Like I said last week, I was busy putting up the 1968 exhibit in the back hallway of the Center for American History. It was stressful, but it’s finally done! Go and take a look! I am very happy with the way it turned out. This week has been much more relaxing; just tying up lose ends and cleaning up the work space. I’ve been fixing captions, entering things into the artifacts database, and wrapping and putting away old exhibits.
October 2008
Monthly Archive
October 16, 2008
October 16, 2008
I’ve been doing more in the control room lately as Bryan wants me to get more comfortable with how things run in there. It’s a lot to remember though. There’s a board that you have to manage and keep levels steady by keeping your hands on the appropriate pots, and it also controls the mics and the status of everything that goes on the air. Lots of buttons and levers that I’m still not used to. And then there’s the computer system, which plays the music, commercials, and CDs. I answered phones for Deep Down Thursday and produced some new promotional ads. I also got to do a voice-over last week. There was a promo for Creedence Clearwater Revival that talked about a show they did that was to air last weekend. I came in at the end and recorded a little tag with my voice and produced the promo. It’s much harder to do voice work than I ever thought. I never really sound upbeat enough and have to make a conscious effort to sound that way. I also sound like a little kid, and my ps and ss are very accentuated for some reason. So I had to do some redos and quite a bit of editing. Guests came in to talk about the Mediterranean festival that was last weekend and also a Music March for Heroes benefit. Kinky Friedman and Turk Pipkin also came in to promote the show they are doing at the Paramount. Kinky arrived with cigar in hand, of course. He’s quite a character.
October 16, 2008
First of all, let me apologize for not blogging last week, I am sure the hundreds of devoted fans are highly disappointed in me. Unfortunately (yet fortunately in some sense) I have some interesting news to share as my plans for the rest of the semester have taken quite a turn. First let me describe to you all that I was planning to do, just to recap in case I honestly forgot to mention some before. Before the release of the next issue in November, I was going to be managing much of the advertising, that is, contacting all advertisers, collecting funds, organizing spreadsheets, possibly doing some face-to-face interaction with possible advertisers, and collecting graphics to be passed along to the designer of the magazine. These among other things related to advertising were going to constitute the bulk of my duties before the release. However, I received word last week that the staff has decided to push the release of the next issue back to February of next year as content simply was not ready. This is an understandable decision seeing as three of our very few staff members have been or will be out of town this fall. The plan now has changed to include a revamping, if you will, of the website alongside an exhibition sometime in December promoting the next magazine, building overall support and promoting the website. While I admit to being completely shocked by this at first I feel as if I will be able to make the best of the situation at hand and work hard to find ways to best use the time we all now have.
Now, my supervisor is currently out of town so I unfortunately cannot report on any definitive work ahead however, I believe I have an idea of what work I might be doing sometime in the near future. I do not know how grant research will be used but once I have more of an idea of our timeline for the next few months I would like to explore that even more than I have already and truly start actively applying for thing. Also, I believe it has become my duty to check the magazine’s e-mail account on a regular basis as well as to add to our spreadsheet of potential advertisers for the next issue. Other than that I imagine I will be helping with the planning process of the upcoming exhibition at the very least. I will most definitely keep everyone posted once I am notified of the steps soon to be taken and work hard to find things to work on that I feel leave me with solid and valuable knowledge to potentially use in future endeavors.
NOTE: I figured that the 400+ words in this blog make up for the last two weeks, if that is for some reason unacceptable I will gladly blog again.
October 16, 2008
All this week and last Friday I have been working on putting in and updating the Advisory Board Committee in a program called File Manager. At first the program was a little intimidating, and confusing, but then I got the hang of it. I had to go through the entire committee in the book where they are all listed with all their information, and then go through them on File Manager. I had to add the new people, take out the old, and then update all their information. It took some time, but I am glad I now know how to work the program because the Development Office uses it often when looking for addresses, and phone numbers, and those kinds of things. I am also starting on another project. B Scene is coming up, while the New York exhibit is going on. The Development Office created a fun little quiz for people to take at B Scene for them to see the work of art that “best fits their personality”. The quiz consists of multiple choice questions about life in New York, and once they are all answered, the person can see what points they have most, and then what art piece that correlates to. It is going to be a fun way for people to get more connected to the exhibit.
