first week

my first week as the school and teacher programs intern at the mca chicago was awesome. things i love about it:

1. my supervisors are competent young women who are incredibly approachable and very open and excited to allowing me to pursue my own research and interests within the internship whenever possible;
2. the education department's offices are right next to curatorial's;
3. my first major project consists of retooling and extending the life of a wiki that came out of the summer teacher institute, and is going to be a lot of fun.

one of the great things about this internship is that it is going to give me a chance to do a lot of observing, reflecting upon, and talking about tours and other education programs, something that will certainly aid me in thinking about new strategies that can be used to privilege the visitor voice in museums. a few thesis-related thoughts that sprang up this week:

• one of my supervisors, talking about the koi pond on the first floor of the mca, noted that many of the artist guides use it during school tours to set the tone for the visit, and introduce the mca as a space that challenges preconceived notions of what a museum is. what a great way to knock down the authoritative voice a few pegs from the get-go: find a feature of the institution that defies the normal characteristics of the museum as temple, and use it to bring up the paradigm.
• the mca does a lot of work to maintain and strengthen relationships with a small group of teachers and schools. how can this be balanced with attracting new audiences to the museum, and what should be breakdown be between close-knit relationships with a select few and shallower relationships with a much larger public?