Critical Museum StudiesStudent Ambassadors Program

  • The Critical Museum Studies (CMST) Student Ambassadors Program connects outstanding CMST minors with prospective minors. Ambassadors meet with prospective students who are visiting HWS during Admissions events, sharing their experiences as students in the CMST Program and offering insights about how the minor has helped them to discover and pursue their academic and professional goals. Ambassadors also meet with current HWS students who are exploring the minor. They offer advice about course selections within the minor, helping to conceptualize individualized capstone project ideas, as well as inform them of internship and networking opportunities.

    If you are interested in connecting with a Critical Museum Studies Student Ambassador, please contact the Critical Museum Studies minor program Chair, Angelique Szymanek: szymanek@hws.edu.

     

    Croce

    Art History and French & Francophone Studies major; Critical Museum Studies minor Adriana Croce '25

    The CMST program has given me opportunities to grow both in the classroom and in gallery spaces with hands-on experience! The faculty has been incredibly supportive in helping me forge my path in the field. I am a director of the Provenzano Student Art Gallery, and I studied abroad in Grenoble, France in the fall 2023 semester. Recently, I have been working on a project that unites my majors in Art History and French and Francophone Studies-- curating my second exhibition: A Decolonial Critique of French Art Museums!

  • Gastelo

    American Studies Major; Critical Museum Studies and Africana Studies MinorZooey Gastelo '25 (she/her/hers)

    Critical Museum Studies is an amazing gateway for learning about the historical, structural, and cultural implications behind the relationship of museums to their environment. The study of space, art, and how we construct and interact with it has propelled me to see museums in a way that allows for other areas of knowledge (my personal interests being history and American studies) to make themselves relevant within musicological contexts. Additionally, my own desire to understand how my identity is linked to museums has been challenged and expanded thanks to courses and internships I have pursued within the minor. Outside of the classroom, I have been able to see these teachings come alive in different environments-- I've taken up internships within local community-run arts centers such as the Dove Block Project, student-run galleries like the Provenzano Art Gallery, and exhibition projects alongside curators and archivists in the Rose Hill Mansion, affiliated with our local historic society. Each opportunity that I have been able to gain as a CMST minor has indeed helped me think critically about museum practices, but beyond that, actively engage with them as well.

  • Tetrault

    Media & Society and American Studies major; Critical Museum Studies minorMia Tetrault '25

    The CMST minor has provided me with countless opportunities to gain mentorship and professional experience handling art and working in museums. This past summer I curated the exhibition, “The Rollercoaster for Women’s Rights, Equality and Freedom” at the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. While there, I also helped install the Smithsonian’s travelling exhibition, “Voices and Votes: Democracy in America” as well as the exhibition “Co-Crafting Democracy: Fiber Arts and Activism.” As a Media and Society major, my photography and graphic design skills helped me photograph and design brochures that highlighted the exhibitions. In addition, my American studies major has allowed to bring a critical eye when studying works of art and curating exhibitions. I’ve really enjoyed working with students and faculty from HWS and RIT and learning the ins and outs of the museum world.

    At HWS I’ve been the Davis Gallery Assistant for the past two years. I also cataloged the George Stephanopoulos photography collection through an internship offered at HWS and learnt the professional ways to store and record archives using Pastperfect. The CMST minor has provided me with essential tools and skills that will maximize my opportunities to pursue a career in museums after completing my undergraduate studies. I’m looking forward to my upcoming internship this semester studying the Colleges’ permanent collection of art and curating a fall exhibition at the Solarium Gallery.