I got a lot out of Matt’s presentation. It was nice to hear from an alumni who chose not to go to New York to pursue work. I am planning on staying nearby for family reasons, and hearing from a successful alumni who stayed close makes me feel less stressed about post-grad prospects.
The internships question is very annoying. I’ve been trying to get an internship for a long time now. My main problem is that for the summer I have to intern in Houston, and many of those internships are not advertised or I am not qualified for them. When I ask others how they got their art-based or studio internships, they always say it is because they knew someone. I do not have family or family friends involved in the arts at all. I’ve been trying to do some networking while at St. Edward’s, but it hasn’t worked out too well for me. I feel like I have fallen behind on the professional front.
The Contemporary in Austin has a few internships I am interested in. Online it requires more hours than possible for me to go during the week due to classes, but I talked with the director. She said they are flexible on time and that the website needed to be edited.
The second internship I looked at was the Development Internship for the Zach Theater. The intership involves working with fundraising and the non-profit aspects of the theater. I think this could be a beneficial program in that it would teach me non-profit managing skills and special event management experience for the visual/performing arts. I feel like an internship such as this one could give me practical skills and networking opportunities needed for me to find a job post graduation.
http://www.zachtheatre.org/about/internships
The third internship I looked at was the Development Internship for the Long Center. This internship is similar to that of the Zach theater, but requires more technical ability and has the opportunity to do some basic design work. I chose this location, because I talked to the volunteer and internship director when she can to St. Edwards. She told me that the job descriptions for internships are not completely set in stone, and that if you have other skills or interests, they will try to utilize them. I enjoyed my time talking with her, and think I could get something out of the opportunity.
http://thelongcenter.org/support-us/careers/