March 27, 2013

After making a few copies of post-tests and satisfaction surveys for one of the educators' classes that was coming to a close, Delilah gave me the task of reading over a new grant the education department had applied for. The grant was being given by the Texas Commission on the Arts and, after receiving the grant, one of the requirements we had to fulfill was writing out a thank you letter to our state representatives and congressmen. I'm glad Delilah gave me this project, since I feel that it gave me more of an opportunity to practice my professional writing skills. After reading over the grant proposals, I basically summarized the new programs we were going to set up with the funds and tried to think of at least four different variations of "we thank you for your continued support" to add to the letter. The grant is pretty large and is going to help fund summer education outreach programs focused on developing positive self-esteem through art. 

What this task made me realize is that many skills that you develop over the years really do stay with you. As I was typing up these letters, I thought back to the thank you notes I had written to scholarship providers at Southwestern University. It was always something that I procrastinated on, but in the end, turned out to be one of the most important things I could have done. Sending a quick thank you letter is essential for museums, and I'm sure all other businesses, to stay on a donors good side.


HOURS WORKED: 10am-4pm (6 hrs.)

March 23rd/March 24th:

This is an unusual post since it's an internship experience I had outside of the museum and on the weekend. This past weekend I acted as an educator at the Art @ the Domain festival in Austin. The festival is mostly an outlet for artists to market their items and get their names out to the general public. We were the only museum present and I, along with another educator, spent the day speaking to people about the type of art we focus on at the museum, as well as the various education outreach programs we offer.

The project we had prepared for the public was block printing. The block printing activity was loosely based on screen printing and was supposed to illustrate what we do with our Screen It! program. We had so many people approach our booth to try the activity. I would say that the event was successful and I was happy to speak directly to people who otherwise would have never heard of the museum.

This weekend was definitely me stepping out of my comfort zone. I had zero experience with block printing and although I'm friendly, I've always had trouble getting the right words out when speaking with people. The festival was a lot of fun and made me even more enthusiastic about the work I was doing at Mexic-Arte.


HOURS WORKED: (15 hrs.)
Sat: 12pm-7:30pm (7.5 hrs.)
Sun: 11am-6:30pm (7.5 hrs.)

March 20, 2013

Today I received my internship evaluation from my supervisors and provided my own for them. The evaluation was given by Delilah, the Education Coordinator, since Emily was in meetings all morning. It was refreshing to hear that what I was doing was helping the department so much. Delilah has a very fresh perspective on community outreach and is always very inspirational towards my aspirations. I'll try to scan in an image of my evaluation eventually, but in summary, I received all but one 5 out of 5! I received one 4 which said that I should practice my writing skills. Overall, Delilah said I had a very professional demeanor and that I brought a positive attitude to the museum and to the work that I was accomplishing. 

After expressing my desire to do more hands-on art educator duties, I was offered the opportunity to work the Arts @ the Domain festival the upcoming weekend. To prepare for the weekend, Delilah took me upstairs to the studio and taught me some of the terminology and the process of screen printing. I was excited to finally get my hands dirty and learn a little more about what they do when they're in the classroom. One thought I had today, after being in the studio, was whether I should take some studio classes after graduation.


HOURS WORKED: 10am-6pm (8 hrs.)

March 13, 2013

SPRING BREAK!!! 

March 6, 2013

As soon as I got into the office this morning, I had a stack of new CYD paperwork to get to. I'm starting to become excited to see it, since I now know exactly where everything goes and am able to problem solve myself. Next to this new paperwork, however, were some instructions from Emily to write Thank You notes to people who donated to the education department during Amplify Austin. I spent most of the morning hand-writing about 15 thank you notes which I then stuffed into envelopes, stamped and mailed off to our donors. I must say, I'm getting pretty good at signing Emily's name :) Every week, it is emphasized to me how important donors are. Even in my internship at Williamson Museum - I spend so much time sending correspondence to donors. I'm sure this is a common theme at non-profits everywhere, but it's just making me realize that there really are people out there willing to support these great institutions. It's a very refreshing realization! 


HOURS WORKED: 10am-6pm (8 hrs.)