With the summer quickly drawing to an end, we are sad to say goodbye to our stellar interns Maddi and Marissa, but we are certain that they both have exciting futures ahead! From supporting our upcoming Taste of Venice event, to developing at-home art projects and standards-aligned arts-based lesson plans for classroom teachers, our interns have been busy! Before they get back to school, we asked Maddi and Marissa to reflect on their 10 weeks with the P.S. ARTS team!
Marissa Manabat, Education & Media Intern (via The Getty Foundation’s Multicultural Undergraduate Intern Program)
Over the summer, my main focus was expanding the P.S. ARTS To Go! projects. I started by updating the art projects that were already available on the P.S. ARTS website, and then I began to research artists that were not listed. I focused on artists from California and artists that I remembered learning about in elementary school or that I thought had interesting work that would work well as an at-home art project for kids. I developed and tested art projects that reflected the style and work of each artist. I chose those that were fun and simple but also allowed for individual creativity to turn into P.S. ARTS To Go! projects. In addition to creating art projects for students to do at home, I worked on turning all of the P.S. ARTS To Go! projects into lesson plans that teachers could use in their classrooms. This involved learning and understanding the Visual and Performing Arts Content Standards, Common Core State Standards, and P.S. ARTS’ curriculum scope and sequence for grades K-5.
While the process of translating the at-home projects into useful lesson plans for teachers was definitely time consuming and often confusing, I learned a lot about the curriculum expectations in public schools and how art can easily be connected to that required curriculum.
Adding lesson plans to each art project wasn’t the only major update being made to the To Go! projects though; I also took step-by-step instructional photos and created stop-motion videos for a few of the more challenging projects. Overall, working on the P.S. ARTS To Go! section of the website was the perfect way to capture the education and media aspects of my internship into one main project.
From the weekly Tuesday meetings communing over bagels and conversing about the current projects and tasks at hand, to my individual meetings with my supervisor, Stephanie Kistner, I learned a lot about how a nonprofit operates, the inner workings of arts education, and how to survive working full-time in an office environment. It was exciting for me to go into a Tuesday meeting and hear a staff member talk about the obstacles they were currently facing, and then hear their success with overcoming those obstacles the next week’s staff meeting. While some projects continued for weeks, it seemed like each week things progressed quickly and everyone was so supportive in helping each other deal with time constraints, finding solutions to problems, and even sometimes just reassuring each other that what they are saying really does make sense.
This internship helped put me one step closer to figuring out what kind of future I see for myself. I’m still undecided about what kind of career I see myself having, but it was nice to get a sense of what working for a nonprofit is like, what it takes to become a teaching artist, and if an office job is the kind of environment I can see myself working in. Post-P.S. ARTS, my plan is to head back to Smith College and into my Sophomore year working towards a studio arts and education double major.
With the success of this internship, I believe I will look toward the Getty internship program for another summer internship in the art field next year!
Madeleine Kruener, Program Intern (via Los Angeles County Arts Commission’s Arts Internship Program)
Before joining the P.S. ARTS team in June, I really had no idea what to expect. I knew this was a great opportunity that I was lucky to have, but that was about it. As my internship here is coming to a close, I can genuinely say this summer has been so much more than I could ever expect.
This summer, I split my time between two departments: Programs and Events. With the Programs team, I tackled a multitude of projects with the goal of jump starting next year’s Inside Out Community Arts programs. I had the ongoing job of perfecting our storage unit to maximize its efficiency, which turned out to be strangely satisfying and interesting. I also got to prep site cases for next year, which gave me a really great understanding of all that goes into making our programs happen. I think the most important thing I will take away from my work with the Programs team is the true importance of teamwork.
It seems like such an obvious thing, but I have never witnessed such an impressive example of teamwork as I have with the Education & Programs department here at P.S. ARTS. Our weekly meetings were some of my favorite experiences I had here.
My work with the Events team focused around our upcoming Taste of Venice fundraiser. I was put in charge of the silent auction portion of the event. It wasn’t always easy getting donations, but it was a great learning experience.
I set personal goals for myself with this auction, and I am very proud of the $10K worth of silent auction packages that I was able to secure! In the end, I am very excited for the public to see the silent auction offering, and I hope they will make a meaningful impact on P.S. ARTS.
Of the many things I will miss here at P.S. ARTS, I will miss the staff the most. We have some of the most passionate and enthusiastic people in this office, and it has been an honor and joy to get to know them. My next step will be to return to school and apply everything I have learned to my studies and my work. I have been truly inspired by this internship. P.S. ARTS will always have a special place in my heart.
Thank you, Maddi & Marissa! Come visit us soon!
