Aly Manduca, Intern, Fung Collaboratives
When I began my internship with Fung Collaboratives, it felt like a dream. I kept thinking to myself, “It can’t be this great.” But it was in fact that great and only got better as I figured out more or less what I was doing. Let’s go back to mid-September. At the beginning of my 3rd year at Stockton College, very recently turned 21, and full of self-doubt, I sat in my 19th Century Art class while my teacher, Professor Ogden, read off some announcements. Ogden mentioned internship opportunities and I was immediately intrigued. What better way to cease my fears of growing up and doing something with myself than actually doing something with myself? I asked to see the e-mail she was reading off of at the end of class and two phrases called out to me, “Must have a love of art,” and “a good sense of humor.”
I did my own research into Fung Collaboratives and their mission statement and knew that I wanted to be a part of this organization. The idea of art with an environmental agenda seemed like something that represented what I hold dear. From there it was simply a matter of going for it. I sent an e-mail to the mysterious Layman Lee, put together a whirlwind resume, and set up a meeting for that Tuesday. No words could describe how nervous I was for this interview. I spent about an hour going through both my closet and my roommates’ trying to find something suitable to wear. I had a bad case of nerves on the ride over and I couldn’t stop asking my friend all those self-conscious questions like, “What if I say something stupid?” or “What if they don’t like me?” or “What if I’m too weird?” She just smiled and said “Don’t worry, you’ll get it.” I arrived at the office, took a deep breath and went right in. Layman sat me down and after few disarming questions told me I pretty much had the internship from the start, she just wanted to get to know me. She was younger than I expected, very genial and easy going, and she really wanted to see me come away from this with something valuable. Beaming with self-satisfaction, I skipped out of the office excited for my new and wonderful internship!
Barely through my second day of actual interning, I had the pleasure of Skyping with the head curator himself, Lance Fung, which surprised me to say the least. What was even more unexpected is that he gave me my own research objective to gather inspiration images for a side project he was working on. “Wow,” I thought, “this is too cool.” It says a lot that not only Layman but Lance as well had so much faith in me from the beginning. The coming months were spent photographing the progress of the art parks, admining for the Fung Collaboratives Facebook and Twitter, attending the sneak peek showing of Artlantic, meeting Kiki Smith and John Roloff as well as other artists involved, and getting to know the lovely people that make Fung Collaboratives and the Atlantic City Alliance such wonderful organizations to be involved with. Of course there have been the obligatory intern tasks of addressing envelopes and filling out spreadsheets, but even those are enjoyable. Simply being a part of the creative process, no matter how basic the task, feels so real and unlike anything I have ever done before. This internship has given me a sense of purpose and fulfillment and has taught me so much about the art world and its many facets. I could never have asked for a better opportunity, and I never thought I’d be so lucky to have such an awesome mentor like Layman, but I’ve loved every minute of the work I’ve done for Fung Collaboratives and look forward to working with them in the future.
