Hometown: Clinton Twp
Major and class standing: Studio Art, Year 5
Social Media: rachael_grain
Where you interned: Lansing Art Gallery & Education Center, Lansing, MI

What was your internship title and role/responsibilities?
I was an exhibitions intern for Lansing Art Gallery & Education Center and I helped my coworkers who work for the exhibitions coordinator complete daily tasks such as inventory, setting up the gallery, promotion, and filing paperwork.

How did you obtain your internship? What resources did you utilize to secure your internship?
I talked about possibilities with a few of my professors, and they all recommended this gallery especially if I wanted to work with a nonprofit organization.

What did your daily routine include?
Adding new pieces into the inventory by creating tags and adding them online, refreshing what is displayed in the retail gallery every few weeks, helping prepare promotions for social media and to post on newsletters, and handling paperwork (I mostly just filed them and helped where needed).

Your favorite experience from the internship?
Being at the ribbon cutting ceremony for ArtPath. Working with people from the gallery and meeting the artists chosen to display their work across Lansing was an amazing experience.

What skills did you learn and/or build upon during your internship?
Confidence in my study/future career decisions, communication, and knowledge of the business side of art.

What did you learn about the industry or your career path as a result of the internship? What are your future plans?
An art career can be sustainable and if you are with the right people, everyone builds each other up. I plan to get my masters in fine art after undergrad and work my way to becoming an art professor.

What advice do you have for other students seeking out internship opportunities?
Talk with your professors and make sure the organizations you work for share the same values you do.