Author: Museum Studies Interns
For this interview, current Pitt students interviewed an alumni from the Department of History of Art and Architecture and the Museum Studies program to learn more about their career. Valerie Bundy graduated from the Department in 2010. The student group responsible for selecting these past students to interview and developing their questions was Harrison Howell, Jordyn Barnes, Kornelia Gondek, Arina Isayev, and Madi Wise.
Can you describe your role and main responsibilities?
My official title is Program Director at Pittsburgh Glass Center. Generally this means I oversee all of the educational programming, exhibitions, and artist residencies at PGC. My biggest responsibility is to work with our studio managers to develop each semester's schedule of classes and help them with their curriculum. I manage the team of Studio Managers, a Youth Programs Coordinator, and our Events and Groups coordinator. If activity is happening, it is usually under my umbrella!
What skills from school have been most valuable, and what have you had to learn on the job?
After I graduated with my BA from the University of Pittsburgh, earning my MA degree in Museum Education from George Washington University was an incredibly valuable experience to me. The program did a great job of giving us different internships placements around the city in both educational facilities and museums. We got to spend time deep-diving into an audience and designing a specific museum trip/experience for the audience. I was fortunate to have my museum experience at the National Museum of Women in the Arts where I was allowed free range to develop tours for little kids - piggybacking on my previous experience as a preschool teacher. I think the skill I learned developing both of those types of programs really helped me to attempt to understand museum audiences, needs, and education from different standpoints. These are skills that I continue to use.
I think what was unique about coming to Pittsburgh Glass Center, was the realization that although the informal education is similar at its core, that we are not a museum and this building is full of incredibly talented artists - who come with their own challenges, ideas, personalities. I think my biggest takeaway that I've had to learn on this job has been navigating all of the artists, while making a case for my own experience and skills, to come to an understanding to come together to do great work. The other thing I like to say about my role here is I started this role on January 15th, 2020 - and then was in my house on March 15th, 2020. I came in very new to the subject and found it was really easy for me to pivot and adapt to the "new normal" because I "didn't really have a clue" of what was going on or what was normal. I think the ability to change, adapt, be open, and be able to really work with others is invaluable to this work.
What projects are you working on now, and what challenges come with them?
PGC is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its founding in 2026 and we are coming to the final end of our expansion with our additional gallery/community space (Pittsburgh Glass Corner) down the street. We're planning for an exciting year of events and programming that highlight the success and all the amazingness from the past 25 years - while trying not to burn out our small staff. I'm also developing a new protocol for accepting exhibition ideas for our new space. Be on the lookout for some fun things! I'm also working with our studio managers to continue to offer high-quality programming. I think the biggest challenges as we head into 2026 is managing the staff burnout (we do a lot with not that many people) while looking at the budget (rising costs of materials, staff, etc) in these hard economic times.
As Program Director at the Pittsburgh Glass Center, what initiatives are you most proud of?
What a great question! You know, I have gotten to do a lot of really fun things in my time here. It’s hard to pick but I'll try to highlight some things! During the pandemic when we were not able to do anything with folks, I initiated a "free mosaic glass" pick up for mosaic making on Earth Day - that expanded into our Mosaic Kits (a really awesome and accessible way for folks to work with glass). I worked with the community and our staff to create a mosaic mural at the Highland Park Super Playground, and have helped with other school mosaics around the community. I also got our staff to complete a mosaic little library! I worked with our neon tech to develop a mobile lab to bring neon and plasma into schools. I worked with our marketing team to create signage (and a self-guided tour) that didn't exist to let folks feel welcome in the building. I initiated our artists-in-residence talk series. I created a rotating display in our new building featuring our youth programs work, and another rotating display of artists that highlights our programming. I started and continued our “great glass mushroom hunt” on the first day of spring, for which participants hide glass mushrooms in the city's park. I worked with CMU students to develop a virtual glassblowing experience. I'm also really proud of working on syllabi for our multi-week classes and working with our instructors.
Our Teen Bootcamp program that I work very closely on sees over forty students in one week and brings kids close to glass! Last year, for our grand re-opening, I designed and implemented a community mosaic mural that we installed on site in our parking garage - bringing some lovely glass to a gray concrete wall! I'm sure if I could name a few more - but essentially I get to do a lot of cool things and connect people with the awesome magic that is glass.
How have your experiences at Fallingwater, the National Building Museum, and the Carnegie Museum of Art shaped your approach to museum education?
All of my work experiences have been really impactful in shaping me as a museum educator. I always say that everything is a learning experience and I think each of the experiences shaped my understanding of audiences, and gave insight into different operations at different organizations. My very first museum gig was at the Carnegie Museum of Art as a gallery ambassador. I worked in the gallery and led art activities in front of works of art with intergenerational audiences. It is, to this day, one of my favorite jobs I've ever had - and it really shaped and motivated me to get my degree in Museum Education. I had such a blast in that role as a really passionate person who loved art and wanted to make the museum and art fun and engaging for folks who came in. It was a great insight into the fun things you could do with people and with art. It was amazing to go back to the museum after earning my degree to be essentially who my bosses were. I wasn't just implementing the activities, I got to design them – this was incredible!
At Fallingwater, I was literally out in the woods. I stayed in a five-bedroom farmhouse - all by myself in the middle of nowhere and really got to understand that site specifically. It’s such a unique and interesting place that is world-renowned. Folks travel from all over the world to be there and see this architectural marvel. My project was to work with the rural students who have limited resources and try to make architecture accessible with online tools, and in after-school art clubs. The National Building Museum was super unique. Birthday parties were a huge business - and I got to make them educational and amazing learning experiences where we did architecture tours, built with blocks, and did activities and ate cake. (I also got a lot of free leftovers from kind families who appreciated the work we put into crafting experiences for their little ones!)
In all of these roles I learned a lot about audiences, and developing experiences rooted in whatever content for people to engage with. This ultimately helped me get to where I am today. I didn't know anything about glass when I came to this role, but I had the foundational knowledge of being an audience-focused educator who can "learn" the content and help people have amazing educational and unique experiences. In your view, how do larger institutions differ from smaller ones in their operations and expectations? The biggest difference I've found is that there is less "red tape" in smaller organizations. There are also a lot less people who then have to wear a lot more hats, but you can usually get a "Yes" quicker and faster and without having to do much explaining. The bigger organizations usually have the bigger budgets and can do a lot of impactful things with their dollars. I've felt really lucky to have worked in both types of organizations and have found that here at least my "off the wall" or wild ideas are usually met with a yes and I can find someone wearing 1 of their 100 hats to help me.