Maya Herbolzheimer
Engagement Officer
My role is to make the museum welcoming to everyone. Most of my work revolves around learning and engagement projects with community groups and young people. Examples include arts and wellbeing projects inspired by the museum, forming partnerships with other charities and organisations, making the visitor experience more inclusive to everyone and planning outreach and festival activities.
How I ended up at RAMM
I have worked in a number of public engagement and informal education settings over the last 10 years. Before RAMM I worked at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford as an outreach and activities officer, taking objects out to different communities that wouldn’t normally be able or feel confident enough to visit the museum such as hospital patients, people in rural communities, care homes and children’s centres, to name a few. I have also worked at Science Oxford making science, technology, engineering and maths accessible to schools and the general public through workshops, shows and demonstrations.
As a Forest School leader and stained glass artist, I am passionate about the natural world and the arts and am excited to be working with such a wonderful and diverse collections from all over the globe including natural history, ethnography, antiquities and decorative and fine arts.
Best part of my job
Every day is different at the museum. Having grown up in Switzerland and Spain, I enjoy meeting and interacting a diverse range of people from different backgrounds, cultures and ways of life. I love the potential that objects have to inspire, spark curiosity and connect people together.
What I like most about RAMM
All the fascinating and exotic objects in the World Cultures gallery – the stories, incredible craftsmanship and design behind every object never fails to create a sense of wonder.