Museums and Culture

More than being a blog about theatre, music, art, museums, and miscellaneous cultural endeavors, Marina Nebro: Arts and Culture is a blog about a college student, making the most of her education and the opportunities given to her.  At the end of last semester, I posted about what I had accomplished in a mere 16 weeks – from academics to extracurriculars.  If you can believe it, I’ve accomplished a whole lot more since then, and I would love to share all my experiences with you!

I must have mentioned before that my favorite museum of all time is the Brooklyn Museum, right?  Yesterday’s visit definitely lived up to all that I imagine every time I step through its doors.  Museums nowadays have the struggle to engage audiences more than ever.  In an age of technology and instant gratification, it’s difficult to grab the attention of visitors, especially younger ones!  The Brooklyn Museum, in the two exhibits I visited, did a superb job of combining art and text on the wall with video, audio, and tactile activities, to ensure that museum visitors were well engaged.  In the El Anatsui exhibition space (three large rooms), iPads with 30 second videos were strategically placed on benches.  Curators and art experts spoke about a specific element of Anatsui’s art, and then asked the museum visitor a question.  When the video ended, the iPad would take you to an interactive page of comments, where you can add to the conversation!  There was even a station where visitors can make their own “wall hangings” with scrap paper and twist-ties.  You might think this activity sounds juvenile, but many of the adult visitors enjoyed the arts and crafts!  In the Sargent watercolor exhibition, videos were displayed on the walls, depicting different watercolor techniques he may have used in his paintings.  There was also a section of the room dedicated to explaining the science behind art analysis – infrared, carbon detection, x-rays, and more!

Just the other day, my friend invited me to her a cappella performance at a Queens College open mic located in the amphitheatre.  I’ve walked through that deserted space a million times, always hoping that I would one day be able to go to a performance there!  I had been told, though, that due to constant airplane noise above, the school – mainly the drama and music departments – neglected the space.  So, what was my response to my friend when she asked for my presence?  Hell yeah!

Tuesday, May 7 @ 4:45 PM – I am pretty confident that all will go well at my 6:30 PM event.

Tuesday, May 7 @ 5:45 PM – I start to get worried about my event.

Tuesday, May 7 @ 6:30 PM – Uh oh… what’s going to happen?

Break down.

As my frequent readers know, though I am a freshman here at Queens College, I have become extremely active on campus – especially in Hillel, the Jewish organization for students.  I am also the intern for Koach on Campus, a Conservative Jewish program for college students.  As an intern, I am held responsible to create monthly events that foster Jewish experiences.  As a perfectionist and an anxiety-prone individual, I tend to get nervous when planning and executing said events or programs.  Often times I only end up hosting about five students, and sometimes my goals aren’t even reached.  It really is a learning process!