Off the Beaten Path I: Arts Education and The Heritage Village at Chestnut Square

    I knew I didn’t want a traditional museum internship. Heritage and place connect people to themselves and each other, and heritage sites draw in scores of guests that do not regularly visit art museums (Wilkening and Chung, 2009). What if by giving the general public some basic art knowledge at an accessible point of entry, like the Heritage Village at Chestnut Square in McKinney, Texas, that audience- already eager to learn about human culture- could feel more at ease engaging with art in other environments? My internship allows me to do just that. The site incorporates architecture, human stories, and artifacts from McKinney starting during the 1850’s and on up to the late 1920’s. There are living history reenactments, craft workshops, site tours, including ghost tours, murder mystery dinners, “a virtual programming series of educational tea parties, called Quaran-Teas,” a weekend farmers market to connect visitors with where their food comes from, and more to educate and engage locals and tourists.

    There's something new to do every day: different guests with each tour, different artifacts to unpack, and new ideas from an eclectic and energetic host of volunteeres and staff. This is perfect for the aspiring heritage site director: heritage professionals often need a broad set of skill sets. Site directors do everything from serving as a connection to the board, coordinating volunteers, overseeing collections management, working with architects and engineers to maintain historical buildings, and occasionally plunging the toilet. My goals for the internship were to build experience in collections management, grant writing, engaging with the public and with other professionals, improve my performative storytelling for conducting tours and programming, and learning about working with boards and non-profits. Chestnut Square has met and exceeded all of those aspirations. Writing and implementing interdisciplinary curriculum that looks at the lives of Texans of all stripes in the Victorian era through the lens of heritage craft for educational programming is my primary focus (here, if you’re interested: https://www.chestnutsquare.org/heritage-workshops/ ).

    One of the best parts: I get to play dress up in about 7 layers of Victorian era attire every day that I’m teaching, which has generated historical empathy in ways I never would have expected. That’s been a boon to collecting museum teaching observations as part of building a reflective pedagogy. It doesn’t hurt that I don’t have to wear shoes most of the time, either- sometimes, historical authenticity can be pretty dang comfortable. Not having to wear shoes outweighs having to wear a corset, by a long shot. Besides, nobody can tell if your dress comes down to the floor! The hoop skirt or corded petticoat I wear keeps me from stepping on the hem. I also work with the textile and artifact curation teams to accession, catalog, research, and preserve artifacts, including clothing and photographs from the time frame above donated by the public.

    Sometimes the experience gets a little overwhelming. The internship entails similar responsibilities to a full-fledged, Master’s degree holding museum educator. I coordinate volunteers for the programming I teach, complete grant applications to get artists and storytellers connected with the site and our mission (Celebrate Community. Preserve History. Inspire the Future.), write itemized expense lists for every block of instruction, and more while learning other site procedures and juggling two other classes. The site director and everybody else has been nothing but pleasant and welcoming which makes it easier to push through. So far, one of the most important things I have learned is to set boundaries and say no to keep from getting burned out. It’s absolutely worth it. The flexibility of the site has allowed me to introduce the arts to people who may not think about the beauty around them or their own ways to creatively express what they have to say. It’s rigorous and rewarding all at once. I can’t wait to share about our Halloween programming in a few weeks: I’m doing a storytelling vignette, a broom making demo, and a workshop called “the sixth sense” as part of a sensory-themed heritage crafts series.    

                                                                                                               Covid-Era Schoolmarm