Weekly Blog Question #1 – What did you learn from your first week at your internship? Did anything surprise you? Who did you meet and what do they do? Did you engage in any code switching?
Something I learnt at my internship with the Museum of Contemporary Arts this week was…..
It surprised me how few people are at the MCA behind the scenes. For such a large art institute, I would have expected more people to be maintaining all of the happenings. Teams of about 4 people took charge over each department, from the management of money and keeping the museum up and running to selecting and shipping of artwork.
I met my sponsors, Alex and Molly, as well as a large group of people from a majority of the departments in charge. I met people ranging from the Australian in the development department to the other interns stationed at the MCA doing programs such as Failure Lab.
I did partake in code switching whilst I met the fellow Australian whos name I can’t fully remember at the workplace. I was able to talk how I was brought up initially rather than how I typically mask my speech to be understood by Americans.
Weekly Blog Question #2 – What was the best thing that happened this week at your
internship? How did it make you feel? What else makes you excited
about your internship?
The best thing that happened to me at my internship this week was the opportunity to attend the grand opening of a new exhibit. As I am an intern at the Museum of Contemporary Arts, I was allowed to attend the opening night event for the new exhibit that is displayed throughout the entire museum. This was a really cool experience for me because I was able to see everything from the past exhibition get taken down and all the new artwork brought in. I got the opportunity to see everything come together and then see it all finalized before it was officially open to the public.
This was a wonderful opportunity and it made me feel as though I gained a lot of respect for the effort that goes into setting up all the exhibitions. It changed my perspective seeing how it all comes together to the finalized piece.
My internship offers me a multitude of connections and opportunities that I can be a part of and that set me up for the future. It is a great internship and I am glad to be a part of something bigger through it.
Weekly Blog Question #3 – How do your actions affect your workplace? Do you contribute positively? How do your co-workers actions affect your internship? Which co-workers are you connecting with?
This first question isn’t necessarily an easy question to answer. My actions do not negatively effect my workplace, but at the moment they aren’t to much impact at all in my opinion. What I do at my internship does have a positive impact in a slightly insignificant way, regarding filing and assisting with folding and small office work.
My co-workers actions affect my internship in a positive way. They are kind and positive towards me and it allows me to enjoy being at the Museum. When they aren’t off in meetings, they are very friendly around the office. It feels more homely than a typical work environment due to their attitudes and actions.
I am connecting with a couple people at the Museum of Contemporary Arts. The main people I am connecting with are my sponsor and the Australian who works there who’s name escapes me at this time. We have been connecting as they are both very easy to talk to people and they often open up a conversation of sorts. I would like to connect with more people, but a lot of workers there are often busy and I don’t fully get the opportunity. Now that the opening of the new exhibit has come and gone though, I feel as though it may slow down just enough.
Intern Inspired Project Blog:
Since having met my sponsor, Alex, at the Denver Museum of Contemporary Arts, we have been talking about my internship inspired project. The Museum of Contemporary Arts has been partnering with the BBTA program for a while now, and Alex has worked with many teen interns who also have to complete projects through their internships. Because of her knowledge of what projects interns typically complete or are required to complete, she was able to give me ideas as to what I could potentially do as my project.
We have talked about my interests, especially regarding the arts, Alex and I were able to talk more on a personal level as she was able to incorporate my interests into differing parts of the internship. Seeing as though a lot of my art interest is photography she has pointed out past exhibits, such as the Ryan McGinley exhibit, giving me some ideas as to how that would be displayed in such a large scale exhibit.
For my complete intern project, I wanted to team up with a friend who is an intern at the Denver Fashion Truck and set up a fashion show as an event at the MCA. Whilst it is something that is not guaranteed, I have been granted permission to make a proposal for the idea and potentially have it considered as an event at part of their Teen Show in January of 2018. As part of this fashion show, it would attract a different crowd to the MCA itself and bring attention to the Denver Fashion Truck as they would be a partner and exhibitor.
Along with a fashion show, a larger scale idea continuing off of the show would be doing fashion based photo shoots using the MCA as a backdrop and a muse. These photos would be utilized as well as fashion inspired artworks and pieces from other artists to create a mock curated exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Arts.
Weekly Blog Question #4 – What are you responsible for at your workplace? What do you think is your main contribution to your work site? What do your day to day duties look like?
