Lindsey Howard, who graduated from UNC with a BA in Art History in Spring of '18 was recently selected from a prestigious pool of applicants at the new Curatorial Intern at Mass MoCa in North Adams, MA. Check out Lindsey's thoughts about her experience so far:
Tell us more about your experience so far in the internship and any highlights you might want to share.
I am currently at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art working as the curatorial intern. The institution itself aims to provide artists the space and agency to work in a scale they haven’t had the opportunity to- whether that be because of cost or the art itself is unconventional in size. That being said, our museum is extremely large and ambitious! We are constantly moving and evolving, working on several exhibitions at once under multiple curatorial direction. My position specifically entails the collection and organization of research, and any other assistance the curators need on their various projects. Other intern obligations include leading tours and working museum events. We just had our Freshgrass Festival which the museum hosts; it’s a weekend long music event that attracts 6,000 bluegrass fans every year. Working that event has been a highlight so far- being able to see so many people travel from all over the world specifically for an event you’re assisting with was a gratifying experience. That being said it’s only my third week! So there are definitely many more highlights to come.
Tell us a little bit about how you got connected to this opportunity.
My connection to the museum initially was just through word of mouth or what I had read about online- I love artist Alex Da Corte who had a large survey exhibition at MASS MoCA in 2016. Similarly, when I was doing research into art and physics at UNC, Sol LeWitt was someone who I was highly interested in, MASS MoCA has a quasi-permeant exhibition of his early, mid, and late works. Simple introductions like that really started to make an impression the more I came across and researched the museum. It wasn’t until I was researching specifically for internship positions that I found out about their amazing program.
How did UNC prepare you for the work you are doing now?
UNC prepared me in various different ways for my current position! During my time there, I was able to take advantage of a lot of the opportunities that the art department and UNC Galleries had to offer. Writing skill is imperative to curatorial work so the various outlets in which I was able to refine my writing capabilities, whether through academic guidance from the professors in the art department or gallery programs like the Artist Help Desk, was essential.
Working on the UNC Galleries team was also an amazing opportunity that prepared me for this position. I was able to learn a variety of museum skills from installation, event coordination, and even insight into the marketing and communications side of running an arts space. The faculty was an amazing resource for me, with their help I was able to get advice about museum life and how to navigating within the art world. There are so many resources at UNC as long as you take advantage of them.
