I have been looking forward to my internship at La Caja gallery since I first head of my placement. The gallery is located in the Chueca neighborhood, towards the center of Madrid. La Caja focuses on a variety of different projects, such as the selling of artisanal furniture created by local artists and architectural work. My position here will be based in the art gallery side of the organization. In this position I will be performing a variety of day-to-day tasks such as attention to the public, assuring the safety of the art in the gallery and communicating with clients. Aside from these tasks I will also be helping with other workings of the gallery such as installation of exhibitions and handling of art for shipment. One of the projects that I am excited to start working on is the development of a digital portfolio of previous and current art installations. I think this project will be very beneficial to the gallery because it will make their context accessible to those who are not in the physical space. The development of a digital archive of previous exhibitions will also help in the acquisition of clients and be another platform from which to promote the current artworks on display.

Today was my first day at work, and it was a busy one. Wednesday will be the official opening of a new exhibition, which will be up until September. Because of this, I and a coworker were tasked with removing all the artworks from the walls that belong to the current exhibition. This task required constant teamwork, for the majority of paintings were very large and heavy. The two of us needed each other’s help to be able to pull the works off the walls safely and carry them to the area where we were wrapping them up in bubble wrap. Tomorrow, we will finish wrapping the remaining paintings, and help the works get loaded onto a truck to be shipped back to their artists.

Organization is a skill that comes in very handy in the arts sector. Organization is found in many aspects of the work such as planning gallery events, developing exhibitions and the purchasing/selling of artworks. It is also very important when handling the management of a gallery’s private collection or borrowed works from other organizations. Another key strength necessary to succeed in the arts world is communication and networking. Communication is a vital aspect in the day-to-day operations of exhibition spaces because more often than not several people are working on separate pieces of the same project together. For this, it is important to build not only strong communication skills, but the ability to work in a group with those around you.

I believe though these skills are likely still important to the arts sector in Spain, but may be defined or exhibited in different ways. From what I have observed so far, coworkers communicate among themselves differently here. Communication here is very personal among coworkers and you end up knowing a lot about each other’s personal lives. This is seen as something that ultimately builds trust, which is very important when working as a pair/team. Another element of communication is networking, which I am finding is also extremely important here. The connections made between an art gallery and its artists are fundamental for its success. From what I have noticed, conversations between directors and artists are quite relaxed and welcoming. Furthermore, there is a noticeable level of respect, but the interactions themselves do not seem as ‘strictly business’ and rigid.

I am looking forward to continuing to notice the small nuances and differences between my current position and other places I have worked at back home. Today was my first day and I can already tell that I will learn a great deal from this experience. I am also really excited to be doing this internship in Spanish, for it will be my first time using the language in a professional setting. I think being able to manage myself not only in an American professional setting, but in an international context as well, will undoubtedly strengthen my skills in the industry.