Beginning my thesis journey...

Hello everyone! My name is Felicia Swartzenberg and, like most of you readers, I'm starting out on a journey that ends in a brilliant, well-polished thesis (hopefully with minimal hair pulling and mental breakdowns). It took me a while to realize what I wanted to do with my life. I started out as an English major at my old school and when I transferred in I picked the degree that most aligned with my interests, journalism. However, I found I didn't quite fit in or even like the hard news environment. Then, I happened across Katie Curran, the person who started my museum studies journey. She told me about the program and I contacted Tina about it because it finally seemed like I found something I would enjoy. Thankfully, she approved my double major and I'm the first student at RIT to major in journalism and museum studies.

My background is leading me to work more in the marketing and engagement department of museums. I've spoken with and had a small shadowing experience with a member of the marketing and engagement team at the Memorial Art Gallery downtown and I think that working in programming and public engagement would best suit my interest. I want to generate interest in new audiences and expand programming to include these new audiences that the museum will, hopefully, be able to attract through my work in an ideal world. As far as other experiences, I'm fairly new to the program so that's about it aside from personal experiences.

I am doing an internship creating a permanent memorial exhibit at House of Mercy homeless shelter, but that's not technically within a museum space. To give a brief explanation, I'm creating a "tree of life" style wall sculpture with hand painted and decorated chickadees "standing" on the branches. Each of these birds represents a resident of the homeless shelter who has passed away. 

   

This is just a small sample of all the birds that were decorated (and yes, that's me decorating on the right!).

Congratulations if you made it to the end of my post! I know it's long, but it's fun to talk about yourself and your interests! If you're interested in anything I've done and want to learn more don't hesitate to reach out. My inbox is always open! :)