Goodbye Sweet Tea. Hello UK!: My First Week of School

Wow, the whirlwind continues. This week I began my classes for my MA in Cross-Sectoral and Community Arts at Goldsmiths University of London (where Damien Hirst went... and some princess goes here now). I was very nervous about starting classes: worried that I had made the wrong decision about this program or that I would be thrown into the deep-end with little work experience. From reading course descriptions I was worried that I would have to be leading art programming in London in the near future, and the thought of making contacts and actually leading workshops so soon in a city that I am still trying to get used to was terrifying. Luckily after the first class I felt reassured and excited to learn as much as I can in this course. I guess I should explain what motivated me to pursue this degree.. as an old man rather explicitly asked a group of us in a pub the other day... WHAT the.... does that mean??? Goldsmiths gives a degree in Spray Painting?!?! ...
While at Furman I was exposed to a lot of different aspects of the art world. I worked for three years at the art office assistant, learning some management and administrative skills and what it takes to keep an art department running. Through visiting artists, my professors, and my studio classes, I also learned a lot about the state of the art world today and what it means to be a practicing artist. My senior year I volunteered at the Greenville County Art Museum as a teaching assistant for the after-school art programs, as well as volunteering leading some art activities at the Wonder Center, a pre-school for medically fragile children. My experiences working with youth and art programming had a powerful effect on me in directing my career and future education plans. I particularly loved seeing the connections that the kids made between the visits to the museum gallery and their own work. I want to continue fostering this kind of dialogue and creative drive at a young age with the hope that this experience will influence their futures in a positive way. I want to be able to share my own personal passion for art with others in a way that is socially conscious and uplifting and I believe there is so much untapped potential for creativity to have an impact on community regeneration and bringing happiness to so many people. With all that being said, the question still remains of how I would want to translate that into a job.... my ideal job (down the road, with a lot of work experience and training before I can reach this point) would be working at a museum/gallery as the coordinator for education and community outreach. The institution of the museum has so much potential to be more than just a place tourists visit, and it's so exciting to see the outreach and education programming that art museums are doing in their communities now.
SO all of that being said, my first classes went wonderfully :) Our professor is super animated and the other people in the class are wonderful. AND a big plus was that we aren't expected to already be these great workshop leaders out and about in the London art scene. This course is going to provide exactly the kind of training and confidence I need to know my future place within the world of community arts. It's going to be a lot of work, and in a way that is very different from what I was used to with the academic, very structured education at Furman, but I am excited for the challenge. I believe that after this course I will be very well prepared, and I am already looking into volunteering opportunities at galleries and museums in London. My modules (classes) at the moment are on managing projects (the core overview class on arts management), creating workshops, and creative learning.

Now for anyone who actually made it through that whole essay... I am very impressed... so as a reward slash for the majority of people who (as I would have done) just skipped to see if I posted more pictures.. here are some pictures...