Daum Museum Engagement Manager Raineri Arrives at Her Dream Job

Elena Sofia Raineri has settled nicely into her new position at the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art as the Museum Educator and Engagement Manager.

She was named to the position on the first of August, and is something she’s always wanted to do.

“It’s always nice to run around and see a different piece of art,” Raineri said about the Daum, located on the SFCC campus.

The Daum is open Tuesday through Friday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and from 1 to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. Closed on Mondays.

With each new exhibit comes an artist reception, typically available only to Daum Museum members.

“It’s nice to be a member, because you get to meet the artist and get a preview of what is going on,” Raineri said.

Raineri, who previously worked at Central Bank of Sedalia, was born near Venice, Italy. She moved to Sedalia over a year ago with her husband who serves in the military.

She noted that moving from Italy to mid-Missouri was “stressful and challenging, but I’m so happy that in the end, it worked out.”

Raineri added that she has wanted to work in a museum since she was 10 years old.

She earned her masters degree in art, but the timing was bad, as Covid invaded everyone’s lives at the time and all of Italy’s museums were closed as a result. And all hiring was frozen.

“So I had to find another job. I actually worked as a budget analyst for the Air Force in Italy. So I had to put the art aside for a moment and work with numbers,” Raineri noted.

“Have you ever heard the phrase ‘everything happens for a reason?’” she asked. “And I feel like that’s true.”
Raineri admitted that her favorite part of the job is “in the morning or in the afternoon when nobody’s around and I just get to look around and enjoy the paintings by myself,” she said.

As for her own artwork, Raineri said she indulges in painting, water colors and photography, “but I don’t consider myself an artist. But I’m really good at reproducing art. I’m really talented in copying art.

The Daum offers guided tours for all ages, from preschool to high school to college to adults.

Also on campus is the Goddard Gallery, which is considered a temporary exhibition space that changes every three months.

And from October through December there is the “Daum Escape” and allows school children from all around the area to experience the Daum and its many treasures up close.

“You know when I was a kid, my parents always forced me to go to museums,” Raineri recalled. “I was four years old and they used to say they were going to ask me three questions about it and if I was answering correctly, then I could have lunch. Obviously it was a joke, because they always provided me food. But it is actually proving that the more you expose kids to art, the more they are like to go  back it when they are adults,” she said.

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“Nowadays, there are so many careers that connect with art, there are so many things with it, it’s not just paining and sculpture. And it’s just good, because it opens your mind,” Raineri pointed out.

“I feel like museums are my happy place,” Raineri concluded.