Finding myself in the offices of AS220 after spending years attending shows in the Main Stage and Black Box, either performing or attending, was not something I would expect. For the past year and some change, I have spent my Wednesdays in the Mathewson St. building that AS220 operates out of with David Dvorchak, who has been my mentor for my stay. Coming into this opportunity, I wasn’t exactly sure what my plan was, but I knew that being at AS220, whatever I was to do had to mean something and something good. So, after a couple of weeks figuring out what my plan would be, we landed on the idea of creating a short video where we’d interview staff members and ask them a simple question, “What is AS220?”. Conducting interviews for the purpose of storytelling was something I was comfortable with from my own work, putting them together in a video was something I was not. But what came from it was nothing to sell short, and the interviews held such a true sense of care for the community that AS220 has built.
To take a step back, my internship with AS220 was done through school, the Met High School. Before coming here, the internships I held before revolved around screen printing, so now doing a 180 and sitting down to think of questions for artists and breaking down how pieces of art made me feel was something totally different. But doing that work allowed me to find a love for writing that I necessarily didn’t know too well of before, through the summer while I wasn’t at AS220 I found myself reading and writing much more than I have ever before, it sounds silly but I do give AS220 credit for sparking that passion.
Coming into this final year of high school, I knew that returning to AS220 would be in my best interest, and it certainly was. In the name of celebration, it was my duty to collect interviews of active/past members of AS220 and question them on their experiences while stationed on the stage or in the galleries, and how those moments affected their artistic growth. Our original goal was going to be “Forty for Forty,” where we’d collect forty interviews for each year AS220 has been established. As the idea rose, it fell as quick, but not totally. The end product was a collection of 10-15 interviews highlighting the past, present, and future of the amazingly strong community that has been built up around the three-eyed cat.
Being at AS220 has taught me a lot about myself as an artist, what does and doesn’t work for me personally, how to set realistic goals in the realm of creation, as well as a newfound respect for myself and what I put into the world.
AS220 is the gift that keeps on giving.
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