What Are We Working On?
Hello, and welcome back to Making the Magnolia House Exhibit! Today’s post will get you, the reader, caught up where each committee stands as of now. Not only will you get an insight into the workings and projects of each committee, but you will also gain insight into how COVID-19 has impacted how they collaborate and communicate.
The Events Committee
The Events Committee has been busy planning and scheduling! We are excited to announce that our panel discussion will be held on October 13, 2020, at 6 pm and the exhibit unveiling on October 24, 2020. We have reached out to three potential panelists for our event, and we are hoping to hear back soon. A shortened semester due to COVID-19 has been the biggest obstacle thus far. Since we are less than a month away from the panel discussion, it feels like most of the planning is being done at the last minute. We want to make sure we have enough time for our events to be marketed properly.
We have decided to go completely virtual in all of the programmings. While COVID-19 has allowed us to be creative in who we ask to be on our panel, it has also made us plan ahead of schedule. We will need to make plans ahead of time to shoot and edit footage of the exhibit when it is installed. Before the next blog post, we hope to confirm our panelists and have a series of questions drafted for approval by the class and Melissa Knapp, the Magnolia House’s Curator. Once all of this is completed, then we can shift focus to planning for the exhibit unveiling.
Installation and Fabrication Committee
The Installation and Fabrication Committee are piecing together what the exhibit panels might look like in their final form. Maizie has designed the panels’ drafts to be presented to all other groups to review and critique. Kurtis has remained in close contact with Spartan Printing to choose the best display option for these panels, taking into account pricing, formatting, and design. Lastly, Evan has been correcting and editing the text for the panels. When the next blog is ready to go live, we hope to have all of the text cleaned up and a final panel design in place after input from all other groups.
COVID-19’s obstacles have presented many issues for us as a committee. We all face the problem of not collaborating in-person and receiving appropriate feedback for the exhibit panels’ design. Also, not showing the project’s components in a physical opening and experiencing the attendees’ input is challenging. As many have had to do, we meet via Zoom to check individual progress on designated tasks.
Education Committee
The Education Committee has been hard at work, meeting and discussing several lesson plans with Melissa Knapp. These lesson plans will aim to incorporate educational material on the Shoe Box Lunches, which is the current lesson plan in progress. A lesson plan about the Magnolia House’s architecture and renovation has already been prepared. The lesson plan on the architecture and renovation will provide the foundation for future lesson plans regarding the house. The next lesson plan will focus on African American History in Greensboro.
Our committee has to consider the current environment when looking at lesson plans. We are currently looking at teaching methods for social aspects like Civil Rights that can be taught remotely and still grasp the subject’s nuances. The lesson plans aim to encompass exciting and easy to understand teaching material for student groups from second to eighth grade. Creating lesson plans for multiple grade levels calls for tailoring certain activities or historical themes to specific age groups. Of course, this is most often the case for catching the interest of younger students. We have been able to visit the Magnolia House upon approval of Ms. Knapp, respecting the procedures in place for COVID-19 in order to understand the space for education purposes.
Budgeting, Marketing, and Blog Committee
The Budgeting, Marketing, and Blog Committee have been hard at work compiling information from each group while planning this exhibition. Every two weeks, Emily sends out an email to the various committees with instructions on that specific blog post’s required information. Matthew then receives each committee’s report for the post and consolidates them in one document for editing. After editing, Emily takes the entries, double checks the editing, formats the post, and publishes. Along with working the blog, we have gathered information and started to reach out to various media outlets to advertise the exhibit’s events. Of course, the budget is always a consideration and closely monitored.
This committee, fortunately, runs mainly on email. However, COVID-19 has limited our contact with peers via Zoom meetings, so accountability from not only our committee but each committee is essential. Ensuring that each committee has their entries emailed to us in time for editing and formatting is crucial in getting the blog post up by the set date and time. However, COVID-19 has given us a greater appreciation for virtual communication and the updates that we can provide or cohort and community.
Working on this project during a pandemic has kept the cohort on our toes as we continue to realize the importance of communication and time management. Not only is this a growing experience for us, but a learning experience that will prepare us for the future.
