching focused rather than research focused.
2/10
Teaching-only roles can be perceived as lesser but perceptions are shifting and they are a serious career path – TEF was introduced in 2017 to assess the quality of teaching.
3/10
Read 10 tweets
27 May
We are kicking of #arthistoryPDD with a welcome address by our chair @GursimOberoi who speaks to the challenges the past year has presented to the professional development of #phd students and #ecr researchers
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Research has been put on hold following the closure of libraries, archives and museums; fellowships have been postponed or, in some cases, cancelled; publications delayed; and, in many cases, our projects have been reframed and remoulded as a result of the pandemic.
2/7
Many of us have paused our work to support our loved ones or volunteered to support the local community. We have vigorously adapted our way of teaching turning to online and hybrid delivery to guide and advise our students.
3/7
Read 7 tweets

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