Bringing Back the Arts Blog Topics
Once you are done writing your blog: If you have a challenge that you are struggling to work out at your internship, email or text the program director immediately so you can receive help as soon as possible.
Blog Question #1- What did you learn from your first few shifts at your internship? Did anything surprise you or make you excited? Were there any challenges? Did you make any connections with co-workers? Did you engage in any code switching?
During my first few days at my internship at Curious Theater, I had the opportunity to experience different aspects of theater administration. I got to sit in on a read-through of their upcoming show “Detroit ’67”. It was very interesting to see how organized and planned out all the departments (costumes, set, props, etc.) were before rehearsals started. I was also surprised at how well the actors read their characters in the script. I worked on a resource sheet for artists coming from out of the town. This helped me get to know the neighborhood around the theater better. It was challenging due to the fact that there were so many places that potentially belonged on the resource sheet.
I had worked with non-profits before but it was really exciting to see how arts played a role in the local business scene. I have made so many connections with my co-workers. I feel really comfortable with my supervisor, Jeannene Bragg. Like me, she has a passion for nonprofits. I have also met Katie Maltais, the Managing Director. She is very open and answers all of my questions perfectly. I work with Emily Whalen, who runs the box office, when I am working on the ticketing system and when ushering. I have only met Chip Walton, Producing Artistic Director once, but his dog has made an everlasting impression on me by sitting next to me at my desk (and occasionally sniffing for my lunch).
I don’t know if I code-switched, but I have come out of my shell. At first, I was rather shy and wanted to go unnoticed. After I got to know Curious and people in it I became a little more relaxed while remaining professional. At Curious I feel comfortable asking questions and sharing my ideas.
Blog 2: Networking
Begin by interviewing 2-3 of your coworkers with the following 3 questions (about 10 minutes of their time). Time allowing: feel free to ask them more questions to get to know them better. Following the interviews answer the questions below for Blog 2.
Interview questions:
- Did you study art after high school? Art or traditional college? Internship or apprenticeship?
- How did you get your first job in the creative industries?
- If you were in an intern in this field, where would you focus your learning during your internship? What is the most important learning one can do when beginning a career in this profession?
- (Time allowing) Is there anything interesting about you that is non-work related that you would like to tell me about? Hobbies or interests?
Blog Question # 2: What co-workers did you interview? Did your co-workers study art after high school either through higher education or internships/apprenticeships? What recommendations did they have for what you should try to learn as an intern in this field? Did they have any advice on how to begin your creative career? Did you learn anything interesting about your co-workers that was non-work related?
The week I chose to do the interviews was kind of crazy so I only got to talk with one of my coworkers (but I went a little more in depth than I would have otherwise).
Theater snuck it’s way into Jeannene Bragg’s life very early on. She was in the second grade. “It was lucky for me, I was short….” she says, “They measured the seven shortest kids in school and I was one of them and we got to play the seven dwarfs in Snow White.” I never looked back.”
After that, she performed all throughout high school. When she went to study at the University of Northern Colorado, She pursued acting and playwrighting. Over the years she became interested in arts administration and journalism. She wanted to write as much as possible.
Her first job was marketing for the Colorado Children’s Chorale. Once she got out of school she became a part of the Denver playwriting scene. She worked with Colorado Dramatics and Cameleon stage. Jeannene has also worked as a public officer for the city of Parker.
Jeannene says that the social justice angle is newer for her. She has worked for Curious Theater for a year and a half. Within that timeframe, a lot has changed in the world, which has put social justice more in her forefront.
Jeanenne is impressed by how high school theater has broadened to more than just acting. If she were an intern today, she would want to have a broader perspective on theater.
She loves doing anything creative in her free time. She hopes to go back to playwrighting collaboratively.
To listen to the whole interview
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Blog Question #3 How do your actions affect your workplace? Are you able to be mindful and bring a good attitude when you come to your internship? Do you contribute positively?Do you feel like you have a good work ethic so far? How do your co-worker’s actions affect your internship? Are you beginning to develop any workplace friendships?
Curious Theater is a very open and friendly place to work in. I work in one of the two back office bullpens with about 5 other people. They work in marketing and communications. There is a certain give and take energy that I have not experienced at my other internships. Because everyone is in one tight space, one’s actions are definitely noticed. I’ve been more diligent than I might normally have been because I work less than two feet away from my boss. It acts as a motivation, which I see as a good thing. The more I do the right thing, the more I am respected and trusted.
I also speak up, which in some cases gets me extra jobs. For example, I overheard some of my co-workers talking about the lack of photos of post-show discussions. I told Jeannenne that I am an amateur photographer, so now I am supposed to take some photos for that purpose. I really enjoy working for something that is meaningful. This helps me have a good attitude at my workplace and creates a good work ethic.
My coworkers’ teach me so much about not only the arts and business but about how to act, which is priceless. On a less professional note, we have developed a friendly and informal relationship. Workplace friendships are definitely in the “works”.
