Meet, Marisa Enhuber, Masters Degree Student in Arts and Heritage: Management, Policy and Education in Maastricht.
What is your name, age, location?
I am Marisa, 24 and I currently live in Maastricht, Netherlands.
What's your background?
I am doing my Master’s in Arts and Heritage: Management, Policy and Education in Maastricht. Originally I am from Munich and I did my Bachelor’s studies in International Culture and Business Studies in a small town called Passau in the East of Bavaria. After my Master’s is complete this summer, I plan on moving to London!
What inspired you to become a founder/engineer/designer (fill in position)?
I organised a meeting with the Google Art Project team for one of our study trips to Berlin. This experience really opened my eyes. I was immediately captivated by the vast opportunities arising at the intersection of arts and technology. Art experience can really be enhanced by the implementation of digital technologies within galleries or museums! I feel digital technology will revolutionise arts marketing. This is why I decided to specialise in this field and learning how to code so I can contribute to the revolution.
Please walk me through your day, what do you do?
Since I am still studying at the moment, my day consists of getting up really early to catch a good seat in the library where I struggle to finish my thesis on social media use in the arts :-) I am exploring which social media marketing strategies can be applied to art producers (artists, galleries, museums) and how social media affects art distribution within the contemporary art market. My hypothesis is that although social media increases mutual engagement and participation between art organisations and their audience, the fact that social media publishes filtered news and over-information makes the audience lazy. The result is that the position of gatekeepers and opinion leaders is reinforced in times of "social networking 2.0". That’s at least my theory and I am going to try and prove it.
From time to time I volunteer at a women-led start up, where we organise talks and workshop within the creative scene of Maastricht. I love that I meet so many interesting people there, it is really inspiring for a young women to see how others make their way as well.
Can you see yourself in ten years doing the same thing you do now?
If I decide to do a PhD - maybe :-) But for the moment I am trying to secure my dream job in London, as digital product manager at Tate or a start up like Hype App/ Creative Partner Networks. I would love to plan artsy events and think of smart marketing campaigns to get these events to the audience or to develop online community portals such as the Tate’s Collective. But for that, I need to develop my coding skills further - which I hope to do during the next year either through teaching myself or an internship.
What is the best advice you ever received?
What is the most important thing you’ve learned in the last year?
To spend my Master’s year abroad in the Netherlands was the best decision I’ve ever made. I've not only learned so much about myself but I also found an area in which I am really interested in (arts and technology). This area excites me so much that I want to pursue a career in this field. I have learned that if you reach out, you’ll receive.
And what are your plans for the future?
1) Finish my thesis
2) Move to London
3) Get a job in the arts sector
If you could do one thing differently, what would it be?
Get up at 6 am - carpe diem!
Any advice for your local/global Geekettes?
“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!” - Audrey Hepburn
