Museum studies student receives scholarship to attend Georgia Museums Conference

Valeri Cruz '23
February 20, 2025

Penelope Bertrand photographed with the other Georgia Association of Museums scholarship recipient. — Penelope Bertrand with another Georgia Association of Museums scholarship recipient.

Penelope Bertrand’s ’26 museum studies minor recently set her up for success as she received a scholarship to attend the Georgia Association of Museums (GAM) Conference Feb. 5-7.

The GAM Conference brings current and aspiring museum professionals together for thought-provoking discussions and workshops on a range of topics, such as educational programming and curating.

Hosted in Milledgeville, GA, this year’s theme, “The Whole Story is the Meaning,” reflected the work of Milledgeville author Flannery O’Connor and emphasized the art of storytelling within museums.

Bertrand already has experience in creating cohesive stories in museum exhibitions as a student exhibitions coordinator for the Oglethorpe University Museum of Art (OUMA). She has also led efforts to coordinate museum programming for OUMA as a member of Art Flow.

Two speakers doing a presentation on photographing an exhibit with camera equipment and white backdrop. — GAM Conference session on photographing your collection.

“I was able to attend about seven sessions at the Georgia Association of Museums conference that covered a wide variety of topics,” says the art history major. “These sessions were hosted by a variety of museum professionals such as archivists, directors, curators and more. Walking away from this experience I was thrilled to have met so many people who have dedicated their careers to the betterment of their communities through museum work.”

The conference provided several networking opportunities and interactive sessions during the three days. The GAM Auction, which helps raise funds for the following year’s scholarship recipients, challenged a group of attendees split into teams to curate an exhibition out of random objects.

Penelope Bertrand with other students holding random objects like a stuffed snake animal and a jar of peanut butter to reflect their impromptu exhibition "COVID-19 lockdown at grandma's house." — Penelope Bertrand (second left holding a toy snake) with the rest of the student team presenting their impromptu exhibition.

Bertrand and the rest of the student team won the challenge from their improvised exhibition based on the COVID-19 lockdown and “keeping yourself sane at grandma’s house.” She credits this session for bringing the students in attendance together the most.

“I was most excited about meeting the emerging museum professionals and networking with my peers,” she said. “We were able to discuss our hopes for the future, our dream positions, and introduce each other to the key resources we each use in our studies and work.”

“With this, we each traded valuable experience and information that will hopefully lead to internships, strong relationships with each other’s mentors, and connections that last throughout our careers,” said Bertrand.

The new museum studies program leverages Oglethorpe’s Atlanta location and OUMA to expose students to all areas of museum work. One of Bertrand’s goals for this year was to step outside of the Atlanta area and make connections with other museum experts.

“Attending this conference pushed me outside of my comfort zone but in the best possible way. Through building these connections, I found a few leads on curatorial internships for credit to apply for this summer,’ said Bertrand. “Overall, this experience put me in a confident place to pursue internships and opportunities to build upon what I am currently studying at Oglethorpe.”