Museum Director
- FIRST ATTTO TRAINING AMBASSADOR
By Dave Clearwater (Communications Manager, Air Force Museum of New Zealand)
Training Ambassador Award
Years of dedicated study, training and unwavering support for her staff and other museum sector employees and volunteers, has been recognised by the Aviation, Tourism and Travel Training Organisation (ATTTO), with Thérèse Angelo, Director of the Air Force Museum of New Zealand being the first recipient of their annual ‘Training Ambassador Award’.
The ATTTO is the industry training organisation for the Aviation, Travel, Tourism and Museum industries, and works with industry partners to develop national qualifications and coordinate workplace training. Thérèse has developed training tools and organised in-house workshops to bring her team together to share her knowledge and give background information required for the learning of each unit standard. Thérèse then assesses each trainee when they feel they have covered the learning required to achieve the unit standard.
Thérèse has been extremely supportive of ATTTO and the National Certificate in Museum Practice Level 4 and has offered her skills and knowledge to the wider industry to help raise the level of knowledge in the industry as a whole. She has been involved with assessing trainees at Canterbury Museum when they first introduced the qualification to their team, has opened her door and invited other trainees from the Canterbury region to her in-house workshops—including those from Okains Bay Maori and Colonial Museum and Akaroa Museum—and has also been assessing these trainees along with others from remote parts of the South Island who don’t have access to their own workplace assessor.
The citation acknowledges her efforts and recognises Thérèse’s outstanding support for workplace training and national qualifications. Thérèse served on the Council of the Archives and Records Association of New Zealand for 10 years, including a term as President, and was made a Life Member of the Association in 2001. From 2003 until 2007 she served on the Board of Museums Aotearoa, the peak professional body for museums in New Zealand, and for the last two years held the position of Chair.
She was also the first qualified workplace assessor for the new National Certificate in Museum Practice.
Thérèse has worked in the Air Force Museum of New Zealand since 1987, initially as a Research Officer, then the Collections Manager, and since July 2002 as the first civilian Director. Previous to this, she had eight years of experience as a librarian and archivist in the New Plymouth and Wanganui Public Libraries. She holds the New Zealand Certificate in Library Studies and a Postgraduate Diploma in Museum Studies.
Currently the Air Force Museum has seven members of staff working towards the National Certificate in Museum Practice Level 4—no doubt inspired by their mentor, Thérèse Angelo.