Blog Question #1– What did you learn from your first week at your internship? Did anything surprise you or make you excited? Were there any challenges? Did you make any connections with co-workers? Did you engage in any code switching?
During the first week of my internship, I learned the layout of the museum and the different names of specific locations and where I would be able to find what I needed. I was also introduced to many coworkers and am still in the process of learning names. During my shift, I was also tasked with researching the museum and the different programs and events currently running.
I was surprised by all the different departments that were needed to run the museum. I was excited by the opportunity to work with different departments and have varied experiences within my internship. I was also excited by the atmosphere of not only the museum but also the office space. It’s very lively and expressive, enabling creativity in the workplace. I’m excited to work on different projects and find which department I’m most interested in through interviewing department heads and working alongside them.
It was challenging to know what my supervisor wanted when she asked me to organize certain things. I feel as though organization is more of a personal preference, and I was hesitant when making my own decisions about what to throw out or what to move. However, I did my best and I think it turned out well in the end. It was also a challenge to communicate that I finished my work. I completed tasks faster than expected, and so I was often left with nothing to do and feeling awkward. I knew that my supervisor was busy and in meetings and taking calls so I felt bad bothering her to ask for another task even though I wanted to be proactive. I felt that there wasn’t a lot for me to do. Hopefully, this improves in the future as I become more needed in the workplace.
Everyone was pretty busy and I was hesitant to initiate any conversation. However, when I was organizing the kitchen, I struck up a conversation with (oops) and compared my love of the subway system in NYC to her love of the transport system in Australia, which she had moved from 4 years ago. We bonded over our confusion over streets and the layout of Denver. It made me excited to make more connections in the future.
I did not have to engage in any professional code-switching, but I did speak to them differently than I would my friends or teenagers. Although the introductions were pretty formal, it was still pretty close to how I act and speak regularly. I feel that I can be myself at the office and that who I am will be valued.
(Word Count: 438)
Blog Question # 2: What co-workers did you interview? Did your co-workers study art after high school either through higher education or internships/apprenticeships? What recommendations did they have for what you should try to learn as an intern in this field? Did they have any advice on how to begin your creative career? Did you learn anything interesting about your co-workers that was non-work related?
I interviewed Lindsey Howard who works in the developmental department at the MCA. She writes grant proposals for the museum. After high school, she went to the University of Sydney and studied Environmental Science and Environmental Law. After having become a successful lawyer, she became bored with her job and decided she wanted something new. It was then that she pursued an acting career at the university. She did not have any internships or apprenticeships, she instead booked an agent and got cast in many roles that way.
When asked what she would focus her learning on if interning at the MCA, she answered that she would be most interested in learning about curating and how they find and organize the pieces. I was also interested in this and will eventually interview one of the curators as well. She said that a valuable lesson I should learn from interning in this field is to take risks and not be afraid of failure. She said that I should learn how to handle rejection and not take it personally, as a career in the arts is becoming increasingly competitive. I asked how she got started in this career and she told me that it was the same way you get started in every career: connections. A memorable quote she left me with is, “Network = Net worth.” She told me that she would not have gotten any casting opportunities or even this job if it weren’t for connections and people reaching out to her as well.
As far as non-work related tidbits go, it was interesting to hear about all of her acting jobs and her move out to the US.
Word Count: 280
Blog Question #3 How do your actions affect your workplace? Are you able to be mindful and bring a good attitude when you come to your internship? Do you contribute positively?
Do you feel like you have a good work ethic so far? How do your co-workers actions affect your internship? Are you beginning to develop any work place friendships?
I believe that so far I have been able to positively impact my workplace and my coworkers. I always leave my lousy day behind and find that focusing on work and keeping busy really helps me take my mind off of things. I’ve been dealing with a rough breakup and find that work is one of the only places where I can leave that behind and put all my effort and thoughts into the task at hand. For example, although considered tedious tasks (reorganizing files, laying down tiles, placing tape on equipment, etc.) I enjoy these repetitive and simple tasks for the sake of feeling productive and mobile. I contribute positively and enjoy ridding of my negative energy from my week.
I feel that my work ethic has been solid so far. Whenever I complete a task, I am eager for the next one and am constantly busy. I take pride in the work I do and what I accomplish. For example, I was given the task of consolidating data from various survey’s about participant’s experiences at the MCA into a power point. Even after I finished transferring and summarizing data, I worked further on it to make it more visually appealing and the best it can be for its purpose. I am always excited to come into work.
