Creative Alliance is a non-profit arts organization with a location in Baltimore, Maryland. They host exhibitions, resident artist programs, workshops, live performances and community events. I found out about this internship opportunity through a MICA Career Fair. There I talked to the someone from Creative Alliance. After our short conversation, I sent my resume and cover letter to apply to the curatorial internship position. I had a second meeting with them and we decided to move forward with the internship.
My supervisor oversaw the operations of exhibitions and its related programming, including managing the resident artist program. The resident artist program is a housing/residency program. Artists apply to the program, pay subsidized fees for housing and studios in the Creative Alliance building and receive professional support and exhibition opportunities in return.
As a resident artist coordinator, I interviewed resident artists about their needs and used this information to create original programming that responds to their needs. I was in charge of proposing, scheduling and budgeting these programs. I was also tasked with organizing all the physical documents relating to past resident artists into a physical archive, providing exhibition installation support and compiling artists’ resource lists, among other office tasks.
I am the most proud of my professional interviewing skills when having conversations with resident artists, all of them I have never met before. These conversations were fruitful and provided a lot of insights into what the resident artists want out of their time at the residency.
My biggest takeaway is that clear, concise communication is crucial in professional working environments. I also learn how to tangibly respond to resident artist’s needs through proposed tangible programming such as studio visits, critique sessions, and professional development workshops. This internship provides me with strong organizational and interpersonal skills that I can apply to my career as an independent curator or working with non-profit organizations in the future.
