Meet Crystal Mercado
Crystal Mercado is the Residency Program Manager for Young Audiences of San Diego and has worked with us for the past five years.How did you come to Young Audiences of San Diego?
I was in my last semester of graduate school and I needed a job. I decided to make a class for myself called "what's happening in arts education in San Diego," mostly because I needed a job. Then I called Hilliard Harper (YA's past ED) and set up a meeting with him, then with you (Jennifer Oliver, Associate Director) and was hired. It was a perfect fit.What do like best about Young Audiences?
I love the people we work with. As a staff, I love my peers, the people I encounter day-to-day and our teaching artists. I love knowing I get to work with so many talented artists of different disciplines. I love watching their classes, thinking about their practice and giving them feedback.
What is a day in the life of Crystal Mercado at Young Audiences?
I typically arrive late...about 15 minutes or so, check my email, make my coffee, check in with staff ...then about 20 minutes later I go to work. I start going down my priority list and begin first with 'putting out fires.' This includes scheduling programs, contacting artists, setting up payroll and talking with classroom teachers and principals about programs. If I get through all of that, then I start looking at my to-do list. (Do people really want to know about this?!) OK, it includes marketing our programs, calling parents of students in our programs, organizing the giant stack of papers on my desk, writing up evaluations from teaching artists I have seen and contacting new possible artists.
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When you are not at YA, what are you doing?
Playing with my puppy, Sweeney Todd, hanging out with family, running, hiking, puppet making, and reading comic books.
Tell me a funny story....
Last summer, I took a weekend camping trip to Cuyamaca with my boyfriend, Alfredo. On our first morning there, I was sound asleep while Alfredo was starting breakfast and brewing coffee.
Suddenly, I woke up under attack and I felt a giant thunderous pain in my face like someone had punched me. I opened my eyes and looked around, thinking that Alfredo had fallen on the tent, but there was no one there. I reached up to touch my face and felt blood oozing around my eye.
I screamed for Alfredo and he came rushing in and saw my face. "Do you have a concussion?" he asked.
"I don't know. How do you know if you have a concussion?" I asked him. "You're the one who is going to med school!"
I couldn't open one of my eyes and we were afraid that the eye had been injured, but I still didn't know what had happened to me. Alfredo suggested that a pine cone had fallen on the tent. He looked around our campsite, and sure enough, he was right.
The pine cone was HUGE. (see photo) It just barely missed my eye. Had it fallen directly on my eye, I'm sure I would be wearing a patch. This is when I learned that camping is in-tents.
Suddenly, I woke up under attack and I felt a giant thunderous pain in my face like someone had punched me. I opened my eyes and looked around, thinking that Alfredo had fallen on the tent, but there was no one there. I reached up to touch my face and felt blood oozing around my eye.
I screamed for Alfredo and he came rushing in and saw my face. "Do you have a concussion?" he asked.
"I don't know. How do you know if you have a concussion?" I asked him. "You're the one who is going to med school!"
I couldn't open one of my eyes and we were afraid that the eye had been injured, but I still didn't know what had happened to me. Alfredo suggested that a pine cone had fallen on the tent. He looked around our campsite, and sure enough, he was right.
The pine cone was HUGE. (see photo) It just barely missed my eye. Had it fallen directly on my eye, I'm sure I would be wearing a patch. This is when I learned that camping is in-tents.
