Author: Museum Studies Interns
For this interview, current Pitt students have interviewed two alumni from the Department of History of Art and Architecture to learn more about their careers working with archival collections and creative projects in craft-based non-profits. Sydney Leslie (graduated in 2019) is the Archives and Creative Projects Manager at Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh, PA. Marie Williams Chant (graduated in 2011) is the Digital Archivist at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA. The student group responsible for selecting these past students to interview and developing their questions was Raven Mattiko, Cora Branch, Julia Bowe, and Emily Moorey.
Student group question: Do you often find yourself fulfilling multiple roles or is your day-to-day work more specialized?
Sydney Leslie (Contemporary Craft): Yes - I technically have two job titles in one, Archives and Creative Projects Manager, so I am normally splitting my time working between the archive/collection and creative projects like specific initiatives and other projects that don't completely fit into our mission/other departments. Since our staff is fairly small, around 12-15 people, we all help each other out, so I've helped make marketing videos, etc. It's an all-hands-on-deck-when-needed kind of deal.
Marie Williams Chant (Museum of Glass): My day-to-day work is highly specialized. I work full-time as a digital archivist at the Museum of Glass (MOG), so I spend most of my time thinking about preservation strategies for various digital content, from simple collections of seemingly average computer documents (e.g., Word documents, PDFs, digital photos) to increasingly complex digital objects with multiple layers of dependencies (e.g., time-based media art, websites, software). As a part of this work, I’m thinking about efficient and sustainable workflows for acquiring, assessing, processing, and providing public access to digital collections. I primarily work with documentation from MOG’s Visiting Artist Residency Program, which includes daily (!) live streams from our state-of-the-art Hot Shop—we have over 60 terabytes of this material type alone.
Outside my full-time role, I also have a small consulting business where I work closely with individual artists, small and mid-sized cultural institutions, and grantmaking agencies. This work often requires me to wear multiple hats! Many clients have worked with me on archive-related initiatives, such as digital preservation assessments, digital archive implementation, and preparing archival fonds for repositories. I also work with clients on other information management-related projects, including grant compliance and eligibility, development and grantmaking operations, and prospect research.
Student group question: Was there a significant turning point or key decision along your career path that you believe led you to this point?
Sydney Leslie (Contemporary Craft): One was maintaining contact with my HAA internship supervisor and applying for a paid internship there after graduation. This then turned into a part-time job, and she has been a reference for me for all my other jobs as well as made connections for me to get hired, including my current job (which also started as an internship and then turned into part-time then full-time). The other was deciding to go to grad school, I ended up doing a Master of Arts Management at CMU. Not only do people unfortunately take you more seriously with a Master’s in the arts, it put me on a much higher level of functioning professionally.
Marie Williams Chant (Museum of Glass): About a decade ago, I realized I wanted to pursue digital preservation even though I liked what I was doing otherwise. I am a relatively risk-averse person so it was a terrifying choice to leave a career path I had been on for six years. Looking back on it today, I’m so glad I went for it. I’ve always been interested in digital culture and how technology shifts and changes. Like many other millennials, I did some rudimentary web design to customize early social networking sites and remember a time when the Internet was different and, in my estimation, more special. Over time, this evolved into a stronger fascination with digital preservation, particularly web archiving, software preservation, and conserving time-based media art. Seeing Cory Archangel: Pro Tools at the Whitney Museum of American Art not long after I moved to New York from Pittsburgh was particularly notable for me. I was not only inspired by Arcangel’s approach to giving new meaning to obsolete technology through hacking but also incredibly interested in how a museum could preserve digital art while balancing technological obsolescence with an artist’s initial vision.
Around the time I decided to change my career path, I worked in prospect development at the American Museum of Natural History. Prospect development roles are library-adjacent and combine extensive research with database management to support institutional fundraising goals. I had a knack for understanding databases and developing metadata and style guides. Despite this fact, I always had this lingering thought that I wanted to work with digital collections. I started volunteering with archival organizations around New York to gain some more experience, and then, in 2017, I moved across the country to pursue my Master’s in Library and Information Science at the University of Washington.
Student group question: Did you find yourself following a clear path to reach your current position or did you explore multiple interests along the way?
Sydney Leslie (Contemporary Craft): I'll be honest, when I graduated Pitt I knew I wanted to work in the arts but had no idea in what capacity, so I just said yes to everything. I've worked in development, marketing, membership, exhibitions, etc within arts organizations, which I think was actually the smartest move for me. I have to actually do something hands-on to figure out if I like it or not, it was sort of a trial-and-error thing. Now I know how to do all those things (and that looks good on a resume lol)! But at the same time I still feel like I could work in many different roles in an arts organization and be fulfilled, though collections is my favorite. Up until a went back to school, I always had a part time arts job and a part time survival job (i.e. restaurants, tattoo shops). The survival jobs made me realize I needed to start taking me career in the arts seriously. And that I really didn't want to have to work 2-3 jobs at a time anymore.
Marie Williams Chant (Museum of Glass): I explored so many interests along the way! I have been lucky to work in cultural institutions throughout my career. Though I’ve worked in the same field since graduation, my path has been circuitous: I interned in corporate relations and curatorial, started in individual giving, tried out grantmaking, shifted to research and strategic planning work, and eventually, I landed where I am now. I’m grateful that my path wasn’t straightforward. Though I ultimately left my career in development, it taught me so many hard and soft skills that have benefitted my career innumerably. As a result, I started my graduate program with a clear vision of why I was there and was able to find opportunities that aligned with that goal, including working in software preservation at Living Computers: Museum and Labs, coordinating a media preservation case study at the Seattle Art Museum and developing a strategic plan and programmatic vision for The Feminist Institute.
Student Group Question: Do you find yourself using what you learned in the HAA program in your typical day-to-day work life?
Sydney Leslie (Contemporary Craft): Working within archives and collections, I do find myself utilizing the research skills I gained in the HAA program. I also feel that having a Museum Studies minor from Pitt helped me tremendously in working with collections.
Marie Williams Chant (Museum of Glass): Yes, without a doubt. My time in the HAA program was beyond valuable. The program gave me a fantastic grounding in research methods and writing. As someone who works closely with artist documentation, deeply understanding art history, research methods, and archival theory has been key to my success. I also feel lucky that I had the opportunity to work with such an incredible group of professors.
Student Group Question: If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to your past student self upon graduation?
Sydney Leslie (Contemporary Craft): Not knowing what you want to do is okay, and even helpful, if you're willing to try things out and gain skills along the way. Also to focus. I floundered for a bit after graduation, and wish I was more intentional about making connections and my career in general but I was also 22 and my career was the last thing on my mind for a bit. Nevertheless, everyone's journey is different and it all worked out eventually. That's probably one more thing I would tell my past self -- be patient. Life is long, it'll come together.
Marie Williams Chant (Museum of Glass): Trust your intuition! Even if things don’t work out how you expect, trusting yourself is key to weathering unexpected change and pursuing new opportunities.