Emily Manges

I consider my experience as the Winter Intern the culminating point in my Skidmore education. The internship tied together all my varied academic pursuits, such as business and art history, and allowed me to explore my interests in a professional setting. I have had several internships in the art world, and I can say that it is extremely rare to find this high level of an institution enabling students to have real responsibility and produce meaningful work. I now work in a contemporary art gallery and find I use the skills I developed while interning at the Tang everyday.

In the fall semester of my senior year I collaborated with Michael Janairo, the Assistant Director for Engagement. I examined museum membership strategy at the Tang and across similar college museums. This project grew out of my interest in non-profit strategy as well as previous internships in museum development. At the end of the semester, I produced a report that analyzed the Tang’s current membership program as well as potential areas of growth.

During the spring semester of my senior year, I worked with Ian Berry, the Dayton Director, in a collaborative project for the Saratoga Springs Arts Commission. Ian and I examined dozens of Public Art Policies across the United States and then I drafted Saratoga Springs’s first Public Art Policy. I was able to help present the policy at numerous Arts Commission meetings and witness the legislative process first-hand. Ian brought this project to me because of my future interest in attending law school- I hope to study intellectual property and practice art law.

Finally, during the summer after graduation, I curated the exhibition, We Will Control the Vertical. We Will Control the Vertical examined identity in different diasporas and how contemporary artists who are living and working in the diaspora negotiate identity. I worked closely with Curatorial Assistant Sarah Miller, and Assistant Director for Curatorial Affairs Rachel Seligman, in the development of the exhibition. From the inception of the idea, to the selection of the artworks, to the design of the exhibition, this was one of the most exciting and rewarding projects I have ever worked on. It taught me how to approach problems, start and finish large-scale projects, and gave me confidence in my ideas.