Hello and housekeeping notes
Hello and housekeeping notes
Welcome to My Friend, the Conservator. What will you get and what won't you get from me?
Who am I?
If you have never seen me online before, my name is Angelica Isa-Adaniya. I have a hyphenated surname because I’m Peruvian, which means we use two surnames, but when I don’t hyphenate them, people get super confused. Yes, I look Asian. That’s because I am descended from Okinawans who came over to Peru around the start of the 20th century. I have also been told that although both my surnames are from Okinawa, Isa is also Arabic and Adaniya is also Jewish. So you can bet the airport people in Israel looked at me funky when I went for a dig. The British English accent didn’t help either. My brother recently thought it would be funny to buy me a square foot of land in Scotland so I am technically? a Scottish Lady as well. I just married a Canadian and will soon be moving over there. It’s like I live my life to make people confused, no?
I studied museum conservation in the UK between 2012-2015 and have spent the past seven years working in an archaeological museum setting in Peru. During this time, I have also run some research and educational projects.
In 2019, I decided to begin investing in having an online presence. Since then and directly thanks to that investment, I have attended several international conferences, networked with people all over the world, joined conservation committees for large heritage organisations, gotten a few large grants and scholarships, learned a lot about social media marketing and solopreneurship too! I’ve even got some job offers sometimes!
Why does this newsletter have such a weird name?
Really, I was thinking of those conversations we have with our friends and connections when we refer to someone else we know,
"Oh, remember my friend, the lawyer? The other day, they told me x. I had no idea! It's so useful. I'm so glad they told me that."
This is what I want my newsletter to be like.
I will not spam you.
I will not email you when I have nothing interesting to say.
I do not have a fancy email marketing campaign set up with templates to send you things continuously.
I might not even email you every single week or every single month as normal newsletters do precisely because of that.
I want this newsletter to be like that fun, surprise message from that random friend you have that happens to work in a particular field, in my case, museum conservation.
These friends, who are absolute gems, are an endless source of useful and interesting stuff that you can either enjoy or actually use for your own professional development.
Who else is signed up for this newsletter?
There are all kinds of people in this community I’m building. Let me know if you’d like a place to interact with them!
Established museum professionals
Aspiring museum professionals and students
Freelance conservators
Artists
People who just have an interest in the arts and museums
What kind of stuff will you get?
Practical resources and tips you can use either in your museum job, your heritage course, or literally just your house to make sure your winter coats are not eaten by moths.
Information on how to become a conservator.
Information on courses and events related to museum work and conservation.
Tidbits of interesting information about cultural heritage management.
Tips and tricks on how to do social media marketing for culture (although these can apply to your personal projects as well).
Funky thoughts I have on the profession and the latest topics. Be warned. I have an interesting way of writing. Humour is a must.
You will start receiving updates right here in your inbox. You can also log in to the website to read the full archives and other posts as they are published.
Quick housekeeping
What I don’t want this newsletter to be
I don’t want to send you huge blocks of text where I ponder upon the ethical quandaries of the philosophical dimension of the conservator’s hand as it approaches an object from an undetermined distance and how this reflects my inner soul. No. I don’t read that stuff except when I’m in full work mode, so I won’t be writing it either. Let’s save that stuff for the indexed publications.
What I do want this newsletter to be
I want this newsletter to read, like I said, as an email from your friend, who just happens to be a conservator.
Fun. If I don’t get at least one chuckle from you, I have failed. I win if I get an actual LOL out of you.
Don't forget to say hello!
On Linkedin, Twitter, or Instagram if you want! I'd love to talk to you. You can also message me directly on any of those platforms to let me know what kind of content you’d like to see in the newsletter.
If someone else forwarded this to you, subscribe instead so you can get the content straight into your own inbox.