Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery: Week One & Two

Hi everyone it's Jean! I am so happy to share what I've been doing during my first two weeks working at the National Portrait Gallery. Wishing you all the best at your internships across the country!

When the doors of the gallery opened the morning of my first day, I made a mental note to thank my mom for convincing me to bring a sweater. I looked around and saw unknown faces on the walls, all capturing different energies and telling different stories. Coming into this internship with a background in Art History, I was pleasantly surprised to learn about the many layers of analysis that portraiture had to offer. From the sitter, to the pose, to the facial expression, to the camera or paintbrush perspective, all helped to create a visual representation of our American culture. The most striking portrait I remember while familiarizing myself with the gallery on my first day was Malcolm X’s portrait hanging in the Struggle for Justice exhibit. It was provocative and decisive and it even took personal strength just to look him in the face.

The program I help coordinate called Portraits, Alive! allows the public to see a transformed art collection and reimagine the portraits with live performances for an interactive experience. All participants of the program are inter-city teens who have an opportunity to strengthen their reading and writing skills, understand museums and its programs, and learn about the diverse figures that make up our American story. My assignments in the last two weeks have included the coordination of writing assignments for the teens, organization of writing deadlines, research assistance in the MLK local library, translation of documents for marketing(an effort to make our program bilingual!), MANY icebreakers, and one-on-one mentoring with the teens in the monologue-writing process.

I believe that my position as an intern has helped me consider how programming works at every stage. For example, there has to be a curriculum created, proposed, and budgeted. There also needs to be an overarching theme such as civic engagement and social responsibility, in my program’s case, in order to guide the program and make sure that the final result facilitates information to individuals in an engaging way. Speaking specifically to Portraits, Alive!, the program enhances the opportunity for museum visitors to see history from a personal perspective and celebrate others differences.My supervisor, the lovely Ms. Blair Kirkbaumer, has been an invaluable mentor teaching me about the specifics behind program-planning for the Smithsonian and the how these programs have helped spread knowledge to others.  After each day was done I took notes about the successful and less-successful programs that NPG has held in the past and Ms. Blair helped me navigate the archive files to do so.(A special thanks to Ms. Blair for answering all my questions! She's the best.) These documents allowed Ms. Blair to learn what worked and what did not and led her to a successful career as the Teen Programs Director at the NPG where she engages youth and touches their lives.

From memorandums to collaborations with the marketing department, a professional photographer,costume designer, and a playwright that works in London, every member on our team thus far has been key to the success of this educational endeavor. I think that all members of our YAP 2016 cohort actively see the fruits that have come from the successful programming during Washington Week.(A special thanks to Emily and the Smithsonian Latino Center for all of their hard work!) Every opportunity was hand-crafted with purpose. I realize how fortunate we are to have had this YAP opportunity and therefore I am striving to make the most out of these five weeks.

Best wishes from Washington,
Jean Nunez

P.S Attached are some visuals so you have an idea of what my day at NPG looks like.

"Good morning teens! Are you ready for the best day ever?! Get excited!!"





Pictured above is the Education Center and home base for Portraits Alive!

To your right is Kogod Courtyard and it has quickly become my favorite lunch spot! Ms. Blair told me that for some events she plans during the year the courtyard looks like this. Amazing, right?)