My daily duties and responsibilities at the MCA are typically to file or organize papers of sorts. Typically I write up or transfer information between documents electronically as to organize the workflow for others and aid in reaching certain files. My main contribution at my work site would be simple tasks that a typical intern would complete. As mundane as it may seem, they are definitely important tasks and provide value to others within the work space making it my main contribution to the MCA. Simple tasks are as much a part of a bigger situation as large projects, it is all more behind the scenes stuff.
Whilst I do partake in filing and organizing, I do complete other tasks at the MCA such as ones relating to my semester long project or providing different views and opinions from a new perspective. On somedays the best way to sugar coat some of the things I do is to simple call it intern work. When there are large or important things happening, I am not fully able to partake due to time constrictions or skill requirements. As there are often things to do, a lot of the actual work is still on a professional level that I am not able to assist with.
Weekly Blog Question #5 – How do you feel like your internship is going so far? What are the highlights and the “lowlights”? Do you feel like you are making connections with your co-workers? What can you do to improve your experience?
So far I feel like my internship is going very well. I am enjoying being able to come into the MCA and be a part of the team here. Although I might not do anything big in the grand scheme of things, I enjoy the solace that comes from just being here and being able to connect with everyone and grasp an understanding of what is going on.
One of the biggest highlights by far of this internship is the final project. Although still in the planning stages, the idea that has been set up to be able to organize a whole fashion show at the MCA is a huge deal. It definitely is a large project, but being able to say that it is something that you are behind and something that you have helped put together is a rather special feeling. I cant wait to see the final result and how not only the show turns out, but the other aspects of my final project as well. So far there haven’t been any real “lowlights” other than the occasional day where there isn’t much to do. On days like those, I tend to complete smaller tasks like filing or organizing or simple doing personal stuff that tends to be art related. A sketchbook on hand during a slow day never harmed anyone.
I feel like I am making connections with my coworkers. They are all lovely and welcoming people that work here and always greet me with a smile and a hello. There are coworkers here that I am able to connect with easier, mainly because I am able to communicate with them more or have more things in common, but that is something that is typical within almost every workspace.
In terms of improving my experience, the only things that I could think of would be to get more involved and incorporate myself more into whats happening. The only problem with doing that is that the people that I am here with are professionals who know what they are doing and I would rather not hinder what they are doing or take time away from their often busy schedules.
Weekly Blog Question #6: – How do people at work Treat you? How does it make you feel? If you have an intern one day will you treat them the same? What have you learnt so far from your co-workers and sponsors?
The people at my internship treat me with respect and kindness. It is well appreciated at the workplace and makes me feel welcome in the environment. Alex and Molly, as well as everyone else at work, treat me well and as if though I am a part of the whole team. Due to this, I feel very good about coming in to the Museum of Contemporary Arts to partake in my internship and get everything done. With the satisfaction of being at the museum itself, taking a part behind the scenes is a really pleasing experience.
If I have an intern one day, I do hope to be as kind, respectful, and nice as everyone around me at the MCA is. Being treated in such a good way is a great feeling and it makes it enjoyable to be a part of the team. If someone were to work as an intern for me, I would definitely treat them the same way to make them not only enjoy themselves, but enjoy being around and assisting me with whatever is needed of them.
So far from working with everyone at the MCA that it is good to treat everyone nicely and working diligently brings self reward and the pleasure and satisfaction of completion. As an intern surrounded by a slew of busy workers running and maintaining a lot of differing aspects of the museum, I am able to learn piece by piece a little more about the how such a large exhibition is run and maintained as well as operated on a daily basis.
Weekly Blog Question #7 What is the difference between working on personal art projects and working in a creative business? What have you learnt about working in a creative business?
When working with personal art projects, there is a lot of freedom and you can pretty much generate your own complete ideas. However, whilst working with a creative business there are a lot more restrictions and limiting factors to what you can do, how it can be done, and when it can be done. To do my own personal projects, I am able to just simply get out all the supplies I need, have no plan of any sort, just go with the flow and do whatever I want. I can also take as long or short as I want to complete whatever it is I set out to do and am not constricted to any timeline (well, unless its something I am doing for a school project, but thats a whole other topic). Within a creative business, there needs to be some form of a plan, an outline, and due dates. That is especially true for me here at the MCA. Working on my final semester project so far has meant that I have to do a lot of planning and coordinating and making sure that everything works according to not only a set timeframe but also to limiting constraints on what it is physically. This being said, I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to so something so Extreme like a fashion show through this whole process.
