Tag: arts

Post #2: A Sapphire Summer!

Hello All! Although my internship is fully virtual this summer, it is and continues to be great! To look on the bright side, I am safe with my family and have a good amount of time to spend with them, which might not have been possible if the internship was in person. Additionally, I have gained many technical skills to complete my internship tasks at a satisfactory level, including communication through multiple social media platforms. Overall, I feel happy to continue to do this internship virtually.

The World of Work, like the rest of the Brandeis faculty and staff, has been very supportive this summer, especially with its virtual aspect. Both advisors and mentors have made me feel comfortable sharing my thoughts and feelings during my internship, from dropping in a friendly check-in email to virtual conversations through Zoom! It is good to know that I have a team of wonderful people who I can reach out to whenever I need a helping hand.

Like I said before, I have gained many skills while working for the Sapphire organization, and continue to strengthen them every day. For example, I am on the verge of mastering Adobe Software named InDesign, which is primarily used for illustration and advertisement purposes, along with the creation of long documents. Knowledge on how to use this software is crucial while I hold an active position in the organization, seeing as they will be using this software to create our publications such as our literary magazines and artbooks. I am very excited to start putting together our upcoming art book, “Black And…” which will highlight creations made by black and brown artists and writers. This artbook will be hosting a variety of art, including poems, prose, visual art, etc.

Another wonderful aspect of this internship is its flexibility. We usually meet once or twice a week virtually and discuss various information that consists of tasks for the creation of the artbook and keeping our social media platforms up-to-date while also engaging with our followers. Most of the time, I have 2-3 tasks assigned to me each week to complete, which to me is great because it is a large amount of time and I also really enjoy doing what I have been assigned.

With school starting back up in August, I just hope I can still carve out time and dedicate myself to the work that the Sapphire organization is doing to uplift black and brown voices through the creative arts. This is a thought that weighs heavy on my mind, but I have no doubt that I and the Sapphire team can figure something out. On the bright side, school is starting back up! As much as I dread the exams and essays, I miss my Brandeis campus and cannot wait to be back there in the fall.

 

Creative Internship at the Griffin Museum of Photography – Steven M. Bunson ’82 Internship Fund in the Arts (WOW Program)

This summer, I am a Marketing Intern at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA. In this position, I am part of a team responsible for creating engagement strategies as well as audiovisual and graphic content to promote the museum’s programs and exhibitions on various social media platforms. As a multimedia geek with a profound interest for photography and the visual arts, my goal is to generate genuine interest in artists, cultural organizations, and their work.

Front view of the museum with one on our public art exhibitions in collaboration with Photoville Fence

After working as a Multimedia Support Specialist and Production Assistant at Brandeis’ media lab (Sound and Image Media Studios), I am employing many of the creative and technical skills I acquired at Brandeis in a professional creative environment. Working as an all-in-one video editor, sound producer, and motion graphics designer, I am having the opportunity to merge my multimedia and marketing skills to help bridge the digital gap between cultural enterprises, their work, and the general public. I believe that by taking advantage of the possibilities digital media has to offer, museums can reach new audiences and expand the reach of their cultural impact by presenting their work through a different lens.   

Two of the projects that I most enjoyed working on this summer were two artist statements that I transformed into promotional videos for the ongoing exhibitions at the main gallery: At the Edge of the Fens by Jacqueline Walters and Now is Always by Vaune Trachtman. For this task, I had to get in touch with the artists, have them record a voiceover of their artist statements, and come up with a creative interpretation of their exhibitions using a limited set of photographs. Most of my work is done with different Adobe Creative Cloud products that I practiced at SIMS in our many staff trainings, team and personal projects. I create graphics in Photoshop and Illustrator, which then I animate on After Effects and assemble together on Adobe PremierePro. I have also been exploring Adobe Dimension to add a 3D element to my design practice, as well as Adobe Audition and LogicPro to compose my own music as an alternative to using royalty-free sounds off the internet. I like my multimedia work to have a character of its own. I hope that by delivering eye-catching multimedia work while remaining honest to the artists and organization voice and missions, I can help strengthen bonds with their target consumers and expand the scope of their audiences. 

Throughout the course of this internship I want to keep improving my multimedia and design skills. Thanks to the Steven M. Bunson ’82 Internship Fund in the Arts, I have had the opportunity to get a glimpse of what it is like to work in a fast-paced creative environment where deadlines are tight and content needs to be created on a daily basis. Although most of my work focuses on advertising and multimedia production, I would like to learn more about administrative tasks, such as programming and exhibitions.  I would also like to dive deeper into the museum’s archives and get a glimpse of what working as an art curator feels like. I am grateful to be doing an internship that allows me to be creative and get inspired by other artists on a daily basis. It is something that inspires me not only to be more knowledgeable of the current trends in the world of photography and the visual arts, but it also inspires me to pursue something that I am very passionate about. The Griffin Museum summer internship program has been incredibly beneficial as it is allowing me to prepare for my upcoming curatorial internship at the Rose Art Museum next academic year – something I wouldn’t have been able to do without the help of World of Work and the Hiatt Career Center.