Week of November 23rd
It was rewarding to be a part of the Cherry Arts Festival at Stanley. My first day, I was clueless as to what to expect really, it being my first internship ever. So my expectations were neither raised nor lowered. It was an interesting setting for the office to be underneath a bank. The office space was comfortable with up to 5 or 6 people working during the few hours I was there. As a fairly independent person, I enjoy working alone in most instances or with one or two people. The most important thing I’ve learned while at my internship was that it’s ok to not always know exactly what I want to do with my life. I am constantly changing my mind in view to what paths I want to take in life. Exploring is learning and I have many options and opportunities lying ahead of me. I also learned to be content with what I was given, being fully aware that while I might not always appreciate the work I had to do, it still had value. Always smiling when given a menial task is helpful to overcoming any negative feelings. I strive to always be productive and positive when it comes to working for other people. Although my schedule was a bit hectic this year I still wish I had the chance to go to more meetings and be a part of it just a bit more. These past four months sure flew by fast but the opportunity to do what I did and accomplishing what I have done was certainly a rewarding experience.
Week of November 16th
What has inspired me the most about this internship was the opportunity to get to meet some of the artists at the Stanley festival in October. I talked to a few of them about their art and artistic journeys. It was interesting to hear their various responses on how art applies in their lives and what it means to them. I remember one artist there mentioning how art is a business and you have to constantly adjust your marketing strategies. He also said, “It’s important to have art, buying it, is just another way to acquire it.” On the other hand, many other artist expressed their thoughts on how important it is to buy or trade art in order to enrich their own lives as well as support local artists. Meeting them in person after already seeing their work before hand, reading their artist statements and hearing what they had to say of their own experiences was really interesting. I felt I knew so much about them, though never meeting them in person before.
Although this hasn’t necessarily changed my artistic ambitions, it has inspired me to never give up on them. I strive to always follow through with all of my art projects and to never stop creating art. I have always wanted to be an artist so all of this was really motivating for me. It’s rewarding to put so much hard work and effort into a project and then to see it turn out as a huge success. Stanley was a project that took lots of hard work in putting it together, yet, in the end turned out to be completely worth it for those three days.
Week of November 9th
The biggest difference I feel between working on personal projects and working in a creative business is the level of importance. I usually work on smaller art projects in my leisure time or during school as part of my various art classes. On the other hand, working in a creative business gives you a sort of responsibility that you have to live up to. While it is important to get things done completely in a shorter manner of time on the job, personal art projects I work on usually have no deadline and may continue on for as long as I want. Working on my personal intern project it is somewhat similar to the art campaign project I am working on. They are both film projects yet, one is mandatory for the company I work for and the other is a project for my grade and to show what I’ve learned from this job experience thus far. Other personal projects I do vary in their unique ways. They are done in my own time on my own schedule. Working in a creative business, however, shows me how I can basically bring my own artistic talent to the work place and incorporate it in a professional way into whatever I’m doing. They are both quite similar but one is professional and the other is personal to me. I’ve learned that in a creative business I really can be creative and have fun. It’s all about what you bring to the table and commit to doing. It’s like putting responsibility to something you may not have put much responsibility to in the past.
Week of November 2nd
For my final project this semester, I am working on documenting a video about the festival Cherry Arts held this past weekend at Stanley. I just began working on it last week. I plan on not only focusing on the event and all the hard work that went into it but also incorporating the artistic side of it as well. My sponsor not only thought it be a good idea to document the festival but also interview the artist about their work. As a side project I am also working on an ad campaign for them on why people buy art. It was cool and interesting to hear their various answers. To combine two projects into one, I would start off by asking questions related to the ad-campaign then ask them things like, what they enjoy most about their art work, how they want people to feel about their art exhibit, and so on to incorporate into my final project. My art project goes hand-in-hand with my passion to create short films and movies. My sponsor is very supportive and although I just recently got started with project I’m sure she will have great feedback for me as I continue along.
I spent the last couple of days at my internship uploading and editing some of the pictures and videos I took. I was able to start with the art campaign by editing all of the artists’ answers. I cut out my voice and lots of unnecessary information as well. I have only uploaded the pictures on to my final project movie but will soon add in the videos and music later.
