Oh yeah, The Internship

I'm safely into internship zone, and what an interesting zone 'tis!

I am the Assistant Docent and Intern Program Manager for the A Certain Portrait Gallery*. This does not imply that I am in the museum, though. Sadly -- yet not untypical of many SmAthsonians* -- the actual administrative offices are located in the Victor Building, about a block from NPG. I get over to the museum for my lunch breaks, special events, and after work (museum open till 7 pm!!!). I knew this would be the situation prior to arriving, but I have to say that my particular position is not terribly dependent with being up-to-date on every event in the museum, which is not exactly what I expected. I guess I pictured museum life to be so ovelry infused with glorious art, fascinating research and exciting public programming that you it would be completely inescapable. But it's actually a business! Where things must get done so that visitors can enjoy all that glorious art!!

So, I'm fine with contributing to the behind-the-scenes network of an art world (shout out to my homeboy Beeeeeeeeeeeeeecker, boyz!).

And really, I have a very considerate supervisor. She hands me great articles on museum management, accompanies me to symposiums on museum education, and is all about supplementing my daily tasks with additional projects that will give me new skills. Moreover, I am only now beginning to exploit the power of being Intern Manager -- it occurred to me that a field trip to the American Association of Museums would be cool, so I emailed them and ... well, they emailed back with a very positive response! Hopefully I can set that up in July -- omg! Meanwhile, I guess I'll make do with the SmAthsonian* Intern networking fair, the brown bag lunch with the Exhibitions director, our tour of the PG painting and sculpture storage facility, and Thursday night curator-led talks about pieces in the collection. Oh, and spying on the Youth and Family coordinator's amazing program, which began today... and keeping tabs on PG's grasp of social networking, of course. And one of these days I'll grab a show at the IMAX.

Yey for A Certain PG*!!! :)

*Clever retroactive editing in an attempt to foil Big Brother; see July 1st post.