I am beginning to develop a friendship with the college intern that sits across from me at my desk. Her name is Mary Catherine, and she’s a junior at CU Boulder. The last shift I worked we were able to eat lunch together after another coworker had bought us lunch to thank us for helping set up the art installation. I was able to confide in her about my rough week, and she offered me extremely valuable advice as someone who had gone through what I’m going through. She is an extraordinarily talented and beautiful young woman, and I’m excited to work with her.
(WC: 329)
Blog Question #4: Freestyle blog week. Write your own blog prompt about your internship, then answer it in 200-250 words
How was the opening of the museum after seeing behind the scenes? What did you think of both the event and the curation?
The opening of the museum was fascinating. I was able to see the process while the museum was closed. I saw them tearing up the tiles that were the previous exhibit. I helped lay down black carpet tiles for the exhibit downstairs. It was cool to be part of it and help out.
Before the opening I hadn’t seen any of the pieces, I’m mostly in the downstairs office space. When I came as a visitor, I was blown away by the artwork. When visiting museums, it’s rare that I find a piece that I truly connect with or am inspired by. I was blown away not by a piece, but the artist’s works as a whole. There wasn’t a single piece I did not completely love. I was so taken with his work that I soon completed a project plan based on his exhibit and techniques. I wanted my art to be taken further than what it currently is now. I wanted to be more creative and expressive with my work, and his art made me realize this.
The top floor did not impress me as much. It seemed quite repetitive, and there wasn’t anything interesting to look at. My sister and I walked through it pretty quickly, a little disappointed. My favorite part of the exhibit is the mural on the outside of the building, which I love looking at when I go to my internship.
The video on the bottom floor was compelling. My sister and I were both fighting back tears. It was all-encompassing. No the twerking was not tear-jerking, but the videos of happiness and community and culture intertwined with the beatings and violence were overwhelmingly emotional.
Word count: 290
Blog Question #5 How do you feel like your internship is going so far? What are the highlights? What are the challenges? Do you feel like you are making connections with your co-workers? Are you using your internship inspired project as a creative connection between you and your supervisor? What can you do to improve your experience?
I feel like my internship is going very well so far. I always look forward to coming in to work. The highlights of my internship are my coworkers and the pride I take in my work. I find a way to enjoy every task I’m given regardless of the level of difficulty or monotony. There haven’t been too many challenges so far, although there was a scheduling conflict that left me unable to attend Diego’s artist talk which was unfortunate given my project.
I feel like I’m making more connections with my coworkers. There’s another intern who’s in college as well that I connected with. The three of us got lunch together; it was fun. I also feel closer to my supervisors as well.
I haven’t gotten too far into the project but speaking with my supervisor, it seemed like she was interested in the idea. I feel that the creative connection will mainly be between Diego and me as two artists. If I had gone with my first idea of proposing an event, then Alex and I would have been able to connect more, as she works in programs.
To improve my experience I think I have to start being more proactive in planning my project, but otherwise, I feel that everything is going quite well.
Word Count: 224
Blog Question #6 End of the quarter check- in. OK to do 150 words this week. Please do an inventory of your hours completed up until now and make sure your electronic time card is updated coming into the end of the quarter. How are you doing so far on completing your hours? Do you have the amount of hours complete that you should have at this point in the internship? If you are behind on your hours, what is your plan to make up the hours you are missing? How are you doing with the challenge of maintaining your intern work schedule? Are you using your google calendar to keep track of your intern schedule and homework assignments? Is there any other challenge you feel the Internship Program Director should be aware of at the end of the first half of your internship?
I believe I’m doing well on completing my hours, I get 6 hours per week. For the electronic time sheet I have 28.75 hours which in addition to my paper time sheet (16.35) should put me at 45.1 hours total.
Blog Question #7: What is your favorite part of working on personal art projects? What challenges do you face on personal art projects? What have you learned about working in a creative business? What is your favorite part of working in a creative business? What is the difference between working on personal art and working in a creative business?
My favorite part of working on personal art projects is having the ability to be creative and explore art without restrictions or deadlines. It’s an opportunity to express myself and use my voice and my art to send a message. A challenge I face when working on personal art projects is frustration. Often times things do not go exactly as planned or how I envisioned in my head. Most time this is caused by my lack of skill and training as an artist, which is frustrating because there is no quick fix. Pushing through and changing things so that I’m happy with the final piece is challenging but also part of the fun of watching my art piece change and develop over time.
