Heritage Internship

 Final Reflections 

Chestnut Square, I just don't know how to quit you.

What started out as an unpaid internship- which I secured through cold calling- has evolved into a compensated position, a small budget to create unique programming, over 215 on-site hours of dveloping and implementing curriculum, learning valuble insights into museum administration and curation, and building the professional skills to take on a leadership role with a heritage site in the near future. The staff and volunteers donated their time and energy to provide mentorship, modeling, and support. 

I finally got to conduct a pilot run of curriculum I have been excited about for years: hands on, heritage oriented art skills that build historical empathy, autonomy, fine and gross motor skills, and a nuanced understanding of the material and visual cultures that inform the collective memories of a place. It was an absolute delight to facilitate middle schoolers in slow looking, botanical illustration, blacksmithing, and sewing skills workshops in which they repaired and reimagined their own clothing. It was challenging to work with short workshop sessions and a low budget, but those challenges proved so rewarding that I have decided to stay on in the spring to refine the curriculum I built over the fall.

The aspects of the internship that I expected to be the least interesting were some of the most enjoyable and satisfying to learn. The curation staff invited me to a webinar for Past Perfect, a history and heritage musem software system that can manage both archives and member/fiancial information at once. It has actually been exciting to take on additional responsibility around the office: reporting during staff meetings, answering the phone, and assisting with textile and object curation.

I can't quit now. The museum has been a fantastic springboard from which to grow.   

Halloween Heritage

Autumn Adventures with the Heritage Village at Chestnut Square

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday of the year. This year, it was an especially stressful one due to internship obligations, but in the most delightful sort of way. The holiday,  the first secular one celebrated by new arrivals to the American colonies, is second only to Christmas at the heritage site. Guests come to learn about heritage holiday traditions, enjoy food vendors and live music, and satiate their need for a slightly spooky thrill with storytelling and haunting tours. I created ten minute scripts and printed handouts for volunteer docents to share details about Victorian mourning customs with the public. The experience made me grateful for a summer computer arts course that I grudgingly enrolled in a few years ago. Adobe Publisher has been a useful skillset to have over the past few months, as well as the typography knowledge to create attractive and engaging materials. The most challenging aspect of the internship during this time was the overwhelming sense of too much to do- a flurry of workplace activity in a new environment, school deadlines, and the pressure of pleasing my supervisors, the board, and most importantly, the public. 

I was unable to observe how the docents conducted themselves with my shiny new scripts during the festivities, as I was a fixture of the oldest home on the campus. The primary Halloween event consists of mostly outdoor stations with staff and volunteers. In previous years, the site has used games such as bobbing for apples to encourage guest participation, but this year hands on activities were extremely curtailed. Instead, guests watched skits and craft demonstrations, including my broommaking demo pictured above. My hands blistered and bled by the end of a night of broom tying, but it was worth it. I was warm in my mourning garb, too, and the microphone speaker I wore meant I didn't have to wear out my voice projecting over noisy crowds. The highlight of the eveing was a delightful young boy who wanted to learn everything he could think of about Halloween. I spent a good 20 minutes discussing his questions with him and the crowd, prompting interesting observations and further questions from other guests and groups. 

I will not be around for the winter holiday celebrations, but I feel the experience has put me in a better place to throw myself wholeheartedly into additional events down the road. 

Filming programs and wrapping up the semester

 Wow, I cannot believe it's December and semester 1 of my Fellowship is almost over.

Although the first half of the semester seemed to be a slow start (for all of us), the end of the year is making up for it! So much to do! I have helped co-write a few different programs and we are finally starting to film them. Yesterday I filmed my first one :) Oh man, just when I was beginning to forget what my "little kid teaching voice" sounded like. My co-worker, Monica, helped me with all the technical stuff and we went out into the galleries and filmed. The hardest part was standing still and maintaining strict eye contact with the camera, which wasn't too bad after a few takes. I also realized how much I miss being in the galleries... I need to wander around more between meetings, seriously. 

Getting to film is really making it all seem real, I wish there were live kids there but we are doing what we can and I am satisfied with that :) Next week I am filming a conversation between me and one of the community artists at the Carter; that one will be a lot less scripted and more casual (which I'm not sure if that will be easier or harder!) but luckily our deadlines are rather lax this semester so I can give it a few go's. 

I hope everyone is having a good end of the year! I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity even if it is not as enriching as past years. I have a feeling next semester will be even better!