clore | The National Archives blog

Posts tagged 'clore'

Mon Mar

2013

You can take the girl out of the archives …

Posted by Emma Jay in Behind the scenes

My fellowship on the Clore leadership programme has entered a new phase. I’m taking six months out of my job at The National Archives to focus fully on the fellowship – I’ll not be back until the end of July.

There won’t be any time to twiddle my thumbs. I’ll be doing two work placements in different organisations, going on various training courses, researching and writing a paper on an aspect of leadership, attending a two-week residential course with the other Clore fellows (the sequel to our first Bore Place experience), and much else besides.

I’m immensely lucky to be able to make the most of the fellowship by spending time away from work. Not all the fellows are doing the same. Yet whereas the six-month hiatus felt like a long time when I thought about it in advance, it now seems to be speeding by at an alarming rate.

Mon Jan

2013

What have archives to do with culture?

Posted by Emma Jay in Behind the scenes

I’ve been thinking about this question a lot since starting the Clore Fellowship Programme. Out of 29 fellows I’m the only one from an archive. Being quite literally the only archivist in the room has made me reflect not just on my own role, but also on how archives fit into the cultural sector.

I wasn’t accustomed to seeing myself as part of the cultural sector before the fellowship began. My day job rarely takes me out of the office, and when it does I don’t venture beyond familiar territory: my last (hugely enjoyable) work trip was to London Metropolitan Archives (LMA). What’s more, working at The National Archives means that I’m a civil servant within the official archive of the UK central government, and until recently this governmental context loomed larger in my mind than potential areas of collaboration with galleries, theatres or dance companies.

Prompted by the fellowship, I spent a day in our Archives Sector Development department a few weeks ago to find out more about what they do. I’m getting the impression that other archives are more likely than The National Archives to exist in partnership with different kinds of cultural organisations.

Fri Nov

2012

Two weeks in the life of a Clore fellow

Posted by Emma Jay in Behind the scenes

Bore Place, Kent

When I joined The National Archives I couldn’t have imagined that I’d spend two weeks living on an organic farm in the name of work. But in late September of this year I found myself at Bore Place, a conference and study centre in the idyllic Kentish Weald, for the opening fortnight of the Clore Fellowship Programme 2012-2013.

I have had the great honour of being selected as one of 29 fellows on the programme, which is designed to support leadership development in the cultural sector. My own fellowship is supported not just by the Clore Leadership Programme but also by a consortium of national archive institutions: The National Archives, National Records of Scotland and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

Most of my fellow fellows come from the UK, but there are also two from India, two from Jordan and two from Hong Kong. Our professional backgrounds range from theatre and dance to libraries and museums. Some are freelancers, while others work for big organisations.