Women and Their Work is a nonprofit organization and arts space in Austin, TX. The space was founded in 1978 with the purpose of uplifting and supporting female artists in Texas. Women and Their Work provides education programming, has events, and helps women artists have solo shows. I was interested in Women and Their Work because it feels like such a unique gallery space and has a great legacy in Austin. Women and Their Work had a summer internship program listed that seemed really interesting to me and I thought it would teach me skills I wanted to learn, such as gallery installation, day-to-day, and what it’s like to run a nonprofit. I applied, was interviewed and then accepted for the Gallery Assistant intern position.
My consistent responsibility was being the first point of contact for people visiting the gallery. I would answer any questions about the gallery, talk to guests, and survey the demographics of visitors of the gallery. My other responsibilities would vary. I assisted with creating gallery guides, promotional material, gallery install and uninstall, research, spreadsheets, creating contact sheets, formatting documents and submissions, editing artists’ CVs, and creating transcripts to go along with the audio to provide more ways of access. I also worked on events such as gallery openings, and local arts events in Austin. I learned a lot during my summer at Women and Their Work. Prior to this experience, I didn’t know what the day-to-day of a nonprofit organization looked like. I was able to work on so many different projects and try on different hats because the environment was very collaborative and inviting.
My favorite experience I had was installing a solo show. It was really incredible getting to spend time with the artist and assist with bringing her vision for the space to life. I was able to assist with a mural she did on the walls of the gallery and it felt really special to be a part of the exhibit in that way. Speaking with her and other artists was really inspiring to me, as a painter who wants to be a working, exhibiting artist. This internship helped me see different paths in the arts I didn’t know were available to me and made me realize how much I value an arts community, especially the community I found at Women and Their Work.
