Kim GoughLearning Program Developer

How did you get started working in museums?
I had just finished university and moved back home, when a friend of mine asked if I could help with a special event at the historic site where she worked. I volunteered for the special event and I was hooked. I kept on volunteering there, and that summer I was hired. I ended up working as a costumed interpreter for five years.

What do you do as a learning program developer?
The main job of someone who works in museum education is to be curious and to foster that curiosity in others. I work on creating special events, workshops, gallery programs and outreach programs for people to engage more with the Royal BC Museum, its research, collections and stories. As I am not a topic specialist, I spend a lot of time learning about history, natural history and different subjects related to our feature exhibitions. To help me learn, I visit the museum galleries, look at objects, read and, talk to curators and other museum staff, volunteers and visitors.

What do you like about working with objects?
What I like most about working with objects is how they grab people’s attention. It doesn’t matter if it is a group of school children or seniors, if you bring out an object and let them handle and discover it, the time just flies by.