During my short but sweet time with Arts Every Day this summer, I was able to learn a lot of new skills that didn’t just relate to art but new skills that I can use in my everyday work. I grew a lot of love and patience for graphic designers because I completed a handful of graphics while being with AED; and graphics are not easy at all! You have to make sure you’re using the correct colors codes and fonts for the audience you’re trying to pull in, while also making it fun and creative by putting your own little spin on it as well. It’s very important to pay attention to small details so that you can keep your audience engaged. Also I learned how to better communicate with my supervisor and other co-workers in my office. I had to learn how to be considerate of other people’s thoughts, preferences, and ideas. The experience was very life-changing, especially working in a room with others who surround themselves with art every day.
While working with my worksite supervisor, Betty Gonzales, who played a big part in my experience, we traveled around to some really cool organizations that schools could visit during the school year. We went to the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company which is a very cool organization that specializes in Shakespeare plays. They also hold a summer camp for rising 2nd graders-9th graders. I learned about how they hold workshops for students after they watched the plays and also give students a chance to talk to the actors in what is called Actor Talkbacks; which is very interactive with students.This is something I wish I had a chance to do!
We worked at the Evergreen Museum which is run by JHU museums. The Evergreen is a very historic museum with some very cool artifacts inside. My task while being there was to take photos for an Arts Integrated Intensive called Brain-Targeted Teaching and document the 2 weeks for Arts Every Day. I made some great connections with some of the teaching artists that participated in the training!
The last and final stop that Betty and I visited was the Maryland Center for History and Culture. We toured their newest exhibit “Passion & Purpose: Voices of Maryland’s Civil Rights Movement” and it was awesome! I especially liked all the colors and sizes of the photos. Most historic exhibitions make you drowsy due to the lack of color, size of photos in the exhibition or have too much text, but in this case, the organization had a great graphic designer that made everything come together. This was a good way to show that you can learn your history without it being boring. This is what Arts Integration is all about- we want the youth to have fun but also be able to take away this knowledge!
This whole experience taught me that your life can change at any moment and new relationships can be constructed in the midst of an amazing opportunity. Throughout my time while working with AED it was really both fun and rigorous. I was able to put my own little spin on some of the graphics while using Canva and also showing Betty something new because she uses Adobe photoshop and illustrator. I will truly miss working with the AED team but this is only the beginning of my career and I hope to complete bigger and better things in the future with all my new skills. It was a total pleasure working with my supervisor Betty, she’s literally the sweetest person you’ll ever meet and I will never forget her and her kind actions. Working with AED really put my career on a great path and benefitted me for my next job opportunity in the future. So I wanna say Thank You Arts Every Day!
