International Museum of Art and Science - Madison Hernandez, Week 1

     Hello, everyone. This past week, I started my internship at the International Museum of Art and Science. My main objective for my time here is to create a series of videos that outline the duties and responsibilities of each employee position so that new hires and interns can generate a better understanding of the museum’s inner workings. For my first week, I focused on scheduling and conducting informal interviews with the staff to get a better understanding of their roles. From there, I will select the points I would like to feature in their respective segment of the video, and conduct filmed interviews throughout the second week. 

    The first two days were spent getting a better layout of the museum and its areas. Throughout the weeks I am here, there are various summer camps in motion taking place in the Ann-Moore Art Studio and the BioZone lab, in which I both observed and assisted with. Despite this being my local museum, there are many new exhibits and areas I had not yet explored. Throughout those two days, I generated questions and established an interview schedule for the staff. 

   My first series of interviews were comprised of the education staff and director, as well as the executive assistant, exhibits technician, and exhibits coordinator. In these informal discussions, I asked them a series of questions to expand on their roles in the museum as a whole, and how they each contribute to the IMAS’ vision of providing accessibility to the arts and sciences. While the education staff all had similar answers, I found myself to be most engaged with the exhibits/curation department, who each had interesting takes on how the pieces they curate align with the IMAS’ values. 

    The next series of interviews wrapped up the education department and introduced me to both the marketing coordinator and the museum curator. For the next three weeks, I will be working alongside the marketing coordinator to film and edit the video. It was also then that I obtained the camera I will be using to record the interviews, as well as any b-roll shots of the museum. By far, however, my favorite interview has been with the curator. His perception of the role of a museum in the community was incredibly thoughtful, and it was exciting to hear about what he had in store for the IMAS’ future. He also took me on a tour of the vault, which houses the museum’s personal collection. 

    The last of the interviews consisted mainly of the marketing and financial departments. Through those, I gained a deeper understanding of the administrative work that goes into making the museum run. After the completion of the informal sector, I began to schedule each staff member for a filmed interview, which would be more formal and precise than the ones I had already conducted. The rest of my time was spent gathering b-roll of the various places mentioned throughout the interviews, as well as selecting photos to use in the opening segment of the video. I am quite excited to see what these next three weeks have in store, and am looking forward to piecing together my assignment.