Week of October 26, 2015
Everyone I work with in the office is a respectable and pleasant person. I often feel at ease to be around or talk to them. I’m glad they are usually free and approachable. Chris and Amy show a lot of humility in helping out with various tasks. Just the other day at the festival I had the not-so-pleasant job of installing lights inside all of the port-a-potty’s. Yet, instead of leaving me alone to the embarrassing job they willingly included themselves in to help. Although he is the boss, Chris also helped out with the tedious job of laminating artist statements and ID cards before the festival. I feel glad to know that they are always willing to show a humble side and not try to seek great importance for themselves. Everyone is also humorous and knows how to have fun. Seeing them at work during the festival was like seeing them under a new office light. They always carry smiles on their faces and strive to maintain a positive attitude all while taking care of other numerous things that have to go on. If I ever have an intern working for me in the future, I will make sure they feel welcome and comfortable. I also want them to know that I will always be there help them. I think it’s important to be able to put yourself on the level of the intern and to understand how they must feel on their new job. Even if I was the boss, I would put myself on that seemingly lower level so they can understand how important every job in an office is, as it contributes to the whole.
Week of October 19, 2015
My main contributions to the work place are helping with the small tasks that help make up the big picture. I am working on several different things for the up-coming festival including finalizing artists’ statements and their pictures, creating ideas for the kids area at the festival, helping laminate badges and hang-ups for each artists booth. I feel I have helped contribute a lot in this regard and try to keep a good outlook on any work that I do. I realize it would be a lot harder on everyone else if I didn’t do my job successfully. So I am proud that I can help out with whatever needs to be done each day so that others in the office can devote more time to what they need to do. I always strive to look at any work I have to do as ‘good work’ and beneficial to the whole process.
Week of October 12, 2015
So far my internship has been building up to the Festival at Stanley. It’s exciting to know I have a part in it and instead of just being an onlooker I will be able to really get the sense of what goes on behind the scenes and all the hard work that goes into it. All my coworkers are nice people, easy to talk to. We are in a small office space building and I usually hear whatever is going on around me. Therefore, I think I should improve on not eavesdropping so much…lol.
To improve my experience I could try asking for harder work to do, yet, at this point I am still helping put together the many different things for the festival so I may have to wait on that. Since it’s easy to just sit back and wait for another task to come to me, I always make sure I ask for something to do so that I can stay busy and make good use of the relatively short time I spend there. I am also coming in earlier on days that I can and also staying later whenever possible.
Week of October 6, 2015
Since there is an upcoming arts festival in line with my work, I am currently responsible for helping out with several aspects of managing it. For one I helped create the games and ideas for the kids area during the festival and created sign-up sheets for volunteers to come and help out as well. So far I feel my main contribution to my work place is to come up with creative ideas as well as complete everything on time for the festival.
Week of September 28, 2015
If I maintain a positive outlook and approach to any situation it is likely that everyone else will do the same as well. I contribute positively to my work as much as I can even when I do have to complete menial tasks or seemingly boring assignments. Everyone in the office has a good attitude and upbeat personality which makes it easy for me to talk to them and ask questions. This in turn helps me to stay on top of my work and make them proud.
Week of Tuesday September 22, 2015
This week I only had to come in to the office one day because everyone left to a conference that was out of town. But I continued to research ideas for creating games for the kids area at Stanley and helping with the organizing artist statements that will be hung up at each artist booth. I was glad I was able to help out with this and all my co-workers and sponsor are very nice.
Week of Tuesday September 15, 2015
The Cherry Creek Arts festival is hosting a 3 day festival in October at Stanley for the first time ever. During the first week of my internship I worked on several different small projects, some which were directly related to the festival. On the first day of my internship, I received basic projects that included making badges on lanyards for kids, and filling their mailing orders. I was also introduced to my co-workers and their office spaces. I got the basics down of using their computers and checking my new email. I will also be helping out with managing the kids area at the festival and creating fun and artistic games for them. To help me generate some ideas for that, I took a trip down to the art warehouse with my intern sponsor. We looked at their inventory and decided what we could use from there and what else we should order for setting up the art games. Overall, it was a successful week that I started off my internship well.