With fall break, I struggled a little bit with what to write about this week. My mind has been scattered in a million different directions lately, so that’s what I’ll write about.
Saturday the 20th is my 21st birthday, which has me wondering where the time has gone. It seems like just yesterday that I was graduating high school, but the reality is that I only have 6 required courses left for my degree. It’s all very exciting but very scary at the same time. I started this program believing that I want to be a curator at a museum and that I would love to move to Philadelphia. But now here I am, 3.5 semesters later and wanting to see change.
For my degree, I am required to complete 3 internships that are relative to arts administration. I’m currently having a wonderful time in my first internship with the curator of The Maslow Collection, but I’ve already begun looking ahead to my next internship. There are many wonderful opportunities in the area, The Everhart Museum, The AFA Gallery, Artworks, etc. However, none of them really feel right for me at this given time.
A few weeks ago, a co-worker of mine approached me and asked if I would be interested in doing my next internship with Old Mill Village, a small historic organization in New Milford, Pa. It’s not your usual idea as an arts administration internship, but the more I listened, I knew this would be right for me. Old Mill Village has a small gallery of various artifacts, so they offered me a position that would put me in charge of maintaining the artifacts, researching the artifacts to create informational labels, and making sure everything is in ship shape to allow Old Mill Village’s museum to thrive for years to come.
I feel as though this is something that spoke to me a lot more than any other internship because I feel as though it’s making a difference. New Milford is a very small town with minimal attractions, so to be able to enhance not only an attraction but an educational attraction feels very purposeful.
This has me thinking a lot about my future overall, I grew up in these small towns and I’d love to see them thrive with art and education. Maybe a big city museum isn’t going to be my place in this world, maybe I’m more fit to be at home in NEPA trying to evolve the area. Who knows, but with only a few semesters left, it’s unbelievable to think that I’m so close to my future. Marywood has brought me such a long way from when I switched my major to arts administration 3 semesters ago, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the wonderful staff in the art department.
Side-note: The featured image was taken by myself this past weekend from the top of Camel Back Mountain, it was a gorgeous experience and I totally recommend anyone to go up there and check out the views. It’s a wonderful place to sketch, paint, or even to just be with your thoughts.
