Behind the Scenes: Communications Intern Spotlight with Melanie Field
The Rossland Museum & Discovery Centre would like to thank the Government of Canada and the Cultural Human Resource Council’s Young Canada Works program for contributing to this paid internship opportunity.
Day-to-Day Projects
My day-to-day since starting at the Museum has been pretty consistent. In addition to helping out with the administrative side of daily operations, I have routinely managed and scheduled the Museum’s social media posts as well as organizing the bi-weekly newsletter.
Event promotion has also been an ongoing responsibility of mine. Every event requires a poster, and hosting a multitude of unique events at the Museum requires a multitude of unique promotional materials. The overall objective for my poster-making is to just play around with the design process and have some fun with it. Since my start date in July 2023, probably 75-80% of the Museum’s posters have been made by yours truly!
Anytime I get to tap into my creative side is time well spent. Coming into this role, I was already very familiar with Canva. In addition to the copious amounts of design-based projects I’ve taken on and completed, my previous knowledge of Canva has allowed me to share it with my fellow interns for their design projects. I helped Kaleigh with the orientation of the Winter Program Guide she developed early this year and assisted Matea with her cookbook for the Senior Memory Box!
Major Projects
While working through my day-to-day projects, I’ve also had the opportunity to work on a few self-guided projects that allowed me to apply topics covered in my Bachelor of Management degree. This internship has allowed me to hone in on my existing skillset and implement a variety of these skills into many facets of my role here. In the fall, while assisting Kaleigh with the layout of her Winter Program Guide, I took it upon myself to completely revise the program marketing materials. The previous programming visuals had been developed many years ago now, so I went into this project intending to bring new life to the branding and overall appearance. I decided to play off the colours in the Program Guide to create a playful, yet cohesive set of marketing materials.
After I finished revamping the program slides, the feedback that I received inspired me to draw from my previous recruitment knowledge and create several job posting visuals. Once again, the goal was to create a standardised layout that could act as a template for the Museum to utilise in future recruiting efforts. This project was particularly rewarding because it played a big role in the Museum finally hiring a bookkeeper! I was told that this has been an ongoing effort for the past two-odd years through their social media, various e-blasts, and a few newsletters.
Recently, I have been able to expand my working knowledge of strategic planning to assist in the development of a Marketing Plan for the Museum, something that has been a lingering “to do” for a while. My previous experience has also been an asset since I began creating a Communication Plan for the Museum and its Volunteers. Both plans are under development, but I have enjoyed utilising the practical skills from past experiences to effectively contribute to these projects!
Passion Projects
Whenever I have some extra time, or am in desperate need of a brain break, I’ve also been creating little Reels of the recently digitized home videos in our Collection. Some of the home videos span all the way back to the 1950s, which is insane. Since I grew up in Warfield, I have absolutely LOVED going through all of the old footage and seeing what the area was like during my dad’s childhood. The videos I’ve made have also gotten a lot of positive reception from the public. That has also been super cool and rewarding, considering how much I enjoy making them.
Skills I’ve Learned
Throughout my internship at the Museum, I have strengthened my working knowledge of non-profit organizations and their day-to-day operations. I’ve also learned a bit more about the vast array of marketing avenues at their disposal when seeking to promote certain events.
I have also been fortunate enough to participate in multiple workshops held by the Collections Manager, Sara. She has guided me and my fellow interns through topics such as object repair, fragile document encapsulation, as well as both document and book repair. Sara has shared her knowledge of the Collection and Archive in ways that are digestible and provided opportunities and experiences that would otherwise be completely foreign to me!
