Inside Today's Museum 2017

What are the major challenges of running an art museum today? How does it look after its work? Who comes to the gallery?

This 11-week course is a unique opportunity to consider how Tate and other art museums operate on a daily basis and what challenges they face in an ever changing world. Through weekly visits to Tate Britain and Tate Modern, hear about what goes on behind the scenes from members of staff and discover the work that has to be done to keep a gallery going. Participants learn about curating exhibitions, developing new audiences, designing products for the shop, as well as the history of Tate, its collection and its four museums.

Led by artist and lecturer Michaela Ross, each session encourages exploration and discussion around topics including curating, conservation, learning and the visitor’s experience. Guest speakers present on their work around these themes and the roles they play in the museum. The aim is to enable participants to consider art and the buildings in which it is kept in different ways.

This year’s course is based at across the two London sites and includes visits to exhibitions such as Rachel Whiteread, Soul of a Nation and Red Star Over Russia, as well as Tate Stores where the collection is housed.

Biography

Michaela Ross is an artist and lecturer who completed her PhD at the University of the Arts researching the relationship between the artist and the institution. She has collaborated with museums and galleries including Tate, the Serpentine Gallery and Nottingham Contemporary and has worked on international projects as part of Critical Practice, a cluster of artists, academics and researchers based at Chelsea College of Art and Design. She is a teaching fellow at King’s College and visiting scholar at the University of the Arts London.

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