Ariela Algaze - National Portrait Gallery, Weeks 3 and 4

I'm sorry for not having posted last week! To make up for it, I'll tell you about both weeks in one go.

Going to museums might just be my favorite thing in the world. That's why the third week of my internship was just about the best week I could possibly ask for. In sum: each day in my internship at a museum, I was sent to another museum. And then, after work each day, I visited yet a third museum. Heaven.

Basically, it was Museum Week for Portraits Alive, the teen education program I am helping out with. Each morning, I had the opportunity to meet different museum professionals at the National Portrait Gallery, including a curator, a historian, a lighting designer, an accessibility coordinator, and even the director of the NPG. Being able to talk all of these museum professionals, to ask them about their career paths, and to see what drives them and what piques their intellectual curiosities forced me to reflect on my own potential career in a museum. I realized that my interests would probably fall more along the path of curation and art historical research, but in planning an exhibition, I now realize the importance of universal design to make art engaging and accessible to all.

In the afternoons, I helped lead the teens to various museums in DC, including some that I had seen during YAP Washington Week. My favorite by far was the National Museum of African American History and Culture. It is an absolute triumph of a museum. The design of the museum itself tells the story of the struggles and accomplishments of African Americans in the US, and I felt like I was travelling through time and space, completely immersed in the history of slavery, reconstruction, and the civil rights movement.

As for the last week, I have been busy writing a monologue of my own to present on tours of the NPG next week. I'll be portraying Christopher Reeve, an incredible actor (of Superman fame) who became a voice for the disabled after a fall rendered him a quadriplegic. As a budding disabled rights activist, conducting research on Christopher Reeve gave me context on the disability rights movement and the hard-fought battles we've won. I also was asked to fact check and edit the teen's monologues.

Forgive me for not having any pictures in my post. Unfortunately, since I've been working with the minors in Portraits Alive, I don't feel comfortable sharing photos of them without their consent.