Forging a career in the museum world
"My classes and professors at Mount Holyoke certainly inspired my interest in art and helped me gain the necessary internship experience."
Gina Ciralli ’14
Project coordinator, “Inside Out,” Philadelphia Museum of Art
Academic focus: art history major, ancient studies minor
Internships: curatorial intern, New Britain Museum of Art; American craft curatorial intern, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Advanced degree: M.S., nonprofit leadership, University of Pennsylvania
When I arrived at Mount Holyoke College, I took a first-year seminar with Bettina Bergmann, Helene Phillips Herzig ’49 Professor of Art History, where we held and examined ancient coins at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum. Being able to interact with original objects in such an intimate setting inspired me to take more art history classes and develop a major — and then a career — around fine arts.
During my undergraduate summers, I held two internships at art museums. I began at the New Britain Museum of Art, a small, regional museum in Connecticut, during the summer before my junior year and then progressed to the Philadelphia Museum of Art the following summer.
During my final semester, I held an internship at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum. Upon graduation I felt ready to enter the art world. I was hired as a gallery assistant at an art advisory firm in New York City, and in 2015 I leveraged my internship experience into a full-time position at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where I implement an outdoor art project that places replica paintings in regional communities for brief, open-air exhibitions.
My classes and professors at Mount Holyoke certainly inspired my interest in art and helped me gain the internship experience necessary to forge a career in the museum world.