Sophie Swanson Email & Phone Number

New York, New York, United States

New York, United States

New York, New York, United States

Researched subject material, identified media assets, wrote label copy, and creatively developed content for multimedia interactive exhibits for several museum clients. Assisted with asset licensing, content management, and project coordination.

Greater New York City Area

Researched, selected, and creatively developed content as part of a 3-person creative team for the United Nations Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. Built database management systems for all media assets within Excel and FileMaker for development of exhibition films and digital interactives. Administered written correspondence with colleagues across the UN System. Due to Covid-19 and a reprioritization of UN resources, the Pavilion project has been postponed and will be implemented as part of the Visitor Experience renewal at UN Headquarters in New York or another project in the near future.

Greater New York City Area

The Hill Art Foundation is a public exhibition and education space located in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, which showcases works from the Hill Collection in addition to works from leading artists, collections, and institutions. Collaborated with staff to pilot the foundation's two education programs: Teen Curators and Teen Educators. • Developed curriculum and lesson plans and taught all sessions for the inaugural Teen Curators at HAF, a ten-week after-school program for high school students from March – May of 2019. • Designed assignments to enhance skills in visual analysis. • Edited student-produced content for the website. • Currently developing and leading workshops in museum education pedagogy for HAF’s Teen Educator program.

Greater New York City Area

The Lab for Teen Thinkers at the BGC is a five-week summer intensive program in material culture and public humanities for 10 teens from NYC public high schools. • Developed curriculum, coordinated field trips, taught workshops• Assisted teens with research, writing, and editing.• Edited student-produced content for the website. Following the summer program, teens pair with BGC professors to conduct individual research projects. • Mentored teens with research and writing• Hosted peer-to-peer workshops in the Spring for fellow MA students regarding best practices for working with young adults.

New York, New York

The BGC Gallery is a separate exhibition space on three floors housing exhibitions about design history and material culture. • Lead visiting groups of adults, seniors, and students through exhibitions. • Design, lead, and assist with special workshop activities for school groups and educator trainings. • Assist with programming for Arts and Minds, a non-profit serving adults with dementia.

Mexico City Area, Mexico

Museum of Mexican colonial decorative arts and design. Interned in the Research Department documenting sales catalogues and archival correspondence pertaining to collections provenance. Updated museum database.

Mexico City Area, Mexico

Reviewed the museum database and wrote a summary of the collections, alongside an official mission statement in English for Museum of popular Mexican material culture from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Greater New York City Area

Nonprofit think tank that provides independent social science research and evaluation to other nonprofit organizations and social change agents. Worked as a Research Intern on several projects:• Collected and analyzed data on public artworks for informal science learning around waterways in Indianapolis sponsored by the National Science Foundation• Collected and analyzed data on visitor engagement strategies and exhibition content for the Brooklyn Historical Society's satellite waterfront exhibition space• Designed user survey for professionals participating in an online course sponsored by the North American Association for Environmental Education• Coded qualitative survey data • Transcribed interviews• Wrote qualitative analysis for final reports

Greater New York City Area

Worked as a Research Assistant on Tattooed New York, a 2017 exhibition exploring the social and cultural history of tattooing. • Compiled information for and edited exhibition texts • Sourced photographs and other archival materials for display and rights and reproduction • Logged and conduct oral histories • Entered object data into TMS database

Greater New York City Area

Assisted with production logistics for performances and open rehearsals, budgeting, check requests, and other operations supporting the needs of artists in residence at The Watermill Center—a nonprofit incubator founded by internationally renowned theater director Robert Wilson.

Greater New York City Area

Composed language for press, fundraising, and social media, booked rehearsals, and helped manage logistics and communications for a debut performance at the Theater at the 14th Street Y. Hollye Bynum is an emerging choreographer and film director based in Brooklyn.

New York, New York

The Historic House Trust (HHT) of NYC is a non-profit working in tandem with NYC Parks to preside over 23 historic houses across the 5 boroughs and to promote community arts engagement.As a summer intern primarily working in Curatorial Affairs, I assisted with the following:• Compiling and analyzing data, budgets, and reports about historic house programming and audiences—especially HHT’s Contemporary Art Partnership programs• Organizing a kickoff celebration for an interactive poetry installation in Flushing, Queens with the Lewis H. Latimer House Museum•Researching and developing a new educational installation for the visitor center of the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum as part of HHT’s ShatterCABINET initiative

New Haven, Ct

The Alliance for Dance at Yale (ADAY) is the umbrella organization for all dance groups at Yale. at the end of my Sophomore yearUndergraduate Production asked me to spearhead the closet, building it up from scratch beginning with the Ballroom Dance Team's dresses. As Costume Collection Manager, my responsibilities included:• Inventorying all costumes stored with ADAY• Assisting Dance Groups with costume selection for shows• Hosting weekly office hours in the closet• Tracking ballroom gown checkouts for competitions throughout the year

New Haven, Connecticut

The Furniture Study contains over a 1,000 objects from the Mabel Brady Garvan Collection in the American Decorative Arts department of the Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) The role entailed the following responsibilities: • To manage the Furniture Study’s library collections of Decorative Arts books and other publications• To conduct database entry of objects on The Museum System, the YUAG’s digital infrastructure• To check and update the published citations for all furniture in the collection and to ensure that they correlate to the YUAG’s public website

Ham House, London

Two month work experience placement with conservation and house staff team at Ham House, a 17th century historic home operated by the National Trust, Europe’s largest conservation charity. While volunteering at Ham House I also conducted ethnographic research for a year-long senior thesis in Anthropology. I carried out interviews with staff and volunteers about house interpretation, visitor experience, and understandings of ‘Heritage’.I worked primarily alongside the conservation team, assisting with:• Various conservation tasks • Room guiding, i.e. explaining rooms to visitors• The daily morning vacuuming and dusting of all the rooms on the visitor route

Eltham Palace, London

Two-month placement at Eltham Palace, a 1930s Art Deco historic house in Greenwhich, London managed by English Heritage, the second largest heritage NGO in England. During my time at Eltham Palace I also conducted ethnographic research, carrying out interviews with staff and volunteers about house interpretation, visitor experience, and the meaning of ‘Heritage’ (especially in comparison to the National Trust). Volunteering with both organizations, I was able to make a more substantial case in my thesis about historic English country houses and the Heritage industry in the UK.I worked primarily alongside Historic Property Stewards, welcoming visitors to the house, explaining house rules, and answering questions about the property.

Phoenix, Arizona

The International Rescue Committee resettles refugees across the country with a large office in Phoenix. I interned primarily in the Case Management department, which handles much of the logistical and primary services surrounding refugee resettlement in America. As an intern I assisted with the following tasks:• Contacting and organizing meetings with refugee U.S. Ties• Inputting data on the IRC national database concerning refugee clearance and assignment status• Assisting with apartment set-ups for new arrivals• Compiling overall statistics regarding variations in refugee arrivals

Master'S Degree, Material Culture

Bachelor Of Arts - Ba, Cultural Anthropology

High School

Activities and Societies: President of the Global Awareness Club, Junior Classical League, International Film Club