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I am an international French-American undergraduate currently entering my third year in McGill’s Faculty of Arts. With a major in History and a double minor in Art History and GSFS, my interests are oriented towards history and heritage preservation. My personal passion lies in historic houses. I enjoy discovering dated and past ways of life that only subsist to this day through the walls of historic buildings. Through the Arts Internship Office at McGill, I applied to the Canadian Federation of Friends of Museums, or CFFM, for the position of coordinator. The CFFM is a national non-profit organization that supports and increases visibility for museum volunteers who devote their time for heritage preservation, protection and promotion. My choice of the CFFM was determined by multiple factors. As an international and bilingual student, I wanted to work with a Canadian association in order to both enter the Canadian heritage and art world, as well as work in a bilingual setting where I could further develop my translation and multilingual skills. Furthermore, working with the CFFM would guarantee opportunities for networking with people working in museums and heritage preservation from all over the country and internationally.

We were two interns working at the CFFM from early May to mid-July. My tasks varied from communications and social media activities, to translation and writing, and finally administrative tasks and visitor guide. As coordinator, I promoted on social media (Instagram and Facebook) the CFFM’s activities, notably for the Young Friends Council which organizes tours and events for young Canadians across the country. I also helped with the redaction and translation of texts for the CFFM’s monthly Volunteer Voices newsletter to all the members of the organization. I very much enjoyed working with another intern and in a small association, which required significant communication and teamwork. I also appreciated the people I met, with most board members not only being well-connected in the art and heritage world but also being very kind, helpful and welcoming. With my fellow intern, we were charged with the preparation of the Board meeting, and were the recording secretaries who prepared the minutes following the meeting. I also attended a certain number of meetings and events. In late May I had the opportunity to meet and talk with many of the former coordinators during the Coordinators’ 5a7, and saw the various professional paths they had undertaken, such as working for the National Trust or other organisms.

Apart from the kind and encouraging coworkers, one of the highlights of the internship was working at Forget House, a 19th century mansion on Sherbrooke St. with restored interior decor. While revelling in the privilege of working in such a grandiose environment, I was also afforded the opportunity to meet with people working in other associations based at Forget House (such as archival interns for the Black Watch, partners with the McCord Stewart Museum, and the fellow and historian of Forget House itself). I notably helped organize the Open House for Forget House on National Historic Places Day, and led tours around the reception rooms of the house to locals and tourists.

My main challenges occurred at the beginning and end of my internship. After a recurring medical issue I was concerned I may not start my internship in time, but fortunately I recovered and was told that working remotely was a possibility for the internship. This was practical when I fell sick towards the end of the internship, which prevented me from seeing many of the people I enjoyed working with due to working remotely. In the first few weeks of my internship, I had also overcommitted by working not only part-time at the CFFM two days a week, but another four days weekly at two other part-time jobs. I quickly realized this was overwhelming and decided to prioritize my internship at the CFFM as well as my regular part-time retail job so as to better accomplish my work tasks. This helped me realize the importance of a healthy work-life balance and the necessity of having personal rest time in order to better focus during work hours.

Overall, this internship (completed without academic credit) gave a more concrete sense of direction to my studies, and confirmed that I wish to pursue a career in heritage preservation rather than following the path of academia.

I wish to thank Gail Todgham for her generous donation to the McGill Arts Internship Office which helped support living expenses in Montreal during the summer (a long way away from my home in the United States). I also wish to thank everyone at the CFFM for their warm welcome and their help, and especially Rosemary Wagner for her kind guidance and counselling.