This summer, five Access Gallery artists took an important next step in their creative careers.

Through Access Gallery’s inaugural Creative Careers Internship, established Access Gallery artists applied and interviewed for five paid, 10-week internships designed to help them explore what it means to build a career in the arts.

The interns weren’t simply making art. They were developing skills as teaching artists, mentors, exhibiting artists and consultants. They planned and led workshops, learned how museums create experiences for visitors, developed their own exhibitions and began identifying the skills they can bring to future employers and community partners.

For Genna, Access Gallery’s Community Arts Coordinator who led the interns throughout the summer, one of the biggest changes was seeing the artists recognize their own abilities.

“The most rewarding part of the experience was watching the artists grow confidence in all the skills and talents they have to share.”

Learning Beyond the Gallery

Each week, the interns spent a day at the Denver Art Museum exploring exhibitions, meeting museum professionals and learning about the many different careers required to operate a major cultural institution.

For Access Gallery artist and Creative Careers intern FuMei Sorteberg, those visits opened up possibilities she hadn’t considered before.

“I didn’t know that the Denver Art Museum had so many departments,” FuMei said. “It gave me inspiration to work on some other stuff.”

She learned how exhibitions are developed, including how museum teams use small-scale models to determine where artwork will be placed. Just as important were the people she met.

“My favorite part was being able to hear what other artists do and what their experiences were and what they enjoy doing at the Denver Art Museum,” FuMei said.

The experience also helped FuMei become more comfortable sharing her own work.

“When I first got introduced to the other interns, I was shy and didn’t know what to expect,” she said. “After meeting them in person, I felt more comfortable. I was able to talk to them with more confidence and show them my work on my website.”

Turning Observation Into Art

The interns paid particular attention to what museum professionals call interpretive elements: tactile, interactive and educational experiences that give visitors additional ways to connect with artwork.

Then they brought those ideas back to Access Gallery.

For their final exhibition, the interns considered not only what they wanted to create, but how visitors could experience their work through touch, play, reflection, storytelling and participation.

For Autistic Tomato, that meant creating an interactive piece inspired by the Creature Creation workshop he taught during the internship.

“I wanted people to make their own creation from the characters you give them,” he said. “It was pretty fun to make those characters and make them unique, their own kind of style.”

Working alongside the other interns became an important part of the experience, too. He enjoyed seeing how other artists approached their work and exchanging ideas and feedback with them throughout the summer.

Ready for What Comes Next

By the end of the 10 weeks, each intern had created a professional portfolio package representing their individual style, experience and skills.

But the most important outcome may be what comes after the internship.

These artists now have experience teaching workshops, speaking about their artwork, creating interactive experiences, providing feedback about accessibility and helping others connect with art.

As Genna put it:

“These artists are ready to be hired to create community education materials, art workshops, advise accessible arts spaces, create interactive artworks and give artist talks.”

Creative Careers was designed to create a bridge between developing as an artist and being recognized and paid as a creative professional.

For five Access Gallery artists this summer, that bridge is already taking shape.