Elle’s story
I’d love to work in learning after my degree. I’ve always loved teaching and explaining to others. Towner Eastbourne has shown me that you don’t have to work in a school to do that.” Elle Batehup
Art History BA
‘I originally applied to Sussex to do Mathematics and got accepted. But a couple of weeks before A-level results day, I decided it wasn’t the direction I wanted to take. I’d always loved art and history – growing up, my parents would take me and my sister to galleries and museums. I ended up emailing the University and sending a new personal statement. Luckily, I’d done German A-level and had studied German artwork of the 1920s for my coursework, so I managed to incorporate that in the statement – and got accepted to do Art History. It’s the best decision I ever made.
And then I heard about Sussex becoming the Education Partner for the Turner Prize at the art gallery Towner Eastbourne. I thought this was so exciting for the region and a great opportunity for us to get involved.
I successfully applied for a summer internship at Towner Eastbourne in my second year. I started in the curatorial team as an exhibitions archive assistant, which involved sorting out the digital archive of material. Then I moved over to the learning team, working with a wide range of ages and people.
After helping to create a family trail pack for visitors to the gallery’s permanent collection, I was asked to do something similar for the Turner Prize Exhibition. I was taken on board to do the illustrations for the worksheets, and then I ended up helping to design it as well, which was fantastic for me. The best part was seeing children and often their parents and older people going around the gallery using the worksheets.
I’d love to work in learning after my degree. I’ve always loved teaching and explaining to others. Towner Eastbourne has shown me that you don’t have to work in a school to do that.’
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