One thing in particular that I have learnt about working in a creative business is that there is a LOT of social interaction and communication. To some degree, this was completely expected, however I am still surprised at how much is involved. Especially for a large project like the one I am setting up with the fashion show, There is required communication between myself and my sponsors for the most part because they are the main factor in saying what is able to be utilized in terms of space and resources. There is also current communication with Izi and Desiree at the Denver Fashion Truck to make sure it can happen, including scheduling and organizing clothes. Coming soon will be expected talk of gathering the models and setting up the stage and runway and getting announcers as well as making the space something that can be utilized outside of the time zone we have for the fashion show. There is a lot of communication to be done between everyone.
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 the 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? Are there any challenges you are experiencing with planning or doing your project?
So far, my internship project has not had much leeway due to the scale of the project and the time allotted for it. Since the fashion show that Izi and I will be putting on will be set to a specific day and time outside of this internship semester, there will be more work put into it later on in the internship. The progress that is done as of now towards my project is that both Izi and I have talked with our sponsors and set up a generalized idea towards the planning and carrying out of our project. Alex, my sponsor, and I have discussed it and she was more enthusiastic than anything about incorporating something fun and inviting towards a program at the MCA.
In relation to expanding or improving the project, there has not yet been much discussion due to the fact that we are not set to meet with everyone involved until next week. General expansion ideals have been to incorporate the theme of the current show at the MCA towards the clothing or stage setup of the fashion show.
The project we are setting up is quite unique, so by that regard it does fulfill what I would like to create for myself, however it is also different than I had initially been planning. I do really like what we are setting up here and I am really proud and thankful to be able to do something so big and unique.
Since the majority of the project wont be set up or planned until a little later on in the internship, my sponsor and I have not discussed it strongly enough to have developed more of a relationship towards a more engaging environment. We have however definitely become more comfortable and set an environment where I have more to accomplish and she has an understanding of what I like to do or what I am good at.
The only challenges with planning and going through with my internship project is that it does involve multiple people and requires a large amount of planning and communicating where it is not always the easiest or most convenient thing to accomplish. However, despite the difficulties, I believe that it will all come together nicely and be a strong, fun project.
Weekly Blog Question #9: What have you seen or experienced in your internship that has inspired you the most on your own journey? Has this experience changed your artistic ambitions? how?
So far in my internship the most inspiring thing I have seen has been the gallery work around the museum itself. As simple as it may seem, It is always inspiring to not only see the artwork produced by others, but understand a bit more of the process behind the work and get the artists personal understanding. Especially being able to see art that is a style I like to portray displayed in such a large scale environment, It inspires me to continue with the work that I do and pursue the passion for the arts that ultimately drives me.
This experience both has and hasn’t changed my artistic ambitions. It has changed them in a way that I now have a different perspective to work off of and also that I have gained a greater understanding of the effort behind the scenes, however that hasn’t altered my overall outlook in the general arts. I may not have a complete grasp on the question asked towards my ambitions, but throughout this entire internship I have still been motivated and acclimated towards the arts in the same ways. It hasn’t changed my style or what I want to someday achieve, but it has definitely broadened my horizons and created a new view and outlook on what is possible.
This internship within the arts has had an overall impact on me in more of a way that I now know a lot more than I did coming into the program, especially in regards to the inner workings of a museum. Had This internship not had been available to me, I would know nothing about what happens and what has to happen behind the scenes for anything art based to make its way towards “the big time”.
Weekly 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 tor contrasted with your expectations? What is the most important learning you did during your internship?
This experience in this internship for me has been tremendous. Not only have I had the incredible opportunity to work with amazing people, but also the shot to be in such a cool location such as the MCA for as long as I have. Having been able to learn so much about the behind the scenes operations at a large gallery, I am now a lot more knowledgeable than I was before going into this internship.
Within working at the MCA, there has been some nitty-gritty work such as rolling up a hundred and eighty two tote bags for inventory sake, and reorganizing the same area multiple times over, but even then its been an enjoyable experience. With the most mundane of tasks I have still been able to enjoy my time within this internship, and it all builds up to the experience anyway. So to sum up that mess of words you just read, My internship has perfectly matched the expectations I had going into it. There is some regular office intern tasks, but there is also the big projects that I get to creatively take part in.
The most important learning that I did within my internship would be that every little task is relevant and has its importance. As I mentioned earlier that I had reorganized the same area on more than one occasion, all of that was to build on efficiency. With the introduction of filing cabinets that roll, materials are able to get places faster, or people can decipher the labels and find what they are in need of quickly. Simple tasks like this may seem a bit mundane, and truthfully they are, but in the long run, its the little things that allow the big things to happen.