Museum celeb etiquette 101

Something curious has happened to us in the last year, dear readers. In the last 12 months, both Terri and I have (wait for it) met the Queen! Yes it's true! HRH Queen Elizabeth II herself! But the odd part is - that's not so strange in museums. While meeting the longest serving monarch in British history is pretty cool - meeting, greeting and touring celebs and other important people is kind of part of the museum deal. It might be one of the few places where plebs like you and me get to use their titles as Registrar or Curator as the cultural capital you need to meet the stars. Or, let's be honest, sometimes you are just stuck looking after days upon days of filming, waiting to get a glimpse of your favourite Hollywood actor. But the fact is, if you are a museum worker, odds are you are going to end up bumping into a celeb before long. So, drawing on our years of personal experience, here you are -  meeting celebrities in museums 101.

Kristin is pretty excited to give HRH the Queen an exhibition tour. Copyright - Getty Images.

1) Be cool. I think we must start here. The first step is just to be cool around celebrities. Whether you are the Queen or Benedict Cumberbatch, they'd appreciate you not screaming at them or stalking them down the corridors. If a celebrity finds there way into your museum, it's probably because they are themselves there for work - an opening, or research or filming. So they are acting work professional, and so should you. Or at least wait until they are out of the room before freaking out.

2) Know your stuff. In most instances, if you are being asked to meet and greet a celeb, it's because they want your specialist knowledge, whether that's of conservation or an exhibition or a certain subject matter. So to the extent you can it's a good idea to brush up - try and anticipate their questions, or maybe write yourself a little introduction. Having a general idea of what you are going to say also helps calm the nerves. Meeting a celeb is also a great moment for advocacy - lots of people may not know much about your museum or museum work generally, and here is your chance to tell a proper influencer! I know Terri personally explained what a registrar was to the Queen.

3) Stay out of the way. Really celebs are there to get a job done (or just to have a visit) so once you've had an intro or done your bit, just get out of the way and let them get on with it. Particularly important if there is filming happening at your museum - that's lots of intense work and they've got scheduled to stick to! Similarly, if you just spot someone visiting with friends and family, better to just let them be. That said...

Simon Pegg visits a Power Up at the Science Museum.

4) Read the room. Obviously we are all in it for a selfie, but with any celeb, you've got to time your request just right. They might be in character for an intense next scene or in the middle of a piece of research. Or sometimes, they might just be bored and wanting a chat. In which case, the time is right - get that selfie! Recently had to hold back asking Lucy Worsley for a selfie, while she was very friendly, she needed to get back to work!

Tom Hanks filming Inferno at the Palazzo Vecchio 

5) Have a laugh. For the most part, if you are asked to look after a celeb in your museum it's because they are there for a work event. So compared to the work they are there doing - your job is probably pretty cool! People love to hear stories about wacky behind the scenes things, objects you've got to touch, amazing experiences you've had in museums. Feel free to share and entertain and make them smile - it's what you are there for! That said, there's no accounting for taste. I once joked to Eddie Redmayne that I was there to keep him from stealing our stuff. Well, I thought it was funny.

6) Know your protocol. So if you do end up meeting HRH the Queen, there is some more formal protocol. You should wait to speak until addressed. Greeting the Queen takes the form of a light hand shake with a curtsy or bow (your choice!). You should address her as 'Your Majesty' in the first instance and 'Ma'am' after that. No touching of course - and just be friendly! She's just like any other museum visitors... right?!

All sounds common sense, but believe us, it can be hard to remember when Eddie Redmayne is in your museum store. Have you had a close encounter with a celebrity at work? We want to hear your story! Tweet us @curiositytweet #museumceleb 

So you want to be a museum blogger?

We are so thrilled and excited to be featured in this month's Museums Journal in their feature on museum bloggers. It's odd to think we started this little blog in November of 2012, and we are still at it! The MJ's piece is such a great opportunity to meet the people behind the blogs and get to know a little bit more about what interests them. From comedy and natural history, to autism in museums, and art crime news, each blogger brings something new to the community. If you read this issue and thought, wow I'd like to do that! - then just let us say, you definitely should! But if you wanted some pointers before you start out, here are some of our top tips!

