Amal joined us at the end of her BA course at Leeds University for a 2 month paid internship as a member of the Arts Team. She joined us just before the set up week of Many Hands, where she was instrumental in setting up the Zine Library. She also reached out to new organisations across the North to help spread the word about the Gallery and the Mills’ cultural and heritage offering, supported Sonia during Summer School, and created audio descriptions for some of the work featured in the Gallery (amongst millions of other tasks).
We’re entering autumn with an Amal shaped hole in our team, but know that she’ll go on to do amazing things. All the best for the future, Amal. Thank you for everything!
Here’s what she had to say about her time with us:
“Arts Assistant internship completed! It’s been so fun becoming a part of the Sunny Bank crew and learning all about how museums and galleries run. When I first started this internship, I told Anna, the Arts Director, how excited I was to learn more about working in the arts and what appeals to me.
I was able to get to know everyone in the team and they all did a fantastic job making me feel welcomed and included at all times. They were all so comfortable answering the millions of questions I had which helped me learn more about what it takes to run an art gallery and museum. From this, I got to learn and take part in many different areas within the gallery like working in the gallery shop, talking to visitors, helping out with summer school, reaching out to other businesses, etc. Having the flexibility to help around anywhere and everywhere gave me so much confidence to be myself and go for what called out to me.
I learned that I really enjoyed engaging with other people. I found that being in an artistic environment such as the museum and gallery, often encouraged experimentation and exploration for everyone. And so, whether it was at summer school or in the museum & archive, I found so much enjoyment having conversations with people and hearing how a piece of art/history made them think or feel. I never felt like it was wasted time because it always led to a visitor feeling comfortable and welcomed.
In addition to creating a comforting environment, it was also very rewarding for me to learn about inclusivity in the gallery to allow everyone to engage with art in their respective ways. For example, the process of doing audio descriptions for the Many Hands exhibition was informative and engaging for me at every step of the way.
Here is a bit about that experience here:
For the audio descriptions, I was tasked to pick a couple of my favourite pieces in the exhibition to then be described and recorded by me. Initially, I had to look at the pieces and write down a written image description of the photographs, so I had a script for the recording. This part of the process was the longest but perhaps my favourite as I could take a moment to really appreciate the art and the finer details of the photos.
Even as a sighted person, my image descriptions helped me with my recalling of information on the photos and my enjoyment of the details. For example, I loved learning about things included within the photographs that I missed at the beginning such as with Victor Wedderburn’s photos. His photos were taken in Bradford which gave me the opportunity to learn about the African-Caribbean communities in Bradford and the Windrush Generation.
Following this, I then typed up all of my writings, so they were coherent and started recording! It was important that I spoke clearly and slowly making sure that every word could be understood. One aspect of this process that I found difficult was knowing what to include and what was too much. I started feeling overwhelmed by my fear of presenting bias and false assumptions in the descriptions too.
Sonia, the Arts Engagement Coordinator at Sunny Bank, advised me to describe what is happening and what is necessary to know with context provided by the artist’s interpretation. This helped me narrow down what to include, making sure that I included all the key details that were essential to understanding the context in the photos.
Learning about doing audio descriptions and improving accessibility in museums and galleries has given me a lot of insight into how art can reach everyone. Audio descriptions benefit everyone and can positively change one’s experience when consuming art and media!”
Tags
General Arts & Culture