Hello!

My name is Grace Robins-Somerville, and I’m an intern here at Art Spark Texas. I started about a week ago and wanted to introduce myself and tell you all a little about the work I’ll be doing in the next few weeks.

It’s my first time in Austin, and my first time in Texas. I’m from Brooklyn, New York, and I go to Bennington College in Vermont, where I study literature, political science, and public action. The school has an off-campus winter internship term every year called the Field Work Term, which gives students the opportunity to spend 6-7 weeks at an organization of their choice. It’s a great way to take our education beyond the classroom and get work experience in our field of study. The chance to escape the worst of the Vermont winter is also a plus!

I’m a senior, and for my final Field Work Term, I’ve chosen to come to Austin and work with Art Spark, and I’ve been loving it so far. Four times a week, I help Art Spark educator Jerry Slayton teach video production classes. Right now we’re having students write short stories, either on their own or in small groups, and illustrate their scenes on storyboards. Soon, they’ll be recording audio narration and using iMovie to animate the drawings they’ve created. There’s been a strong focus on both written and visual story structure.

In addition to these stories, the video production interns in these classes will help us make promotional material for Art Spark Texas, specifically working with the organization’s new name and new logo. The Tuesday class has already started preparing to do staff interviews and testimonials for an upcoming video project, so be on the lookout for it on our YouTube page in the coming weeks.

I’m also looking forward to another upcoming project, in which I’ll be consulting with Generation Citizen, a civics-oriented youth program and Art Spark’s down-the-hall neighbor, on a media outreach project, which will culminate in the launch of an Art Spark Texas podcast! I’m so grateful for the opportunity to get involved in breaking ground on this project. There are so many exciting things happening at Art Spark this winter, so be on the lookout for all our upcoming content.

–Grace Robins-Somerville