On the plane 3/9
I’m on the plane to NYC. I’m so excited to finally be on the way to the city that never sleeps!
I lost count of how long I’ve wanting to go to NYC, though I’m coming for a much different and more important reason that I had imagined. It is sort of difficult to explain to others exactly what Coco and I are doing. Honestly, we are going for a lot of different yet somehow related reasons- and we’re not sure what all to expect.
But, I definitely know what I expect to get out of this experience. First off, I want to get a realistic picture of what working in gallery administration in NYC might be like. I’m eager to talk to people who have gone through the process and who have advice to give. Questions like, what steps does it take to work in gallery administration? What qualities or skills are essential to have? What does a day in the life look like? What specific tasks are involved in maintaining and operating a gallery? What are the different types of galleries in NYC? And what relationship does each have with the artists? And, after having the questions answered, is this a path that I would really like to pursue, or is it not right for me?
I hope to find answers to these questions through exploring the city and meeting with working professionals. An artist, a non-profit organizer, an administrative assistant in a gallery, and art graduate students are among the short list of people we plan to meet with to help us gain clarity.
In addition to these meetings, we also have plans to visit the graduate programs at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and Columbia University. I am interested in checking out the Art Business and Contemporary Art master’s certificate programs at Sotheby’s, and Coco is more interested in the graduate painting program at Columbia. I really don’t know a lot about these programs, so I’m both excited and curious to learn more. Most of all, I hope to figure out whether or not it would be an investment worth making soon after I graduate.
My understanding of these various questions will ultimately make the last few semesters of my undergraduate college career much more clear in terms of what I need to accomplish and what sorts of classes I still need to take. I want to prepare myself for what the future implies.
These are just the planned meetings Coco and I have in place, but I hope and expect to confront unplanned events, meet unexpected people, and discover new possibilities and opportunities so that when I return to ATX I will have a revived and thirsting passion for my future career in the arts.
Cheers,
Adrienne