Five minutes with Heritage Assistant Amy Hondsmerk

 

1. Tell us a little about yourself and your background.

I’m Amy, a near life-long history enthusiast. I spent the majority of my childhood holidays

exploring castles and riding on heritage railways. I moved from the countryside to

Nottingham to do my undergraduate degree in History and ended up falling in love with the

city. In my final year of undergrad, I decided I wanted to go into museums and not only was I

able to get a place on a master’s course in museum studies at the other university in

Nottingham but I was also offered a role as a freelancer here at Culture Syndicates – and I’m

still here 5 years on. In my spare time I love writing, singing, making friends with cats, and

playing videogames.

2. Before working at Culture Syndicates what was the most unusual or interesting job you have

ever had?

I’ve definitely had a varied job history! I spent a couple of summers working for a wine and

champagne holiday company, which meant writing a lot of emails in French and gaining a

somewhat expensive taste in wine for a broke university student.

3. What is your role at Culture Syndicates? – and what aspect of your role do you enjoy the

most?

I work freelance as one of Culture Syndicate’s heritage assistants. I love how varied the work

is, it’s given me a chance to try out so many different areas of the museum and heritage

sector where it is often difficult to gain experience and it’s been amazing to watch the

company grow over time.

4. What does a typical day look like for you?

Well, it always starts with a cup of tea regardless of what I’m doing! At the moment, I spend

the majority of my time working on my PhD. I’m researching the possible applications of

videogames in museum interpretation, so I can either be found reading around the topic,

playing games for research, or working on prototypes for a few games I’ve been developing

as part of my studies. Evenings, I’m often busy with social things, like (virtual) choir. I tend to

end the day with a good book in hand.

5. What projects are you currently working on for Culture Syndicates?

Whilst I’m not currently working on any particular projects, I’ve been playing around with

some ideas for some blog posts based on my research and various interests, and taking part

in the working group exploring the future of the freelance role. Now that the industry is

opening back up, I’ll hopefully be getting more involved!

6. What is on your wish list for the next few years with Culture Syndicates?

I’m a fan of all things creative practice, interpretation, play, and digital, so I’d be interested

to get involved in something that addresses one of those areas, as they tend to be rarer in

terms of the projects we work on.

7. What are your hopes for our industry?

We’ve had a tough time recently but I would love to see the industry really embracing some

of the lessons this year has taught us about outreach, digital work, and thinking creatively

about working with what we’ve got. Additionally, I would love to see more routes into the

sector that don’t require degrees or vast amounts of experience as these can act as real

barriers to entering the sector, especially for those for whom volunteering is inaccessible.

Find out more about the work of Culture Syndicates on our website: http://culturesyndicates.co.uk