Before starting his senior thesis work on the housing crisis in Provincetown, Mass., this fall, Rio Morales '17 is getting to know the history and character of the Cape Cod town as an intern at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM). Thanks to funding from the John B. Hurford '60 Center for the Arts and Humanities and a Liberal Arts in the Workplace stipend from the Center for Career and Professional Advancement, Morales has been helping to organize exhibition openings, artists talks, and the annual fall gala for the more than 100-year-old cultural institution this summer.  

“Being a small, but nationally-recognized, art museum, the staff is small and extremely accessible,” says Morales, who also worked on graphic design for the museum’s 19th annual Secret Garden Tour, a major fundraising event that was held in July. “I’ve had the opportunity to work across departments with museum education specialists, curators, and collection management staff. I’ve also had the opportunity to take workshops in PAAM’s Museum School with local painters and artists.”

The growth and structure of cities major has been working six or seven days a week, but he has also found time to sketch the town’s preserved historic architecture and conduct his own independent research on access and affordability in Provincetown, the oldest continuous artists’ colony in America, in preparation for his forthcoming thesis.

“Though I am being steeped in administrative museum work, I am particularly interested in the ‘association’ part of the organization’s mission,” he says. “How can a museum serve an active community of artists? What roles do events like talks, potlucks, members’ exhibitions, and workshops play in nurturing an artistic community and preserving the creative character of a place? What's unique about doing that work in such a small scale of community?”

-Rebecca Raber with reporting by Jamauri Bowles ’17

“Summer Centered” is a series exploring our students’ Center-funded summer work.