Name: Sam Ayre

Job Title: Curator: Schools and teachers

What did you study at college and university (and any other
courses you may have done)?
I studied a Foundation Diploma at Carlisle College, and then a BA in Fine
Art at Byam Shaw School of Art which used to be part of Central Saint
Martins.

What made/ inspired you to choose and follow this career path?
I was working in schools for years and got fed up of schools not
seeing/using the potential that art galleries, museums and other cultural
institutions had to offer plus I was not very stimulated creatively working
in a school environment. It took me a while to work all this out though!
How did you get into this career? Did you do have to gain work
experience, if so where and how long for?
I got into this career by focusing on what it is I enjoyed, putting aside all
other ideas- finance, possibility etc. I dont have much formal training for
my current job I built up lots of experience before starting my current role.
I graduated from college with my fine Art degree, spent a number of
years working all sorts of jobs not related to art or education; bar work,
green grocer, health food shop worker, au pair, house sitter, visual
merchandise window dresser for a lingerie company, Ive been
unemployed and signed on to Job Seekers allowance. I started working for
the Alzheimers Society through a firend delivering music workshops in
care homes once a week, then art workshops to, then I got offered a few
more care homes, I was playing in a band and the singer recommended
me to a teacher at the school gates about teaching guitar in a primary
school which I had never done before in my life, but I said yes, I did that
one day a week. Then I got offered a role teaching music in general in the
same school another day a week, then the head teacher asked if I could
teach art to, I said yes again Id never done it before. I then started
looking for experience at galleries to get ideas about how I could teach my
own art lessons in the primary school, I volunteered my time at weekends
in between all the other jobs I was doing as a freelance, Guitar, Music, Art
Teacher and workshop leader for the Alzheimers Society, as well as
working in pubs in the evenings- it was a bit of a muddle, tricky to manage
and unpredictable but fun! I was made redundant from my role at the
primary school and Alzheimers society due to budget cuts under the
coalition government so I had to look for new work.

I volunteered at a secondary school doing an art club after school. It was

after conversations with staff their that I ended up working in the school
for 2 years as a Special Educational Needs Teaching Assistant, in this role I
worked in all sorts of different art clubs, workshops, trips, developed my
own resources for galleries, museums and volunteered at all sorts of arts
institutions. One of which was the Whitechapel Gallery. In my years in
school, I applied for lots of jobs at all the major institutions in London, I
found out emails of people who were running course, workshops that I
thought were exciting and interesting and contacted them asking if I could
meet them to discuss what their role entails.
It was through applying for an internship here at the Gallery that I was
then alerted to a part-time job as an assistant to the Schools and Teachers
curator, I was fortunate enough to get the role and then after a year I
progressed to the role of Schools and Teachers curator. This is the first job
I applied for because I actually wanted it, not just because I had to to be
able to support myself financially. Thats about it in a nutshell, sorry I went
on a bit there!
What do your daily tasks consist of? (Job roles)
Greeting groups visiting the Gallery
Developing teacher training sessions and preview events
Organising/selecting exhibitions with artists that reflect the processes that
happen within the programme
Developing new relationships and maintaining existing ones with all
schools, organisations, charities, local authorities and other institutions
that we work with or would like to work with.
Researching, developing new ways of working with schools and teachers,
listening to their wants and needs.
Planning, supporting, delivering artists projects with schools.
Organising studio visits.
Keeping up to date on educational policy, changes and structures.
Generating content for the website.
Documenting and evaluating all projects to report back to funders
Keeping abreast of exhibitions, projects and events that other institutions
are doing internationally.
Documenting statistics of all engagements.
Speaking at events, schools, symposiums, advocating the galleries
programme.

The list goes on

Do you mainly work alone or with a team, who does your team
consist of?
I work as part of team but I generally work independently on my own
projects with support from the rest of the team. The Education Team is
made up of; Head of Education and Public Programmes, Community and
Youth Curator, Public Programme Curator, Families and Children Curator,
Youth Group Curator, Education Trainee. The team is incredibly important,
communication is key and you have to have the support of a good team
because you cant do it all on your own!
Do you specialise in a specific age, if so what age group?
4- 18
What are the main things you have to consider when curating?
The tone you use when talking about the projects, whether this is written
and on the website, in person, in email or on the phone. Its important to
get an accurate message across of what it is you are doing and be able to
summate it up in a few sentences, knowing your audience is a big part of
this. That and is it interesting.
Do you think the way exhibitions are curated will changed in the
next 1O years, if so how?
I think the traditional traits of a curator will change as the landscape
(politically, socially) surrounding art changes.
Artists and the work they create are forever evolving and so should the
roles that facilitate it to. Education should be at the centre of any art
thats presented to the public, as I see all art as an invitation to learn
something new. Egos should be left outside, at least in the public art
world!
What advice would you give to anyone who wants to be a curator?
Be active, work hard, the work isnt going to find you, you have to find it!
Is there anything else I should know about Curating?
Youre probably best asking someone who does a more traditional curating
role. I tend not to use the word curation, curator and curating when I
organise exhibitions, I use the word organiser, it feels less egotistic.
Is it okay for me to contact you directly if I have any further
questions? If so could you please leave me your email address or
any other means of contact?
Yes, of course, my email is samayre@whitechapelgallery.org

Thank you for your time

Samirah Shaikh
samirahshaikh@hotmail.com