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To Museums, and Beyond – Andrea Arenas (Alumni Spotlight)

Andrea Arenas 2017Andrea Arenas didn’t realize just how much she would get out of the Museology program before starting graduate school. After graduating from the University of Florida with a double major in Geology and Anthropology, she interned at the Florida Museum of Natural History in registration and collections management. From here, it clicked. She loved being behind the scenes, fell in love with museums, and realized that this was her passion. She applied to graduate programs and decided to attend the University of Washington, because, as she said “I’m very picky and I wanted the best.” But, she admitted,“I didn’t realize at the time what a holistic program it was… It seemed like a great, well-rounded program. But I really didn’t comprehend just how wonderful it would end up being.”

Andrea had a clear direction when she started her graduate studies. “I thought I would come and go a collections manager,” she admitted. But her experiences in the Museology program helped to push her to think about other options in her career. She said that she benefited from the program requirements to take classes in different types of museum practice: “I would have just chosen all collections classes if I could [have],” so it was helpful to be pushed to “say yes to everything and try it out.”

Andrea said that this broad base is the key to getting the most out of the program. She advised future students to “say yes to opportunities and give things a try even if you don’t think you’re going to be interested. You may surprise yourself. Be open to those experiences.”

Toward the end of her graduate studies, she realized that a career in development might be a better fit. “I really enjoyed telling the stories of museums and sharing that with people,” she said, “and in collections [management], I didn’t get to have those experiences.” Fundraising was perfect for her because, she said, “it’s about putting yourself out there….When you show people your passion, it makes you more compelling and folks want to get involved with that.”

After graduating, she worked for the Museology program until the time was right for her to further pursue her interests in fundraising. In 2015, she got a job as a development coordinator at the Museum of Flight. “Museology opened a door for me that I don’t think would have been there if I had just been somebody without a Museology degree,” she said. The Museum of Flight “knew what Museology students were capable of, and they could take a chance on me.” When she left this job, she knew she still wanted to engage with the local community, and has recently become the Development and Communications Manager at the Seattle Parks Foundation.

While her recent position took her out of the museum field, Andrea thinks that Museology helped prepare for careers in a wider variety of positions, especially in the nonprofit sector. As she put it, “Everything from the [Museum Administration] class applies to this job [at Seattle Parks Foundation]. There’s a mission statement, a vision statement, there’s a board, there’s a grant writer.”

Andrea at Museology alumni picnic, 2016.
Andrea at Museology alumni picnic, 2016.

“It’s not a bad thing….to have a Museology degree and not be working in a museum,” she said. Andrea is “the museum person” at her current job, and her coworkers have backgrounds in fields such as equity and inclusion or environmental conservation. These diverse backgrounds let them pull from past experience to collaborate effectively.

Of her decision to pursue a non-museum job, Andrea said, “I wanted to feel like I was making more of an immediate difference in my community.” While looking out over Occidental Square, she remarked: “I don’t think 80% of the people in this park have been to the Museum of Flight or the Burke [Museum], but they seem really happy in the park right now, and that’s what I wanted to work on, having a broader reach.”

She realized she couldn’t realistically put all she had learned into practice in museums, and saw an opportunity to continue doing what she loved at the Seattle Parks Foundation. She encouraged other museum professionals looking for options in advancing their careers to “try another non-profit! You’re still succeeding if you do that. You don’t have to be a museum educator in a museum. You can be a museum educator somewhere else; I just hope current students and recent alums are willing to take that step. It’s not a far step.”

Andrea is optimistic about the museum field, and wants emerging professionals to influence and advance it. She has had a lot of Museology support in this career move, and she is open to the idea of getting back into museums in the future. For now, she is happy for the parallels she has found outside of a museum setting.“Everyone I can think of right now that’s working in a [non-museum] non-profit is really happy to be where they are. These people are progressing in their careers, and it’s thanks to the education and tools of Museology.”

-Sydney Dratel, Museology Communications Assistant