Discover the art of curation with UAL Short Courses

From planning public art installations and curating contemporary art to managing cultural events, a career in curation is all about telling the stories that matter.

To find out what it takes to be a curator, we caught up with museum curator, lecturer, and inclusive education researcher Dayna Tohidi.

Dayna teaches our Inside the CSM Museum and Study Collection Short Course and tells us about her passion for preserving the past and the skills aspiring curators need to succeed.

"A curator is somebody who researches, selects, organises and interprets objects, artefacts or artworks for a specific collection," says Dayna.

Curators often work in museums and galleries where they manage collections to inspire and educate audiences.

"It’s our responsibility to think about what we are collecting, what message that sends to the public, how we preserve them for centuries to come and the way that we can activate this collection in teaching, learning and exhibitions," Dayna explains.

Careers in curation

If you’re thinking of starting a career in curation, it’s important to focus on building your skills and voice to connect with others in the industry. Consider volunteering opportunities that could help you expand your knowledge or start a blog to build an online presence and share your work.

"My top tip for getting started and building a career as a curator is to really invest in your knowledge, skills and network," says Dayna. "I would advise everyone to sign up for a membership with either GEM or Museums Association because they run brilliant training sessions and conferences throughout the year."

"I also would advise you to get signed up to London Museums' Development newsletter for museums to see what kind of voluntary roles, paid roles and free training events are happening and keep up to date with sector news."

"I think it’s really important to understand that the sector is moving quite quickly," says Dayna, "and if you want to thrive, you have to have a good awareness of how to decolonise collections, how to make museums more accessible and inclusive and other topical conversations and skills."

Our Inside the CSM Museum and Study Collection Short Course offers students the opportunity to learn about curatorial work through the lens of the Central Saint Martins Museum and Study Collection. "It’s an ideal course to take if you are getting started in the heritage sector or planning to make a transition into a different type of role," says Dayna.

Students gain an insight into collections management, object-based learning and museum marketing through inspiring lectures, workshops and guided tours of the storerooms, which house over 35,000 objects spanning art and design.

"My course is a little bit different to the other courses on curation because it’s very much tailored around the unique gems that make the CSM Museum," says Dayna. "We cover object-based learning, which is a discipline that the Museum Study Collection is known for, and you can learn how to take what we have, our toolkits and methodologies, and apply them to whatever you want to pitch to a museum as a freelancer."

"It's a brilliant course if you want to learn what the latest sector guidance, information and news is when it comes to decolonising collections and making museums more accessible and inclusive."