Dea Birkett & Rebecca Mileham
Who leads TextWorkshops?
Dea Birkett is a journalist, broadcaster and writer. She writes for The Guardian, scripts and presents documentaries for Channel 4, and is a regular contributor to BBC Radio4.
Dea’s knowledge and experience of museums comes first as a visitor, and it is from this perspective that she approaches text. Dea has worked as an advisor to museums and galleries, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, on writing text to accompany exhibitions and displays.
Three years ago, Dea founded the Kids in Museums Campaign following the enormous response to a Guardian article she wrote about her family being expelled from a museum. Since its establishment, the Campaign has produced a 20-point Kids in Museums Manifesto and associated literature. Dea also runs the annual Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award.
Dea’s many books include Off the Beaten Track: Three Centuries of Women Travellers, written to accompany a National Portrait Gallery exhibition of the same name.
Dea is a member of the Ethics Committee of the Museums Association.
Rebecca Mileham is a writer and editor with over ten years’ experience in museum interpretation, exhibition development, live presentation and training.
Rebecca helped develop the Science Museum's 10,000m2 Wellcome Wing extension and led the fast-moving Antenna science news gallery, editing exhibition scripts on topics from climate change to the male pill. She was also head of content for the object-rich historical gallery Ingenious Energy, reinterpreted the museum’s unique Charles Babbage collection in the Computing gallery and wrote the new Science Museum Guide.
Rebecca now works as a freelance writer and editor, engaged in creative projects with museums, publishers, design companies and charities.
Rebecca studied Physics and Science Communication at Imperial College London, and has contributed as a science journalist to the Sunday Times, She magazine, Practical Parenting and many other titles. She formerly lectured in Science Communication at Imperial College and is a member of the Association of British Science Writers.