ARAD is delighted to welcome Kaylie Maines as our new Social Media Coordinator. Learn more about Kaylie, her goals for her new role, and what she does outside of TC.
Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from? What was your undergraduate degree focused on?
I was born and raised in Appalachia, in central Pennsylvania. My family is full of creatives, but I am the first one to officially use the term “artist” to describe myself. I earned three undergraduate degrees from the Pennsylvania State University: a BA in English; a BS in Art Education; and a BA in Sculpture.
What previous experiences have led you to your current role?
Prior to coming to TC, I spent 3 years working for my alma mater in two different positions. In both positions, I launched and oversaw the School of Visual Art’s undergraduate social media internship program. As SoVA’s Chief Communication Officer I managed a 4-student intern team to document school events, create digital content, and engage with audiences through our social channels and e-mail communications.
How have those experiences informed your current professional path?
I’m very fortunate to have had the opportunity to hold a directly correlated role to the one that I now serve in ARAD. Not only were my previous positions in the field of social media, but I also worked for an R1 research institution at Penn State. I realize that not many ARAD students are exiting the field to return to school, but for me, my previous professional life is immediately applicable to the role of social media coordinator. Also, I spent a good portion of the pandemic fostering my personal interest in digital arts and design, and that experience contributed significantly to my comfort level surrounding designing digital flyers and other content.
As someone who hopes to found her own arts organization in the future, having marketing experience of any variety is an immediate leg up. New arts organizations often require extreme multitasking of their founding members until they grow large enough to afford additional staff, and I am grateful for the experience of managing active social media platforms: who knows when I might be the one needed to take on that task? It gives me confidence to be working towards experience in as many aspects of running an arts organization as possible.
What are you looking forward to in taking on this role?
I am most excited to get to know the people that comprise ARAD. The current student cohorts, faculty, staff, and alumni are incredible resources in addition to being incredibly interesting individuals! I’m energized by the passion of the greater ARAD community and am so pleased to be able to feature those stories and successes. A huge part of why I chose to pursue this program is that I myself am passionate about making experiences and opportunities possible for others; sharing these stories and events goes a long way toward elevating the many creative endeavors surrounding ARAD.
What do you do outside of your time at TC?
Most recently, my partner and I have been renovating our first house. Because I am focusing on school, my sculpture practice has slowed considerably, but I still make time for my digital illustration and sell stickers of my artwork online and at a handful of in-person events each year. I love to read biographies and just finished Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey by Mark Derry.
Kaylie Maines (she/her/hers) is an artist and educator from State College, Pennsylvania. She attended The Pennsylvania State University, where she triple-majored in Sculpture, Art Education, and English. Kaylie maintains a robust multidisciplinary studio practice and is an active member of the Northeastern foundry circuit. Her poetry collection, Make it Do or Do Without; A Collection of Poems and Folk Memoirs, explores disputed personal history and coming-of-age in modern Appalachia: the collection was awarded an Erickson Discovery Grant. Currently, she is focused on the development of mobile arts organizations and multi-community service in extended rural populations. She believes that a mobile service model can recentralize the arts and provide sustainable, inclusive, and flexible programming to underserved populations, regardless of geographic location.
Arts Administration 
Leave a comment