Curating and Collections Management

The Postgraduate Certificate in Curating and Collections Management offers you a unique opportunity to gain practical skills in museum work and to better understand the issues facing curators and collections managers today. It will help you answer important questions such as:

- How do you pitch a proposal for an exhibition?

- How would you project-manage this and who would need to be involved?

- How would you organise a loan for an exhibition?

- What are the different ways of cataloguing a museum object and why does the information you keep matter?

- How would you store a sacred object, or something that was extremely fragile?

You will spend two intensive weeks studying the foundational principles of curating and collections management, debating the challenges and opportunities of contemporary museums and gallery practice, and visiting London museums and galleries. You will listen to experts talking about their working practices, learn skills of documentation and work in groups to develop an exhibition.

This Postgraduate Certificate is suitable if you have a first degree and are interested in a vocational qualification, or as a refresher course if you are already working in a museum and gallery.

Highlights

- Birkbeck was ranked as one of the top four universities in the UK for its Art and Design research in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework.

- Our location in Bloomsbury in central London is ideal for exploring some of the world's best architecture, galleries and museums, collections and art spaces, such as the British Library, British Museum, Sir John Soane's Museum, Foundling Museum, Wellcome Gallery, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Tate Britain, Tate Modern and V&A.

- Birkbeck has an international reputation for its innovative approaches to the history of art, visual culture and museum studies, and attracts a rich programme of visiting scholars and practitioners. We are home to the History and Theory of Photography Research Centre, the Architecture, Space and Society Centre, the Centre for Museum Cultures and the Vasari Research Centre. You will also have access to the Centre for Film and Visual Media. We have state-of-the art cinema and exhibition spaces, all housed in a historic building that was a former home to key members of the Bloomsbury Group, including the author Virginia Woolf and the artist Vanessa Bell. Birkbeck Library has an extensive collection of books and journals in art history and museum studies.

- We host a range of events including information evenings for prospective students; the annual Murray Lecture, where speakers have included Gabriele Finaldi, Director of the National Gallery, and Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum; and exhibitions and displays at the Peltz Gallery. Find out more about our staff and student activities on the Birkbeck History of Art blog.

- You will have the option to join our study trips, offered each spring. Cities visited in the last few years include Florence, Paris, Venice, Vienna, Rome, Berlin and Moscow.

Careers and employability

Graduates of this course can pursue career paths in:

- museums and galleries

- the media

- the charitable sector

- academic research.

Our recent graduates have found employment in the Jewish Museum, Geffrye Museum, English National Opera and Bishopsgate Institute as:

- educators

- curators

- archivists.

We offer a comprehensive careers service - Careers and Enterprise - your career partner during your time at Birkbeck and beyond. At every stage of your career journey, we empower you to take ownership of your future, helping you to make the connection between your experience, education and future ambitions.