About me:
Hello everyone, My name is Kyle Detoro. I am a 22 year old college student born and raised in San Jose, California. A few things about me are that I am currently a student Csumb (California State University Monterey Bay) go Otters!!! I am also an environmentalist and have around 1 ½ years of Camera Trapping experience between working for De Anza Community College and serving as an intern for various environmental organizations down in Monterey. Lastly, outside of internships, classrooms, and work I enjoy going on adventures such as kayaking, hiking, and exploring new cities and state parks. This love of the environment in my community college days was ultimately the inspiration for me to pursue an education in the environment.
My Major:
Currently at Csumb I am studying for a ENSTU B.A. degree with a concentration in environmental education and community outreach. The classes for this degree have been a wonderful experience as up to this point they have taught me about environmental researching and writing environmental articles (such as my semester long paper on shark finning), climate justice, critical pedagogy and environmental education, and environmental interpretation. Yet as an environmentalist major you may be wondering what brought me to NUMU in the first place.
Why I am interning here/past art education/experience:
Well, I am ultimately interning here as part of a museum studies class at Csumb. This class focuses on learning about the inner workings of a museum while also furthering our educational knowledge about museums by actively taking part in the current museum scene.
While I may be an environmental major I do have some background education in the art. In my past I have attended De Anza Community college and studied for three quarters in art classes. These classes included History of Art: Europe During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, History of Art: Europe from the Baroque Period through Impressionism, and Three-Dimensional Design. These classes have ultimately led to an extensive examination of art from the middle ages to the impressionist era along with experience in making three dimensional art pieces. Furthermore, my art education has only been drastically expanded upon with the internship at NUMU.
NUMU’s Maker Space
Things I worked on that stood out to me:
While interning in Education Programming at NUMU I worked on finding potential artists for the museum and readying and holding the first ever workshop within our new educational classroom. One thing that stood out to me was NUMU's strong inclusion of children within the museum. This museum seems to really understand the importance of our future generations as they have dedicated a classroom for educational workshops as well as a newly opened kids lounge. Within the educational classroom children will be able to participate in art workshops and activities. Meanwhile in the kids lounge, children will be able to read, play around with legos (practice their building skills) , and take part in creating their very own collages. Ultimately these spaces provide an open space for children to practice their artistic skills and really utilize their creative minds.
NUMU’s Lounge
NUMU’s Collage Corner
How this internship changes perspectives:
Overall, the internship at NUMU has really changed my perspective behind museums and their audience. NUMU breaks down the barriers and strays away from the stereotypes of a typical museum setting. NUMU has broken away from the stereotypical ideologies that museums are meant for a specific audience and instead offers a space for all people and age ranges to learn about and understand art as a whole. Furthermore, the museum opts for a more relaxed/casual atmosphere instead of a typical formal and sometimes uncomfortably privileged atmosphere that other museums unconsciously exude within their walls.
Takeaways:
Some key takeaways that I had after my internship at NUMU are understanding the great amount of collaboration that takes place in the museum setting as NUMU holds weekly meetings with their staff in order to discuss current and future goals for the month or months ahead. Furthermore, the museum's staff takes this collaboration further as they are constantly collaborating with local artists in order to create future exhibitions and workshops. On top of this NUMU strives to bring in social equity and justice to the Los Gatos community as they are constantly looking for local up and coming diverse and/ or Lgbtq artists to showcase their artworks and educate others about the challenges that they face.
Contact Info:
For more information on my internship or if you are interested in contacting me about environmental matters please check out my website
-Kyle Detoro