From working in a creative business I have learned that there is no set way of doing things and many times problems will arrive that require a creative solution. My favorite part about working in a creative business is being surrounded by beautiful works and having the opportunity to work alongside other artists and creative minds.
Working on personal art and working in a creative business are completely different. In my job I feel that my only opportunity to be creative is the way in which I organize research or what food I buy for the meeting. I have never actually gotten to work with art itself. That’s fine, and expected, but nothing at all like creating personal art. I don’t think any profession could emulate that same sense of creativity and freedom unless I was a free lance artist.
Word Count: 263
No Blog Next Week- you will need to use the week to work on your Internship Inspired Project in preparation for blog 8. You cannot write blog 8 if you have not talked to your supervisor about your internship project. Make talking to your supervisor about the project #1 priority if that hasn’t happened.
Blog Question #8 : How is your internship project going? Describe the progress of your project. How did the conversation about your project go with your sponsor? (If you haven’t discussed the project with your sponsor yet, how do you plan to do so?) Did they have good insights into how to improve or expand the project? How does your project bridge what you do at your internship and what you like to create for yourself? Has your relationship with your sponsor evolved as you have engaged in a creative dialogue about your project? Art there any challenges you are experiencing planning or doing your project?
My project is going okay. I didn’t start early enough and unfortunately I missed the date of my art show as well as the date for turning in both my process portfolio and comparative study. However, this gives me the chance to now make art for fun without school or IB requirements in mind. I finished the most important part of my project which was the interview with Diego. After the interview, I began brainstorming ideas for a piece and following his process I began the google search for images to cut out and paste. So far I have a pretty big folder of images that I will narrow down and then print out.
The conversation with my sponsor went well. She didn’t provide much insight as to how I should expand but she did get me a meeting with Diego as well as with the curator. My project bridges my internship and what I like to create for myself by utilizing one of the artists at the museum as well as a curator to assist me in making new work and perhaps my artwork being showcased one day. It gave me a lot of perspective as to where I would like the direction of my art to go in the future, as a hobby. I actually finally decided on a major in college! Dual Chemistry-Business Major. Pretty fun.
I wouldn’t say my relationship with my sponsor has developed at all, we haven’t really had creative dialogue. With Diego, however, the interview opened my mind up to a lot of new ideas of what art is and why we create. Very inspirational. My biggest challenge is buying materials and actually getting started. I don’t really have the funds to make a painting. Maybe I’ll just sketch it out.
Word Count: 300
Blog Question #9 What have you seen or experienced in your internship that has inspired you the most on your own artistic journey? Has this experience changed your artistic ambitions? How? Have you used this experience to diversify your skill set? What skills have you added?
I’ve been inspired the most by Diego’s work and my interview with him. It made me want to explore art. To experiment and make art because it’s fun and it makes me happy. It’s been such a long time since I made art for me. Now art seems like a chore. But he made me want to evolve my work and become a real artist. I want to work on the colors and compositions of my pieces with an artist mentality.
The only thing holding me back is lack of a space to create as well as a lack of materials. I might start going to the teen events the MCA hosts. Although they’re themed and limited to a specific material I think that it’ll be beneficial to branch out and explore different mediums.
I wouldn’t say I have any new skills.
Word Count: 200
Blog Question #10 : Has this experience been a rewarding one for you? Why or Why not (keep it positive, if you had negative experiences, focus on what you learned- make yourself look good!)? How has the reality of your internship matched or contrasted with your expectations? What is the most important learning you did during your internship?
It’s been pretty rewarding. Most days I felt like I didn’t do much. Just organization and filing and working on my own stuff. It was still cool to be working there in the office space and to be involved with the museum. Everyone thought it was cool that I was interning at the MCA. One of the coolest experiences I had here was when we were changing out the exhibits and I got to see the process as well as help lay down the carpet for the exhibit. It was also really interesting and informative to be able to interview some of the staff members from different departments. I’m not entirely sure what I want to do career wise, so it was helpful to hear the experiences of different departments within the museum.
I think I expected to be doing work that was a little more difficult or involved, but as a high schooler I understand that what I’m good for is mostly tedious and physical tasks. I was working alongside two other interns in college (one senior, one junior) who I saw doing more work on the computer and related to their major. I wish I could’ve done something more specific rather than being a general intern. The most important learning I did was from the people I interviewed.
Word Count: 230