INTERN TESTIMONIALS
- Reorganization of the Kahnawake Photographic Archive at the Cultural Center
- Reuse In the Urban Landscape: An Exploration of Socially-engaged Design
- Communications and Production Assistance
- ARTSIDA9 Fine Arts Charity Auction
- Museum of Jewish Montreal Internship
- Artist Bloc - Immigrant Workers' Centre CDN
- GénieMob: Contributing to Creative Technology Education
- Research on inclusivity initiatives for women and LGBTQ people at Heliosmakerspace
- Gear Coordination for Rock Camp for Girls (RCFG) and Gender Non-conforming Youth
- LA SERRE - Arts vivants
- Cinema Moderne Programming Internship
- Putting Theory into Practice: The Re-installation of Classical Antiquities, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
- Kissing Me Sinister (KMS) Anti-Rape & Pornography Campaign - Les YMCAs du Québec
- Centre Philou musicothérapie Internship
- Musicothérapie Internship
- Rock Camp for Girls (RCFG) and Gender Non-conforming Youth
- Centre Clark Internship
- Artistic Coordination and Programming Internship - Eastern Bloc
Hearing stories behind certain photos at the cultural center, as well as listening to families speak of their family albums has strengthened my connection to the community and has given me a new and improved perspective on the photographic work I am working on personally within the community. This entire experience has shown to me that photography can do so much more.
I feel extraordinarily privileged to have received financial remuneration for a self-directed project at this stage in my career. I don't think any other situation could've allowed me to learn and grow so much in the span of two months. I really felt a sense of respect from my coworkers for my personal skillset and expertise [and] I feel inspired to continue seeking out roles in the nonprofit sector that allow me to engage with social and environmental issues.
The Elspeth McConnell Award gave me value as the resourceful and dynamic worker and artist that I am. I am very proud of the soup kitchen that I coordinated. We truly had a great time and got such beautiful gratification sharing the meal. My skills improved, I was inspired to connect and I was given incredible experience and insight. I am so grateful for the experience and for all the beautiful people I met.
The Elspeth McConnell Award allowed me to learn and grow a lot. I was able to support the work of AIDS Community Care Montreal by assisting with the coordination of events that raised a record amount of over 150,000$ for the organisation! The project taught me non-profit development strategies within the Fine Arts and made me sure that no matter the field I choose, fine arts can play an active role in my career.
Listening and gathering stories from Jewish Montreal families was an exceptional opportunity. To edit them and create an archive of them for their families to go back and listen to is truly incredible. I learned about diligence, tenacity, pain, loss, and immigration. I became a more adept historian and researcher, and I came to understand Jewish Montreal history and contemporary life.
The biggest success in this internship for me was to further acquaint myself with the Centre. We were collectively able to get a consistent weekly and bi-weekly art program running, with workshops for members and newcomers: a tremendous accomplishment that we hope to keep running! The experience of the internship truly enriched my life. It taught me the importance of humility, empathy, flexibility, patience, and co-ownership of creative ideas and creations. This was an amazing opportunity to get involved with the community, and really take time to build meaningful and genuine connections.
I am perhaps most proud of my interactions with children and when I directly helped them to express themselves through creative technologies. On one occasion, after helping a young girl to debug her game program, she jumped up beaming and shouting, "I did it!" This same little girl had said upon my first asking that she "never built things," only "watched her brothers" do so.
My PhD research on inclusivity initiatives for women and LGBTQ people and makerspaces is more grounded in invaluable real life experience and qualitatively informed because of this award. This internship has helped me put my values and ideas into practice, be accountable and become a better community organizer. I am truly grateful for the experience.
My doubts as a female sound engineer were strong due to past experiences working in male dominated environments. I was constantly doubted in my abilities, continuously belittled, and experienced unnecessary sexual harassment. To be in such a supportive environment where my needs were met as an employee as well as a sound engineer was an amazing experience. My abilities were reaffirmed and my confidence grew, as I was trusted with tasks assigned to me immediately, rather than doubted and needlessly surveilled. I am an experienced and capable sound engineer.
Je suis heureuse d’avoir pu développer des discussions sensibles avec les artistes soutenus. Pouvoir entendre et réfléchir avec eux sur les enjeux de la création. Approfondir la question de la réception d’un public avec une oeuvre en chantier. J’ai eu la chance de participer à des rencontres d’équipe et comprendre le fonctionnement d’un organisme en constante évolution.
Cinema Moderne Programming Internship
I realized how passion and determination are the most important keys of success. To work in any sphere of arts and culture in Montreal, necessitates one to be passionate enough to go through many steps, trials and situations. It enlightened me on how people working in culture, must be able to make sacrifices and work hard. I learned that you can never ask too many questions, you just have to choose your moment to ask.
This award allowed me the financial freedom to pursue an internship with the MMFA, make connections with the curators there, and learn first-hand how the conceptualization, development and installation of an exhibition happens in a large museum. This created a whole new world of professional contacts for me, allowed me to grow as a professional, and provided me with invaluable experience in the field, which I will be very proud to put on my CV.
This award was an invaluable opportunity to lay my foundation as an independent art-educator, entrepreneur and artist. It bolstered by professionalism by placing me in a fertile environment where I could test my material with young people and develop working relationships with educated professionals. This project allowed me to move from the helpless position of a young student-artist with no marketable professional experience, into the role of a young professional who has the power, artistic authority and support behind them in order to make their dreams come true.
Je suis également très fière d’avoir outrepassé ce sentiment d’inconfort qui m’habitait lors des premières heures de stage devant des enfants « différents » pour découvrir rapidement que les exigences et les conditions physiques de chacun pouvaient s’avérer une chance de découverte, un défi ou même l’opportunité de nouvelles formes de communications autres que par des mots ! J’ai appris à chercher la bonne clef d’accès pour chacun et contribuer à faire émerger cette étincelle et cette lumière qui habitent chacun de ces êtres.
Je suis extrêmement fière de l'impact que j'ai eu sur la clientèle de mon stage cet été. J'ai reçu une reconnaissance de la part de l'équipe, mais aussi de la part des participants et cela vaut plus que tout. Je peux dire que des liens assez forts ce sont créée avec certains clients.
The Elspeth McConnell Fine Arts Award brought new vision and insight to my future, and showed me that I can handle the responsibility to curate large-scale events, be organized, timely, accountable, trustworthy and capable to organize workshops and compile influential material. I realized that my future is extremely bright and I have great potential to become an educator. I believe that I changed on a very deep level during this internship, that my eyes opened up to see what is possible in my own artistic ventures. I think that for myself, what changed the most was accepting and seeing the fullness of who I truly am as a powerful woman.
The Elspeth McConnell Fine Arts Award provided me with the opportunity to invest in myself. I met new people, and feel I can project myself in the Montreal art community when I finish my studies. It felt good to be given tasks as part of Clark's 30th anniversary celebration that made me responsible for the success of the event. As an artist and student in Fine Art, one of the things I found most interesting was to be able to look over proposals Centre Clark received for their programming, to review them on my own and to slowly start understanding the better and lesser ones based on my prior knowledge and my observational participation to the programming committee roundtables.
I learned strong assets in artistic direction and I accumulated meaningful knowledge of non-profit artistic organization. As an emerging artist, I feel more grateful about the work and mandate of these organization and in particularity Eastern Bloc for their dynamism and support of experimental practices. My desire is now stronger to actively participate in shaping my local and national artistic community.
