Museum Studies Statement of Purpose

SOP

The giant skeleton flew over my head, and I was convinced it was going eat me. I cowered behind my mother's leg as walked into the room. "What's that?" my mother teased. "The giant pterodactyl is coming to get you!" I giggled, recognizing the tone of voice as her playful one. Emerging from the safe cocoon of my mother's leg, I beheld above me the most magnificent site I had seen. Its bony wings soared, its legs dangled, and it beckoned my mind to go with it on a journey to the past. I envisioned the giant flying creature searching for prey in the desolate landscape of the Triassic. All that book reading in school paid off; this was the real deal! From that moment forward, I never complained when my parents said we were going to a museum. Museums were playgrounds for me, opening my world into a three-dimensional learning zone that far transcended the confines of school. Since the moment I encountered the pterodactyl above my head, I appreciated the way museums brought my books to life. Museum memories are integral to a child's learning and development. For me, museum visits laid the footwork for my future career.

Because of my love and appreciation for museums, I have developed a vision of the future for museum administration and policy. This vision is predicated on a visitor-centered experience. Gone are the days of handwritten displays and dim rooms with didactic displays. Today's museum experiences are multi-sensory, interactive, and highly engaging.

Advances in displays, copywriting, and environmental design in our top museums places a greater demand on the museum director to be visionary and creative. Concurrent with creativity is fiscal responsibility, and superior managerial skills when working with the core staff. My background and passion in both the arts and the sciences make me uniquely suited to work in this challenging field, and able to apply my skills to the daily task of museum leadership. However, I also have a finance and business administration background that prepares me for the necessary task for effective fund raising strategies and budgeting. The balance between creative vision and purposeful passion will help me succeed in my chosen career.

As a pastry chef, I understand intimately the need for precision, perfection, and productivity. With a paradoxical blend of artistic sensibility and mathematical precision, we execute our tasty morsels and quality control is the key. Making pastry is, like the world of a museum, a delicate balancing act. The practical side -- measurements and budgeting -- must never clash with the creativity and emotion in the multisensory and interactive experience. Museums, like desserts, are layered encounters. The unfolding of information provides the viewer with control over his or her experience. I endeavor to apply all I have learned as a pastry chef to the design of museum encounters. Museum encounters should be visitor-centric, meaning that the director of the organization provides the means by which visitors create their own experiences. All dispays are placed in the context of a multidisciplinary body of knowledge that reveals to the visitor the interconnectedness of all academic fields.