MAI has been very fortunate to have our young video and media intern Parker Grace Canby. Parker wears many hats at the Museum as our videographer, photographer, editor, graphic designer, contributing web designer and social media manager. During the pandemic Parker decided to pass on her acceptance to NYU to stay close to her family. As an American Indian student living in Marin County, she saw the opportunity to be an intern at MAI not only as a way to further her academic career but also as a chance to learn more about her Indigenous heritage.
While working with the Museum she has filmed and edited over 15 videos that are currently available on the museum’s YouTube channel, and she is currently finishing more! In the time she has been at the museum she has had the opportunity to film Sacheen Littlefeather and JoAnn Dillion in Conversations with Elders, record Edward Willie talking about plant knowledge and fire ecology, learn to make bay nut coffee and stinging nettle pesto with Dana Hawke and recently film Teresa Harlan talking about her family’s home at Pt Reyes National Seashore. She has also worked on photographing our collections, documenting our beloved village model, and developing our Instagram (@maiinmarin). We appreciated that she inspired many of the board and staff to participate in the MMIW Awareness Run in May. Parker is particularly pleased with the two educational films in which she created the graphics and added music to make learning about American Indians more fun and memorable for kids.
We wish Parker the very best as she moves to New York City in August to study photography and journalism at the prestigious New School: Parsons School of Design. Fortunately, she has agreed to continue to do long distance work as a video editor with the museum. Parker Canby is a name to watch for in the future!