European politicians join museums internship programme

The president of the European Union's European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), Luca Jahier, is set to enrol on the Network of European Museum Organisations (NEMO) Political Internships in Museums. The programme opened in May and aims to educate politicians across Europe about how museum collections and exhibitions are put together, taking them behind the scenes to see how a museum is run.

Politicians can take part in activities ranging from art and artefacts storage to working behind the till at a museum gift shop.

Jahier is to take part in the half-day internship at the Royal Museums of Turin, Italy in Winter 2018 with an exact date still to be confirmed.

British Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Julie Ward was the programme’s first inductee in May 2018 at the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht, Netherlands.

“I think if we truly understand how things work and why people working in the sector are doing the jobs they are doing and understand the everyday challenges of working behind the scenes, I think we can be better advocates of the sector,” Ward said.

Meanwhile, Bonnefantenmuseum artistic director Stijn Huijts added: “I think we should try to convince as many people as possible of the importance of museums to our civilisation.”

Politicians have the option to intern themselves or to take part with their staff in the internship.