Hello everyone!

I have now reached the end of week 6! This week has once again been made up of various responsibilities and activities, and I would like to give you a glance into all of them!

On Tuesday, I dedicated time to preparing our marketing cart for the Columbus Book Festival, which has been a multi-day process. I specifically readied season brochures, folded children’s brochures, and packed materials I have been collecting on my desk neatly into the cart. Some such materials that can be found in the marketing cart include MAC stickers, two kinds of brochures, exhibition postcards, kids coloring sheets, etc. On this day, I also got to do a direct press communication with CityScene. I sent them our responses to the prompts they had emailed, connected to the Performance Review, and I attached a photo. Overall, I really got to focus on Marketing and Outreach this day which has been a nice learning experience. 

On Wednesday, I started my morning off at The Columbus Foundation. We had a session dedicated to Fundraising and Philanthropy, a subject that I have found myself becoming increasingly interested in within Nonprofit work. Our two speakers were Emily Savors Senior Director of Grantmaking at The Columbus Foundation and Ruth Lomax Senior Vice President and Executive Director for City Year Columbus, and they both provided us a wonderful opportunity to not only discuss the positives surrounding fundraising and philanthropy but also the harder things surrounding both. Later on in the day, I got to participate in our second MAC on the Road tour at the Columbus Museum of Art. All participants had the opportunity to take part in a docent led tour of the museum. As someone who has visited this museum on several occasions, I enjoyed being able to learn something new, whether that was connected to a backstory of a piece of art or being challenged to not only consider the art but what it is framed in. I also got to enjoy the company of our participants who themselves are passionate about the arts. In the evening, I and a few other fellows attended a Columbus Clipper game, and I enjoyed the chance to connect with my peers and get to know them more.

On Thursday, I started the day off with a meeting with some MAC staff where we learned how to use an app through which we can make merchandise sales at the upcoming Columbus Books Festival. A little later in the day, we had an all staff meeting where we mainly discussed how the organization would like to pass on convenience fees and tax when it comes to ticket purchases, for example. I ended the day with a gallery/exhibition opening- my first one at the MAC! It was nice to learn about what goes into having a gallery opening from the concessions, to hiring a musician for ambience, to prepping the overall building. It was lovely to get to see people enjoying the beautiful artwork of Linda Hutchinson, whose exhibit titled In Good Company lined the MAC’s hallways, and Said-Oladejo-Lawal, whose exhibit titled My Voice and Dance, lined our main gallery walls. Said-Oladejo-Lawal was in attendance himself, and it was nice to hear how art, for him, gives him freedom to express his thoughts, a type of song and dance on canvas.

Today, Friday, I spent some time both in the morning and the afternoon, going around to various classrooms and getting pictures of the various instructor camps that are going on, for marketing purposes. Some such camps that the MAC offers includes creative writing, sewing and fashion, ceramic hand-building, comic creation, paint/ink, digital art, etc. It was fun to get to experience the atmosphere of each class, interact with the kids and instructors, and get to see a younger generation engaging in the world of art in its various forms. Today, I also had another Nonprofit Chat with our Executive Director and another colleague. Our topic of discussion was The Greater Columbus Arts Council. One other thing we did today, in preparation for the Columbus Books Festival, was to pack up the MAC Shop merchandise to be transported to our booth site. 

Overall, it has been a productive and engaging week, and I look forward to attending the Columbus Book Festival Saturday and Sunday!

Talk to you soon, 

Graci