INTERN'S POINT OF VIEW: MAGGIE HALM
Working for Art House, Inc. over the course of 9 weeks has been a pleasure and a learning experience. It’s opened my eyes more to what working in a non profit arts organization in the Greater Cleveland area really entails, as well as shown me the many different avenues I can go down as an artist/teacher. Art House affords so many people in Cleveland the opportunity to teach the community various art skills, as well as gives the community the chance to learn these things that wouldn’t otherwise be available.
I’ve never worked for an institution full time before. It has been an interesting experience. I see the same people 5 days a week, 7 hours a day. Work on the same tasks every day, with some variation here and there. You find yourself becoming attached to where you sit and work, begin to have a routine of when you eat, when you have your turn with the only fork in Art House, and so on. I’ve grown close to my coworkers and more passionate about our mission to make art accessible to the community through instruction, encouragement, and facilities.
Being able to work on two different, consistent, projects throughout the summer has helped me gain insight on what I’m more interested in working with. At the beginning of the summer I thought I might like to work in the archives of some institution after being exposed to what that’s like through an internship I had in January in New Orleans, Louisiana. Now that I’m working more frequently, and in the same environment, I’m coming to realize that this may not be the area of study I want to continue my career path down. However, working on every aspect of this short promotional documentary has further proved to me that this is something I enjoy and want to continue doing.
Working at Art House has even made me consider trying to become a teaching artist. So much so, that I’ve begun to teach techniques on my own time to children and families in my neighborhood. Being a part of this organization has made me so much more hopeful for my future, I realized there’s still so much for me to learn, and many different paths for me to take!
Maggie Halm
Arts Intern
Art House, Inc. Summer Intern
