The first class I ever stumbled into at Algonquin was in room C-205. It was my introduction Art 1 class with Mr. Hancin, who was well known to me through my cousins who had made a connection with him during their time at Algonquin. It was probably the best way to start my path through Algonquin Arts. He encouraged me to not only perform my best during class, but also work on my art outside of school.

After several art classes that each varied and taught me an individual yet special lesson, I was never aware that our school offered a class called Art Through Business of Art/Galleries. As soon as I heard about it, I knew I wanted to take it. I had always struggled with finding space in my schedule for both business and art courses, so this was the perfect opportunity.

After I made the adjustment with my guidance counselor during the beginning of my second semester of my senior year, almost like my freshman self, I stumbled into Ms. DeCiero’s class. She is in charge of running the Gallery of the Boroughs in room C-211. Although I recognized students who had been in my art classes before, it was the smallest class of students I had ever seen. I realized I wasn’t the only student who had no idea about this class.

In front of me were a handful of kids setting up the first gallery of the year: the Algonquin Art Alumni Show. Later, I found out that each of these kids was a part of an after school club to put together the Gallery. One year the class couldn’t run due to a lack of sign-ups, so all of the work fell on this small group of students who were passionate about running the shows. 

Each day, I had walked by the gallery and never even knew it existed. I would pass by the black and white posters Ms. DeCiero had posted around school not realizing what was being advertised. 

As I began the semester I was excited to learn more through this class that allows students to experience how business and art correlate with one another. The class is hands-on, offering real-life situations, including emailing potential artists for the gallery and putting together all of the artwork in the showroom.

Each class member was able to choose a job: outreach, curator, public relations, event coordinator and administrator. Outreach is in charge of coming in contact with potential artists and emailing them to inquire about their work. Public Relations is the job that gets more foot traffic coming to the gallery and advertises the various art shows. The Event Coordinator worries about running the reception, which is the first day the show opens. Lastly, the Administrator is in charge of budgeting our funds and managing the rest of us to make sure we’re working together. 

I acquired a public relations job with my partner, sophomore Eve Roiter. I have found myself really passionate about working in marketing and advertising positions. From there, we each created templates of our weekly goals we wanted to accomplish. Right off the bat, I thought of making more attractive flyers, revamping the Instagram and creating this blog to hopefully share my experience and give some insight on the class. 

This past week, I was passing out gallery flyers at lunch and even most teachers had no idea what “Gallery of the Boroughs” is. I passed the flyer to one and they replied, “Gallery? What gallery?”

 I don’t blame them; I had no idea we had a gallery either, but I want to break that pattern. The hard work and passion that is brought into the gallery by our peers into the art shows is incredible and deserves recognition. So, I hope you stick with me on these blog posts, and maybe check out the gallery, too. Room C-211.