1) Think about your hook- What makes you different than anyone else writing about museums? What struck is reading the MJ article is the very different takes all the bloggers had on the field. At the Ministry we focus on young people working in museums, registry and collections issues, and women in museums. If you want your blog to get some traffic, then you have to have some kind of hook that makes people interested in your opinion. Just writing exhibition reviews probably won't get you much of a following.

2) Create your voice/brand - Ok so you have a concept, how are you going to make that consistent? You want your readers to know they are reading a blog by you each time, so think about your unique writing style. Once you've thought about the tone you want to take - friendly, informal, or critical and hard-hitting, then stick to it. Your blog should be unique to stand out from the crowd.

3) Have a content plan- How frequently are you going to post on your blog? Try to make it realistic. We aim for once a week, although twice a week would really be ideal! Very frequently bloggers start out with daily posts that peter out after a month or two. If you have so many ideas, save them up and schedule them to go out at more even intervals! If are you posting new content, be sure you let your readers know. Which brings us to...

4) Snap up those social media accounts- Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook are all great ways to keep your followers up to date and drive them towards your site. The museum community on Twitter is amazing and really supportive. Be sure whatever site to use hashtags like #museums #culture #museblogger to get some attention. 

5) Get to know your community- Even before you get started, have a look around on twitter and instagram for bloggers you admire. Then FOLLOW FOLLOW FOLLOW - the best way to get followers on twitter or anything else is to follow other people. But not just anyone, the kind of people who you want reading what you right. Get stuck in on online conversations like #museumhour or visit an event like Museums Showoff to get your name our there. Some museums like the Wallace Collection offer museum blogger only events, so do your homework. 

6) Just keep swimming - Blogging can be harder than you think, especially over a long stretch of time. Life find a way of getting in the way of your ambitious plans. Maybe you had a fantastic idea for this week's post, but your boiler broke. C'est la vie. Either try and have some posts saved as drafts, or just leave it til next week. Just don't get disheartened! 

Our number one tip however is that if you want to blog, make sure its for you. Don't set up a blog because you think you have to, or its the 'done' thing. Blogging is hard, and the only way to sustain it is your passion for it! If you haven't quite figured out what drives you, maybe leave it for a bit until you find something that makes you excited! 

The Ministry Explains It All: Getting into museums

Recently it was the annual #Askacurator day, when twitter was flooded with questions from the public aimed at museums elusive behind the scenes staff. Questions ranged from how do museums utilize social media to what’s your favourite object in the collection, but the one question which came up again and again was, ‘How do you get a job in a museum?’

So young, so naive...

It’s a question that comes up a lot, and one which has been at the centre of a lot of debate of late. Do you need a museums studies degree to work in a museum? Is there really another way to get into the sector besides being able to do years of unpaid internships? Do you need to have an art history background? Are there any early career jobs even available in museums?

It seems every year the museum job market is flooded with a new generation of bright young things, fresh from degrees in art history, archaeology, history and museum studies who all seem to be asking the same question: what do I need to do to be a museum curator?

The almost universal response is: do a lot of voluntary work, followed almost immediately by some facts about how badly paid the sector is, how few and far between jobs are, how limited your career trajectory will be. But none of this will stem the tide of the number of people keen to work in museums. Why? Because working in museums may be underpaid and frustrating but it is absolutely brilliant.

So now we’ve given you the realistic down to earth warning about working in museums. Are you still there? Still think you have what it takes to make it in museums? In that case, the Ministry have created for you two brand new pages that bring together all our advice and insider know how.

The 'Top tips for getting into museums' page provides the Ministry's top 10 pieces of advice for how you can get yourself a museum job. We aren't saying its easy, or that we know best, but we thought it would be best to share and share alike our own experiences of working in the industry.

And if that wasn't enough, we've also pulled together a list of Ministry Resources for Museum People to bring together information from across the web that you'll need to know to get into museums or to just move up the ladder. You can look forward to links to museum job pages, details of subject specialist networks, more info on museum databases and much more.

We hope you enjoy the pages and please let us know if you have any tips you think we've missed out!