|
In December 2025, I was invited to join the CBC Creator Program team as a freelance researcher and copyeditor. Tiffany Wice, the associate producer for the Creator Program, was seeking a skilled researcher that could assistant with fact-checking and visual research. We had just recently worked together on the Skylight Caper video with YouTube content creator Christeah and Tiff was impressed with my abilities. I was shortly after brought on to the Paraskeva Clark video.
Since 2020, I have regularly been hired by the Associated Youth Services of Peel and similar organizations to lead workshops on queer and trans history. These happen a few times a year with a couple different groups.
For years now, I have worked with YouTube content creator Christeah, reviewing her video scripts and providing notes on the video's structure. When she was invited to join the CBC Creator Program, a group within the CBC that works with content creators to create mini-documentaries, she was able to bring me on board as part of her usual video making-process. I was thus hired as a research assistant for the video. The result was this video on the Skylight Caper, a lesser known art heist at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art in 1972. I have a strong working relationship with the ArQuives, Canada's 2SLGBTQ+ Archives, and in 2025, they reached out to hire me to write a few articles for Defining Moments Canada. DMC and the ArQuives were working on a project together called Proud To Be about queer Canadian history and DMC wanted to highlight the role that the ArQuives played in that. I was thus commissioned to write three articles; two on the history of the ArQuives and one on the Clarke Institute of Psychology's gender identity clinic.
My relationship with Women's College Hospital began in 2019 while I was studying for my Masters degree. I had pitched a capstone project to the Miss Margaret Robins Archives of Women's College Hospital; an exhibition on the history of transition related surgery in Ontario. A year prior, Women's College Hospital had made headlines by opening the first transgender surgery department at a public hospital in Canada. As part of my research and exhibit development, I connected with Emery Potter, nurse practitioner for the TRS department. Over the years, Emery has invited me to work on various projects and voice my insights as both a researcher and a patient of the program.
I first met Christeah on Instagram around late 2020 and early 2021. We were both posting about museum topics and she had reached out to a number of accounts asking if they would be part of a video on museum misconceptions. I wrote and recorded a short piece on Jennifer Tyburczy's Sex Museums. Shortly afterwards, after my first exhibition launched in June 2021, we recorded an interview for her channel discussing my curatorial process. Since then, we have become excellent friends and collaborators, working on multiple videos together.
August 30, 2023
I was invited by Hannah Hethmon of Better Lemon Creative Audio to be on an episode of their podcast We The Museum to discuss my work with transgender museum studies.
To listen to my episode, follow this embedded link to the We The Museum episode page or search "We The Museum" on your podcast app. A full transcript and additiona information can be found on the episode page.
From We The Museum's About page: "We the Museum is a podcast for museum workers who want to form a more perfect institution. Hosted by the field’s go-to podcast person, Hannah Hethmon, each episode features museum workers in the US and beyond, exploring ideas, programs, and exhibitions that inform and inspire. This means everything from digitization and collections management to unionization and decolonization. We the Museum is a space where we can all slow down and take a moment away from the day-to-day work to learn, grow, and expand our toolkit."
• Managed the collection using Microsoft Access
• Researched artists to write biographies for the collection database • Conducted condition reports for artworks that were on loan • Prepared artworks for travel • Digitized archival files using a scanner • Used a DSLR camera to photograph and document exhibits and events • Planned and installed five exhibitions, two of which were travelling exhibitions • Managed an open call community exhibition with over 50 artist submissions • Collaborated with community groups to develop exhibitions • Planned and scheduled regular meetings with gallery collaborators • Corresponded with artists and stakeholders through Microsoft Outlook • Conducted tours of the gallery for visitors and school groups • Trained volunteers to install exhibitions and as gallery attendants • Managed Facebook and Instagram social media accounts, advertising current and upcoming exhibitions • Created advertising materials for social media using Canva • Edited photographs in Darktable • Created a 3D model of the Gallery in SketchUp • Created a transcription and subtitles for artist talks in Adobe Premiere MARCH 26 2022On March 26th, 2022, I was invited to discuss my work on transgender museums at the Council for Museum Anthropology's 2022 conference The Future Is Now: Emerging Perspectives in Museology and Museum Anthropology. My talk begins at 5:08:02.
• Designed Word of Mouth, a digital exhibit built upon 13 oral histories
• Collaborated with Archives staff to ensure the exhibit met expectations • Designed exhibition using Spotlight digital exhibit software • Created exhibit narrative that utilized audio, video, and archival images • Wrote and edited over 4000 words of exhibit text • Wrote for both academic and non-academic audiences • Conducted in-person archival research using finding aids • Photographed and digitized artefacts for use in the exhibition • Edited video clips in Adobe Premiere • Developed a social media program that encouraged engagement outside of the exhibit, acting as a form of advertising |
Amelia smithTrying to bridge the gap between transgender studies and museum studies. Archives
August 2023
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed