Note from the Program Director:
Kimball Jenkins is honored to continue this Inkubator program with Manchester InkLink in order to provide spaces for young people and diverse program participants to publish their work. These unique inter-organizational programs create safe spaces for community members to be compensated and incentivized in using their voices as tools. Thank you to MyTurn for supporting the arts in residency program designed and incorporated this year at the Hanover St Youth Resource Center! – Yasamin Safarzadeh
A few months ago mid-August my friends and I completed an internship with My Turn and Kimball Jenkins wherein The Nature Conservancy guided us through unique natural spaces to learn and assist in creating more accessibility to the public. Our jobs were to go on trips to nature conservancies, take our gained knowledge about climate change and animals, then apply it to the courtyard of West High in the form of a mural.
Getting to be outside so often was a well-needed breath of fresh air. I got to really tap into my painting abilities when I was given a decent-sized surface to put my piece on. Now, to the viewer, these are just completed paintings, but to the artists, these are visual timelines from beginning to end of the internship. So many memories, adventures, conversations, and learning opportunities crammed into one month, partnered with new, restored, and strengthened bonds.
This was a whole different experience than one is used to in the workplace. Genuine laughter replaces fake tittering, and our differences are what makes us individual and unique instead of strange or abnormal. The energy we found given and reciprocated was new and a different style of how an employer treats their employee.
I think more employers could learn from Kimball Jenkins and My Turn about what it means to establish a healthy work setting. where respect and empathy are at the core of everything. When you take authority and pair it with the ability to reciprocate respect you get a room full of people who don’t dread having to get up for work.
For the residents of Manchester and a lot of low-income cities work is a lifestyle with slow money and high expenses, because of this most people are at work far more than in their own homes, which most of their money is actually going towards. That being said, some of us are more likely to bring a higher vibe to work that lightens up the mood and helps everyone allow themselves to come out of their shell. It only makes sense that since we struggle together we should have the best time we can while doing it.
Pretty much what I’m saying is a lot of kids around my age bring a good energy to the workspace, we know how to try and have the best time while getting things done in a timely manner. Mistakes are just a silly problem to be solved instead of being stress-inducing.
Some would say the setting at the internship had been refreshing and raw, that it’s disappointing to have to go back to the NPC (Non-Playable Character) jobs that are offered in today’s society. What I mean here is that we have acclimated to the service industry. When working for companies like these it is more than likely to go into an autopilot state where we quite literally don’t act like ourselves. Instead, we are now a cog in a machine where we have only one consistent job. Jobs like these are the best at leaving you with the weight of exhaustion, dreadfulness, and impatience. Finding a job where you have enrichment and good strategy is a necessity to a happy work life.
Toward the end and after the program my friends and I came to the conclusion that we do not ever want to be in a position where we have fallen into the cycle of a 9-5. No, we do not think working 40- 60 plus hours a week is a flex, that sounds so exhausting. It’s understood that few people love their jobs so much that they like working those hours; we have yet to see this with our own eyes, though. What we want is to work smarter, not harder; to only accept fulfilling jobs and know when it is time to move on to the next thing; to give ourselves a space where we can make sure respect and empathy are at the core of all we do.
To share success instead of gatekeeping it.
Our plan is to become influencers, we think this would be the easiest path because we already have seen what our influence can do for others in our society. We will make podcasts where we are able to talk about the experience of coming of age and what is going on in the heads of people like us or around our age.
What we want is to do more with social media like YouTube, streams and comedic shorts. The idea of investing in your own hobbies instead of just one career seems like a failsafe plan. This will keep us motivated to invest in ourselves and the things we love to do. Our hope is to be very successful with multiple outlets that keep us afloat in this world. To create a space where you can have a fun way of making money to support yourself and the ones you care about. These ideas and moves may seem cliche to most but the last thing we want is to get stuck.