October 16, 2008
Hullo there! It’s me, Stacy, writing some more about the happenings at Mexic-Arte. Things are getting quite hectic around here at the museum because it’s three weeks before Dia de los Muertos and we still have a lot to plan and talk about before the actual event. This week I’ve been emailing back and forth, pretty much daily, to volunteers, procession contacts and community altar applicants trying to coordinate the times that they are coming in for their volunteer orientation (general volunteers), how many participants are in their group (procession), or what days they are going to work on their altars (community altar exhibits). Even though there is a volunteer orientation tomorrow, I am still getting applications for volunteers, but there is another orientation on October 22, so no worries there. Hopefully the rest can show up next week…
We had another staff meeting on Monday, in which I was assigned another project to work on. The director of Mexic-Arte was inquiring about a possible intern profile page and wanted to know if anyone would like to do that, so I volunteered. I just have to figure out how I want the intern profiles displayed so that the current and future interns can effectively share their experiences they have at the museum and leave behind their own footprint in some way. This project will probably become more of a focus after the Dia de los Muertos project though.
In other news…the altar that we are building for the Undergraduate Art History Association is almost finished!!! I am very pleased as to how it came out and here are a few photos to document the progress of it as of right now:
This is a description of our altar:
¡Que viva el arte!: An ofrenda for the endless cycle of art and art history.
Instead of dedicating an altar to a specific person, we decided to create one in honor of the theme of regeneration in the context of art and art history as well as in recycled materials. This theme is significant to us because not only are we part of an organization focused on the arts, but also because we feel art has a solid purpose in society as a way for people to express their thoughts and feelings. Essential to the concept of our ofrenda is the idea of reinterpreting standard forms as well as exploring the aesthetic of “junk art”. Both physically and conceptually, the center of our ofrenda pays homage to the history of art and its many forms. Pay close attention to the image of the Mona Lisa as it has been reconstructed in a fantastical manner, reinforcing the idea of regeneration.
So yeah, I am so glad that the altar is about done because I have been non-stop working on that this past week. It was definitely a fun experience to be involved in an installation like this. The contrasts between the different altars is also exciting to see up close when walking around the gallery space. Well, I hate to leave you guys, but I have to go study for an art history test as well as find more organizations to participate in the Dia de los Muertos procession. See you when I see you!
October 16, 2008
We were supposed to meet with the school tomorrow, but we decided to meet with them on Friday instead, because we wanted to give them more time to get back to us about what exactly they wanted us to change on the design. One idea that Beth, Jacqueline and I had at our last meeting, was to make the columns in the hallway into “totems.” They would have pictures of the life cycles of different plants and creatures on them. I made one of a flower growing from a seed to a sprout to full bloom. (A link to the image is at the end of this post.) Another one is a frog growing from a tadpole to an adult.
Previously, I was asked about the budget in the comments section. Although the main job of balancing our budget is Beth’s responsibility, I did sit down with her to help create it. She started by making a list of everything we would need, and then we figured out which stores we would need to get those things at, and which things we could get donated or recycled. We then came up with estimates for what each item would cost, and compiled a budget based on how much it would cost without any donations (about $800) and with donated objects, (about $600).
Hopefully on Friday we’ll get an actual set-in-stone start date.
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll264/mariaesthetics/Mural-seedcopy.jpg
October 16, 2008
My latest task at the Long Center has been writing and editing grant applications. I’m pretty excited because this seems like a rather significant task. The Long Center currently needs tens of thousands of dollars to operate…per day! It’s incredible to think a performing arts space is so costly, but when you consider a staff of 40, plus up-keep on the facility– it must be hard to manage. I found out just how much of a task it is to raise money just for operating costs. There are foundation websites dedicated to searching for grants- my job was to see if any of them would consider giving to the Long Center. One foundation I discovered generally gave up to $15,000 an organization for arts/culture in Texas. I was able to write the application and request funding on behalf of the Long Center. When I had finished, Andrew told me I did a great job and showed me where I could improve my “grant-writing language.” I think this project will be beneficial to my future, with experience in grant writing for a world-class performing arts organization, I should become a little more marketable!
