Hey y’all! I FINALLY have a consistent schedule for this semester.
It all kicked off today when I started my first day at my internship with the Kansas Historical Society. I will be at that internship twice a week all day. Because it was my first day, I got through typical first day things like meeting the team I will be in contact with most, familiarizing myself with the office spaces, setting up my own desk/cubicle (yay!), and attempting to set up my email.
In this first month I am responsible for researching for thorough research and strategies for effective and meaningful social research in the upcoming visitor studies I will be conducting later this semester with my supervisor. This entails combing through the literature on visitor studies in museums, gallery spaces, historic sites, and even at Disney! This particular project is focused on the Kansas Museum of History, which is attached to the Kansas Historical Society office building as a single complex. Prior to my internship I had visited the museum twice. Once as a school trip (can’t remember when exactly) and the second when I had my bat mitzvah party seven or so years ago…
I am truly excited to see the actual progress in the time to come after researching how to research, executing the researching, and analyzing the research results. I have particular goal in mind except to learn more about the planning and administrative decision making that goes into the actualization of a cultural institution.
In the mean time, I survived my first week at the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center! I won’t be surprised in the next week if my immune system decides that encountering hundreds of kid germs is enough for my body to handle, we’ll see. I am working about 15-20 hours a week, so that is definitely manageable with my life right now, allowing me to make a little money while gaining experience working with kiddos.
For my first week, my favorite interaction so far was when I was verbally supporting the painting skills of a little guy whose grandma was sitting outside of the Plexiglass of the painting area. He was so darn excited to play with the paint, and even more so when he discovered how to make purple and orange!
Also! I won a scholarship to attend the Kansas Museums Association’s annual conference for free, including travel expenses! Although it will not be my first museum conference experience, I am more than excited to participate in the roundtables and listen from all speakers. I will also have the opportunity to meet and network with Kansas museum professionals! I have learned that in-person connections are the most meaningful, and that is best done at conferences since there are so many institutions, small and large, that are dispersed everywhere.
Otherwise, nothing else is going on right now. See you next week!
Hannah Schifman 