Could you see Di Maio working in a museum ticket office? There's a plan to send politicians to museum internships

Politicians becoming interns for a day in European museums: this is the bizarre project of NEMO - Network of European Museum Organizations. So imagine Di Maio at the museum ticket desk, Salvini providing visitor reception, Renzi as the hall attendant, Berlusconi supporting the education section.

The project, which is called NEMO Political Internships at Museums, aims, as the official presentation states, to “give politicians (and public administrators) a deeper understanding of working in the museum. The goal is to encourage support for museums and to show the social importance of museums to politicians and other stakeholders.”

The internships intended for politicians last half a day, and politicians will be able to work on their own or together with members of their staff: the NEMO network is responsible for referring them to museums in the network that have open positions, and each internship is tailored to the politician’s fields of action and interests. The initiative, NEMO specifies, covers the whole of Europe and aims to set up at least three or four internships a year.

The first internship has already been launched: participating on May 25 was British MEP Julie Ward, who did her internship at the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht, Netherlands. Assisted by the museum’s artistic director, Stijn Huijts, Julie Ward, after being introduced to the Bonnefantenmuseum’s activities, was first assigned to the museum’s ticket office, then to reception with the task of answering questions from visitors seeking practical and logistical information, and finally she was taken on a tour of the institution that also involved security staff. “At the end of the day,” reads a note from NEMO, “Julie Ward received an overall smattering of the daily life of a museum worker. NEMO hopes that the museum internship initiative will help demonstrate the importance of museums and the high skills that can be found in every part of the museum.”

Primary outreach in the run-up to the 2019 European elections. Will there be Italian politicians who will join this initiative?

Pictured: Piacenza, interior of the Ricci Oddi Gallery. Ph. Credit Finestre Sull’Arte

Could you see Di Maio working in a museum ticket office? There's a plan to send politicians to museum internships

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