In other news, Andrew took me to a belated “intern welcome lunch” at Threadgills and we talked about job prospects when I graduate, possibly at the Long Center, and if not, at one of the arts organizations in town. He assured me that 100% of his interns have secured jobs within the field after their internship. That makes me feel better, I thought Fine Arts majors really had to struggle to find work 
October 16, 2008
This week has been very intensive. There is a conference this weekend called “1968, a Global Perspective” http://www.utexas.edu/cola/college_event…). This means that our exhibit: 1968 and the SDS has to go up before Friday. This means I will be working extra hard this week, perhaps even extra hours, putting it up. The good side is: I got to design the layout for one wall of the exhibit. And, I’ll get a day off next week if I work extra hours. The work will be tedious: hanging and velcroing things to the wall and then leveling them, but I’ll be glad that something I put my creative and physical hand in will be up on the wall. Check it out sometime! (after friday)
October 16, 2008
Today, the Texas School for the Deaf got back to us with the edits they wanted done to the design we presented to them. They requested that we revisit the progression of the students in the mural, and make it more obvious that they are growing from elementary school to graduation. They wanted us to show the kids engaging in activities that were specific to their age groups. When Beth and I meet on Wednesday, we’ll discuss what specific activities those could be. The school is also finding some specific hand signs for us to use in the mural instead of finger spellings. They think that hand signs will be better understood by the students. We’ll meet with them next Wednesday to show them the updated design.
Previously, I had planned to work at the school from Tuesday-Thursday from 2-6. However, after discussing it with Beth, I changed my times so that I could be there at the same times as her and Jacqueline, which are Fridays from 2- 6, and all day Saturdays. We decided that we could accomplish more if we were all there at the same time, and the work would go faster because we would be able to work together and solve problems as they arose. The school will give Beth a key, and that will give us access on the weekends.
People keep asking me about when the mural will start, and when they can volunteer. It’s hard to tell them “a few more weeks,” because I really want to get started. But things take time when you’re trying to work around the schedules of several different organizations.
October 16, 2008
Hallo everyone! Events at Mexic-Arte are running along very smoothly and the volunteer base is growing slowly! Another organization has confirmed to be in the procession this year: Ballet Folklorico Mexickayotl. They will be performing a dance at the end of the procession, but we still have to iron out all the details about that, such as length of the performance and stuff.
Oh also, we had an opening at Mexic-Arte this Friday for the “Everything’s Going to Be Okay: Young Latino Artists 13″ exhibit! I went for a little while to look at the entire show, since the week before I had only seen bits and pieces of it as they were installing it. It was incredibly cool, and the different types of media that the young Latino artists used was amazing (watercolor photos, a disco ball, videos etc.). There was even a performance piece! But I didn’t get there in time to see that. 
Anyway…we had a staff meeting yesterday, which I always enjoy because then I get to see how the museum really works and what goes on behind the scenes when they are gearing up for an event. Tomorrow there is a 5 am meeting and interview with the owner of La Mexicana bakery, which Mexic-Arte is getting to have some food at Dia de los Muertos. Us interns are invited, but I don’t know if I can get up that early! We shall see though…Also, a press conference for the anniversary of Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Dia de los Muertos is set for Wednesday at 2 pm, but I am pretty sure that is just for the staff.
One last thing before you all can gaze at the colorful Dia decorations! We’ve started planning out the layout for the Dia de los Muertos event with a huge map of the area near the museum with measurements we took of the sidewalk the other day. I have also started posting the procession layout on the wall so that everyone will know where all the chihuahuas, Aztec dancers and ballet folklorico performers will be in the line up. Now, for the next two days I will focus all of my energy on helping build Mexic-Arte’s community altar as well as the one for the Undergraduate Art History Association. With everything else going on this week, let’s hope that I don’t fall asleep on the #10 while going to work! Now on to ze photos!
