Preslyn Reilly didn’t just want a job. She wanted to make something.
The Oxford High School senior and Art Club president is spending her summer as an intern at the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council through the high school’s Career Path program — and for July, she organized her own public art event from the ground up.
The Arts Council, headquartered at the Powerhouse, has long served as Oxford’s hub for creative community life. For Executive Director Wayne Andrews, bringing in a high school intern wasn’t just about giving a student something to do — it was a strategic opportunity for the organization itself.
“Having a student who is exploring a career in the arts offers the arts council feedback and insights on student interest, how students discover things that interest them, and what draws students together outside of school to socialize,” Andrews said. He described the internship as a chance for the organization to grow by seeing its work through fresh eyes — Preslyn attends staff meetings, hears about ongoing projects, works alongside the team, and was given a challenge unique to her position: create something of her own.
For Preslyn, the appeal of the internship was straightforward. As someone who has always known she wants a future that makes use of her artistic abilities, she was looking for a real look at what that could mean professionally.
“As a high schooler interning at the Powerhouse with no work experience, my goal was not only to understand how a job works but also to contribute to the community through my art and ideas,” she said.
One of the most eye-opening early lessons was learning what an arts council actually does — which turned out to be something different from what many people might assume. The Yoknapatawpha Arts Council isn’t primarily a producing organization. It doesn’t put on plays, perform concerts, or mount exhibitions on its own. Instead, it builds the conditions that allow others to do those things. The Arts Council would rather help a community theatre company develop the capacity to produce its own plays than produce plays itself. The same philosophy applies to stand-up comedians, songwriters, and visual artists: support the ecosystem, grow the community, and the art follows.
It’s a subtle but important distinction — and one that shapes everything the organization does, including how it thought about Preslyn’s internship.
She has been working alongside staff on the Makers Meet Up, an ongoing Arts Council initiative designed to build community and create connections among artists of different disciplines. But she was also handed an open-ended challenge: come up with your own idea.
She did.
The Art Hunt is a free scavenger hunt that sends teens and community members across Oxford, following clues to discover small original works of art hidden in public spaces throughout the city. Finders can take the art home — or leave a small work of their own in its place, keeping the chain of creativity going.
“I had this idea while thinking about how to bring people together through art,” Preslyn said.
The concept is characteristic of her generation’s instinct for experiences that are participatory, shareable, and low-barrier. There’s no ticket to buy, no gallery to enter, no prior art knowledge required — just a set of clues, a willingness to explore, and the possibility of finding something handmade waiting for you in an unexpected corner of the community.
What’s made the project genuinely hers, Preslyn said, is the degree of ownership she’s been given over every piece of it.
“The arts council is providing me the opportunity to pitch ideas, organize a live event, and manage my time. They gave me the freedom to research the idea, propose the best places to hide the art, design the clues, and gather the materials needed to create the experience.”
That kind of real-world responsibility — not busy work, but actual stakes — is exactly what the Career Path internship program is designed to provide.
The Art Hunt launched in July. For more information, visit oxfordarts.com — or find Preslyn Reilly, because she probably knows more about it than anyone.
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