Sapphia: Assistant Community Creator

Can you introduce yourself?

I am Sapphia

I'm the Assistant Community Creator at Leeds City Museum and the Discovery Centre

What is your job?

I focus on working with adults and helping them to access museum and gallery spaces

I bring community groups and partnerships into our spaces, including for workshops and wellbeing activities

What do you do in your job?

I put together exhibitions which we create through co-creation with community partnership groups, artists and activism groups

We collect objects from Leeds communities, so we have objects that reflect the individuals and communities of Leeds

I deliver workshops that cover everything from arts and crafts to object handling, learning and research

How did you get your job and what is your background?

I completed an Illustration and Graphic Design degree at university

I used to facilitate artist workshops with community groups

I then worked in Leeds Libraries where I worked with specialist collections and objects and delivered a lot of community workshops within the city of Leeds

This gave me a step into the world of Leeds Museums and Galleries

What do you like about your job?

I love the fact that it's very different every day

But I think the important part of it is that it is people-led

I find people, or people find me, and they have really inspiring or aspirational dreams that they want to accomplish, and I get to help support these individuals

I do lots of different things, including International Goth Day, Hip Hop Weekend and special exhibitions

What is some advice on how to get a job like yours, and to work in a museum setting?

Realise that having soft skills is important to the role

The most important thing is being able to work within your community and help people feel comfortable and safe in opening up and talking to you about who they are

Talk to people within these spaces, within museum and gallery sites, and strike up conversations to find out how their collections represent the people and communities connected to them

What are the benefits from working in a museum setting?

You can immerse yourself in all of the collections and have a place to discover the local history and communities of the city that you are working in

What is your favourite site you work at?

All the sites have their own identities and their own stories to tell

They each give the people of Leeds different opportunities to learn about and discover the history of our city