Photo taken by Sarah Camp, November 2017

At the American Gothic House Center we average at least one event a month. All events need to be planned, budgeted and marketed. Some of the marketing tools that are used at the center are social media, our website, local newspapers, and local TV and radio stations. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are what the Center uses for social media, all of which I run. I am also in charge of our website, which is WordPress. TV stations come and do live interviews for our events and radio station interviews also help promote our events. I will also be on a reality TV show called "Fireball Run, Big Country"; which will air in the fall of 2018.

As the Administrator, I also create and manage the budget. I work closely with Excel to maintain the budget throughout the year. I work closely with Microsoft office equipment, including Office, Excel, Word, Publisher and PowerPoint. I use Publisher to create our digital ads and our ads for print, and sometimes Photoshop as well.

I supervise one part-time employee and many volunteers. The Center gets over seventeen thousand visitors a year. Since we are so busy, during open hours I work in the capacity of a docent as well as my other duties. I greet guests, answer questions and give tours. Usually I am the one person at the Center during the day so I work with the public extensively. This is the most rewarding part of the job. I am able to teach people about Grant Wood and Eldon, Iowa. Seeing people learn and get excited about what I am teaching them is very rewarding.

The gift shop is another aspect of this job. Part of my job is being the store manager. I do all of the purchasing for the gift shop. I manage the paperwork and computer entry and maintenance. I also manage the financial aspect of the gift shop.

Being the Administrator for the American Gothic Hosue Center is like being a buisness owner.