As I prepare to leave my position as Artspace’s Administrative Assistant, typing away at my desk, countless memories dance through my mind, some pretty great…actually they were all great. If you’ve been reading my blogs, then you know that the majority of these recollections involved enjoying and sharing the rooftop view overlooking the Exchange District. For this outing, I will touch on a newfound realization. Then and to conclude my time with you, I share the sentiment that’ll stay with me.

In my previous musings, I may have slightly overlooked the significance of the administrative arts: the work I was performing and that of the organizational members within Artspace. You might accuse me of focusing more on whether or not being an artist mattered in such a creative building. And you’d be right. Guilty as charged. Nevertheless, people learn, mature and change. Now, I realize the importance of administrative work to the arts. Something, I admit, I was unaware of at first. Most of this work remains unseen, in the background, and not easily on display in the end result. Fortunately, I was welcomed as part of a group who demonstrated this hard work on a daily basis.  Of course, I am speaking about the many people who I shared time, space and, most notably, ideas with during my stay at Artspace. For that, I thank you.

Sharing: that’s the sentiment that’ll resonate with me long after I have left. The other one is the friendships I formed, but I would need a novel to do justice to all the people I met. With that in mind, back to sharing. In today’s competitive world where we are working many jobs under one title, whether that is full time or part-time, in the private or public sector, people work under stressful conditions and in isolation instead of collaborating towards something greater and better. Working against that, Artspace’s environment embraces and cultivates a type of collaboration built around the sharing of ideas. Of course, it’s not perfect, but it’s pretty damn close. In continuing that tradition, I was privileged enough to share Artspace with friends and to those who soon became my friends. After all the roof top hangouts and photos, Drayway parties, Doors Open events, and teatime on the 4^th floor, I will continue to promote this principle. Thanks for sharing your time with me.

As I near the end of this final paragraph, which marks the end of my time here, I want to thank you for reading these posts. At first, writing in a reflective manner to an audience of people I may not know terrified me. It’s something that I had never done on this level, and like most new things: I became nervous, overthought it, and decided not to follow through. Not this time. Something changed this time out. And I believe that had to do with Artspace embracing me from my first day here. At this moment, I feel the exact opposite and I hope I can find another avenue in the future. Hey, maybe in the end a little bit of the arts brushed off on me after all.

Thank you,

Dylan Jones