A unique view of the art world

Armed with a clearer career path and an international network of young art historians, Megan Bennett is pursuing a career in the art world with confidence.

Financial assistance from the Wright Family Scholarship allowed the then 20-year-old History and Art History student to intern over December 2022 and January 2023 at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, a museum located in the former home of Peggy Guggenheim in Venice, Italy. The experience at the museum widened Megan’s appreciation of the possible trajectories for graduates “beyond the director, curator, and people involved in visitor services”.

During the internship, Megan conducted an educational tour, in English, guiding Italian school students around the gallery. “That helped me speak with a different audience. At University you speak with academics, so adapting my knowledge to a real-world situation was really cool.”

Interns from around the world and the museum staff helped her form a more comprehensive repertoire of career opportunities — from journalism and social media, publishing and promotion, to community outreach and conservation. The museum broadened Megan’s outlook in other unexpected ways. On arrival, she admits being “a little disappointed” by an unfinished Mondrian drawing on display when another complete Mondrian painting from the collection was held in storage.

“I challenged myself to do a presentation on the work. Then, I was so impressed. There was more than what I saw at first glance… I love how you can see the scaffolding look in that drawing, and you can see some curved lines in there that you don’t see in his later drawings. I fell in love with how it shows his progression as an artist.”

For Megan, working with the team designing public engagement programmes to enrich visitor experiences was the most rewarding aspect of the internship.

“The Peggy Guggenheim Collection was a good place to go to see how galleries are responding to issues of accessibility. It is quite ahead at creating programmes for different groups. They have a programme for blind and low-sighted visitors – which is refreshing to think about for an art gallery, which is so visually focused.”

This piqued her interest in the “learning side” of museums and galleries. It is one she wants to follow. Megan is now enrolled in her masters degree at the University of Auckland and is keen to explore more international internships to refine where Art History leads her.