I am incredible grateful for Amanda Blake, Danielle Schulz, and Leah Hanson allowing me to observe their programs, letting me look through archived materials from past lessons, and offering feedback about the materials I put together. Their collective knowledge and expertise paired with their friendly personalities made this internship a really positive experience. It was also really great having Emily Wiskera around, as she held a similar internship role the previous summer and knew the lay of the land. She was invaluable in getting acquainted with people, finding meeting rooms, and retrieving object files.
For people interning at the DMA in the future, I have a few words of advice.
- Make sure to observe programs with as many educators as you can, because all of them have wonderfully different styles of teaching and interacting with varying groups of visitors. I also learned a lot from gallery attendants, as they had observed the objects people seemed most curious about and knew some of the questions visitors had.
- Planning your summer schedule to cover the same days of the week for several months would help you get the most out of your time. Because of other summer plans, I came sporadically for the first part of the summer and then 40+ hours a week for the last half of summer. While I still learned a lot, I wasn't around for a long enough amount of time to get comfortable with a few programs to the point that I felt like I could lead anything. Also, as most of the other interns spent a lot of time together at the beginning of the summer, I felt a bit out of place coming into the game later.
- Grab some comfortable shoes, bring a cardigan, and wear skirts or pants that are long enough that you can comfortably sit on the floor. After the first day I knew that all of my clothing choices would be dictated by my desire to be as involved as possible, and I refused to let my clothing get in the way of learning or experiencing anything. I think floor-length skirts are the art museum educator's best friend.
- Know that all of the staff at the DMA are very happy and grateful that you are there. I could not believe how much energy was put into making sure that I was working on projects that I enjoyed and benefited from, celebrating birthdays and last days of interns, and acknowledging and thanking everyone for the work we were doing. During the first few days the FAST staff spent an extraordinary amount of time orienting the interns, and throughout the internship I was invited to as many programs and meetings as my schedule allowed.
- Interns are treated very well here. While they call it the "intern pit," your work space is most definitely not as horrible as it sounds. You will have your own email account, your own work space, and your own calendar. Instead of being treated as one person in a continuous cycle of interns coming in and out, you will be treated as a valuable staff member.
- When deciding if this is the internship for you, think about logistics too. For example, I live in Denton and it is 80 miles round trip to go to the DMA. Figure out how much time you will spend in traffic, how much money you will spend on gas, and make sure that those are two things that are compatible with your situation. You can always try to carpool, take the train, or work from home some days, but make sure you have a plan! (I carpooled for a while and then house-sat in Carrollton to make my commute shorter, but getting there was still a significant commitment.)
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