Interview: The Aftermath
I just finished up with Katia from SITE Santa Fe.
SITE Santa Fe is a nonprofit dedicated to (among other things) putting on quality biennials on par with those of Venice and other international biennials. This year is their most ambitious yet, as they will be commissioning site-specific work to be destroyed at the end of the exhibition. They're getting people from around the world and basically turning them loose to make stuff. An intern will be assigned to each artist to help them, that, of course, is what I'm applying for.
I think the interview went well. I'd prepared intelligent questions in advance, like "How are the pairs chosen?" and "What will our work week be like?" I was able to draw on my amateur theatrical experience to show a strong background in organisation, playing well with others, using power tools, working on deadline and not cracking like an egg...
I even got to tell my "hanging art with a bow and arrow" story and my "cleaning up gold paint and looking like a Bond villain" story. (I'm hoping I look like the good kind of crazy.)
I should hear back in a week to a week and a half, and I've been invited to address any further questions to her in the interim.
...and now for the bad news.
The Biennial Opening Weekend is 20-22 June. (The internship itself begins 29 May.)
I'm scheduled to be Maid of Honour at a wedding that weekend, effectively booking me from Thursday-Sunday/Monday.
In this case, the Opening can be considered more akin to "opening weekend of a theatrical show" than just "Art opening. Cheese cubes abound." Though I'm sure there will be cheese cubes. There will also be press releases and parties and oodles of last minute things for all of the artists, and they'll need all the lackeys they can get. I was specifically asked in the interview if I'd mind doing grunt work that weekend.
So... yeah. If I do get the internship, I'm going to have to tell them that I'll be gone that weekend. Which will likely lead to me not having that internship. And I can't really blame them.
SITE Santa Fe is a nonprofit dedicated to (among other things) putting on quality biennials on par with those of Venice and other international biennials. This year is their most ambitious yet, as they will be commissioning site-specific work to be destroyed at the end of the exhibition. They're getting people from around the world and basically turning them loose to make stuff. An intern will be assigned to each artist to help them, that, of course, is what I'm applying for.
I think the interview went well. I'd prepared intelligent questions in advance, like "How are the pairs chosen?" and "What will our work week be like?" I was able to draw on my amateur theatrical experience to show a strong background in organisation, playing well with others, using power tools, working on deadline and not cracking like an egg...
I even got to tell my "hanging art with a bow and arrow" story and my "cleaning up gold paint and looking like a Bond villain" story. (I'm hoping I look like the good kind of crazy.)
I should hear back in a week to a week and a half, and I've been invited to address any further questions to her in the interim.
...and now for the bad news.
The Biennial Opening Weekend is 20-22 June. (The internship itself begins 29 May.)
I'm scheduled to be Maid of Honour at a wedding that weekend, effectively booking me from Thursday-Sunday/Monday.
In this case, the Opening can be considered more akin to "opening weekend of a theatrical show" than just "Art opening. Cheese cubes abound." Though I'm sure there will be cheese cubes. There will also be press releases and parties and oodles of last minute things for all of the artists, and they'll need all the lackeys they can get. I was specifically asked in the interview if I'd mind doing grunt work that weekend.
So... yeah. If I do get the internship, I'm going to have to tell them that I'll be gone that weekend. Which will likely lead to me not having that internship. And I can't really blame them.