My main activity throughout this period was managing our (social) media channels. That is, formulating communication strategies and plans, writing captivating posts for Mediamatic and Mediamatic ETEN Instagram accounts, coordinating with the photography assistant for visual content, creating and selecting appealing images, and making sure events were documented – overall, maintaining Mediamatic’s organizational identity while making projects visible and intriguing on the channels.
I conducted video interviews for two workshops: ‘Building with Mycelium’ with Arne Hendriks and ‘If Life Gives You Lemons, I Hope They Are Juicy’ with Natasha Papadopoulou, where I exercised my interviewing as well as video editing skills, crafting storylines that fit the project. I learned basic graphic design using Affinity Publisher (thanks to Linxia Auzannet) and made pretty Instagram stories and posts (and memes). I also was in charge of updating the Mediamatic website, making sure everything was up to date and ready to be viewed by the public!
Additionally, during a period where there was no Communications Manager to supervise my duties, I was given the opportunity and responsibility to oversee and manage Mediamatic’s communications, during which I learned the importance of planning and interpersonal communication. I coordinated with the Workshop, Program and Restaurant team, where I wrote newsletters, drafted and edited emails into digestible and playful formats, created engaging hiring announcements for Mediamatic ETEN, and updated event evaluation forms to improve feedback for Mediamatic’s project participants.
In the five months that I spent here, I was able to put into practice my communication theory background alongside developing my creative instinct and aesthetic eye (with the support and encouragement of my communication managers, Julia van der Veen and Sophie Schulte). Elise Chalcraft immersed me in the world of plants during communal gardening, teaching me little fun facts each Tuesday, as well as guiding the way to strategizing workshop communication.
On a lighter note, I danced a lot during the Gentle Discos, munched daily on Begonia from the greenhouse, sang sometimes a bit too loudly in the office, forced Mitchi (the cat) to cuddle with me, watered and weeded a lot of grow beds around the Biotoop, picked up mycelium in North Brabant with Joop the driver, and burned rice during staff lunches.
Thank you to everyone who made my experience here so lovely, especially to my fellow interns who were continuously supportive and encouraging all throughout (Anna Lina Litz, Andrea Valdivia, Fenella Mawdsley, Francesca Nicchiotti, Thibaut Counaut, Stefan van der Wal, Floortje van Lierop, Fredrik Link, Iliana Metaxa, Georgia Dalloro, Kristin Kvisle, Linxia Auzannet, Petro Prattis).
