By, JORDAN GREEN, Editor-in-Chief
A representative from a statewide organization promoting art education told Northwestern students Feb. 4 that the organization is able to help students live out their passion for creativity.
Alexa Goetzinger, associate director of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, gave a 45-minute presentation to several students who are minoring in art at Northwestern. She told students about internship opportunities in their chosen career field, and she spoke to students about grant funding opportunities to help make their work come to life.
“We’re here as a resource if you want to pursue a degree in art,” Goetzinger said.
The Oklahoma City-based non-profit was established in 1988 to help artists “realize their potential through education, promotion, connection, and funding,” its mission statement reads.
Goetzinger told students about the organization’s Momentum program, which allows artists under the age of 30 to display their work in a public exhibit and meet other artists.
“This program was designed to foster emerging artists, and this actually has become one of our most popular programs,” Goetzinger said. “In a normal year, it’s like a big, weekend party. It’s one weekend only, and thousands of people show up. We normally get a pretty awesome band.
“Of course, that isn’t happening this year, and we’re doing it like a regular exhibition that’s going to stand for a length of time.”
The organization chooses some artists to “spotlight” during the program. Those artists are paid to create art for the program and then give detailed presentations about their work.
Works entered in the program will be on display from March 3 to March 27 at the Mainsite Contemporary Art Gallery in Norman. They’ll also be on display at the Living Arts gallery in Tulsa from April 2 to April 23, the organization’s website showed.
A virtual tour of the exhibits is available on the organization’s website, https://www.ovac-ok.org/momentum.
Goetzinger also told students about paid summer internship opportunities the group offers. Each summer, the coalition hires two interns to work at least 150 hours at a rate of $10 per hour. In lieu of pay, interns can count their experience for college credit, Goetzinger said.
“Internships help you figure out what you want to do with your life,” Goetzinger said. “It’s one of the most important things you can do as a college student because you don’t really know if the career path you’re choosing is what you want to do until you dip your toes into the water. And so that’s what this particular internship at OVAC really prepares you for.
You see if you want to be an arts administrator. … And if that’s not for you, that’s OK. But it is a way to figure that out.”
Goetzinger encouraged interested students to apply.
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” she said. “Even though this is a very competitive internship, it is so worth it if you are accepted.”
Kyle Larson, an assistant art instructor at Northwestern who was named to the coalition’s board of directors in 2019, said Goetzinger’s presentation was helpful for the university’s art students.
“We were lucky to have her and her time to give a presentation, specifically to art students,” Larson said. “I think OVAC is just such a great organization.
It really helps us out here, where sometimes, students and artists feel disconnected from the larger art world. OVAC is something, as an organization, that bridges that gap and gives students opportunities to get their work out there.”