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Blog Question #4: Freestyle blog week. Write your own blog prompt about your internship, then answer it in 200-250 words
How is this Internship different than other internships you’ve had? How is it different from your high school Drama Club?
As mentioned earlier I’ve interned for The DCIS Foundation, Global Chamber, the Sister Cities Organization before going to Curious. Curious Theater is my first arts oriented internship. I love getting use my theatre experience, whether that is helping play theatre games with kids from Compassionate Road or creating the Program outline for “Your Best One“. I’ve also gotten alot more social media experience than in my other internships. I am a site manager on the company’s Facebook, I’ve been able to see how people react to the posts and Post events. I hope to soon help with their Instagram, in order to gain a younger audience for shows and playwriting workshops.
When working in arts, one does not have strict 9 to 5 schedule, so I often work events and uhser at shows. Doing events and shows helps me network and get to know the community. Curious has a set of subscribers that go to shows often, which is unique.
That being said I have had to work on mailing assignments and ticketing data, which I have done before.
Curious’ shows run for about four times longer, than shows at my school. I do a lot more admin work than I would do at my school.
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Blog Question #5 How do you feel like your internship is going so far? What are the highlights? What are the challenges? Do you feel like you making connections with your co-workers? Are you using your internship inspired project as a creative connection between you and your supervisor? What can you do to improve your experience?
I think my Curious internship is going great so far! I get work on a large variety of tasks. As mentioned in other posts. So far the biggest highlight is going to the events. So far I’ve ushered a Preview of Detroit 67, have gone to see Detroit 67 with my family and have help subscriber brunch. The subscriber brunch was such an amazing experience. I got to see the Curious announce their 21st season. I love talking to the subscribers, they are all very nice. I was also in charge of putting the event on Facebook live. I like helping curious about their social media platform. I’m in charge of posting on the Instagram every few days and I do the events on the Facebook. It’s interesting to find out how Facebook and Instagram are different for businesses than they are for personal use. For example on Facebook one can boost and promote their posts, then they can see how many people the post has reached. For the biggest challenge is working at the box office. I like it but I do isn’t the end of the day and I feel bad when I don’t finish tasks. I feel like I’m making connections with my coworkers. I really fit in that curious. When I go did events I feel like I’m part of the team.
I’m so excited to start my program for Your Best One. The program will be my internship inspired project. So far I haven’t done the artistic part of it but I do get to communicate with Janine on how much should be made, And that’s really cool. I I think to invite Sherman experience I just need to become more organized and plan out my time better. By doing this I’ll be able to get more out of my internship.
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Blog Question #6 End of the quarter check-in. OK to do 150 words this week. Please do an inventory of your hours completed up until now and make sure your electronic time card is updated coming into the end of the quarter. How are you doing so far on completing your hours? Do you have the number of hours complete that you should have at this point in the internship? If you are behind in your hours, what is your plan to make up the hours you are missing? How are you doing with the challenge of maintaining your intern work schedule? Are you using your google calendar to keep track of your intern schedule and homework assignments? Is there any other challenge you feel the Internship Program Director should be aware of at the end of the first half of your internship?
I’m doing well so far I’m pretty much good on my hours. So far I have completed 45 hours and 30 mins out of 100. This month, I made the change from six hours a week to eight hours a week. I did this because I wanted to work more hours and I wanted to get home at the same time every night. My school’s Drama Club (where I am stage managing) gets out at 5 o’clock on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Getting out of Curious at 5 o’clock makes life easier for me because now I have a steady schedule. I’ve mentioned before that is also easy to get hours by during the events. So that has really helped me. As I mentioned before As I mentioned before there’s a lot of opportunities for hours by doing events at Curious. Altogether working eight hours a week and helping with the events giving them more leeway in my schedule.
I don’t really use my Google calendar that much because I prefer to write things down in my planner, But I am staying on top of assignments. The only potential problem is I’ve gotten into the habit of writing my blogs on Sunday nights, which works now but I’m afraid that it won’t work in the future. I would rather write my blogs on the Friday after school. So I’ll start to get into that routine soon. There are not any problems I’m curious, I love it. The people are so kind and there’s a certain energy at Curious which is wonderful.
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Blog Question #7: What is your favorite part of working on personal art projects? What challenges do you face on personal art projects? What have you learned about working in a creative business? What is your favorite part of working in a creative business? What is the difference between working on personal art and working in a creative business?
My favorite part of working on personal art projects is the fact that I get motivated by the passion I have for the project, as opposed to the motivation of a grade or due date. The biggest challenge I face working on a personal project is that I tend to be a perfectionist and when I am in a ‘perfectionist mode’ I overdo things and end up messing them up even more. For example, I’m currently working on a design for my graduation cap. I used stickers for letters and many times I would move the letters to make it look more symmetrical. Every time I moved a letter the other letters would either move or fall off, which almost ruined the project.
When working on a creative project in the workplace, Perfection is a key element. At Curious I’ve learned how to plan out my creative projects. I’ve also had more opportunities to recheck my work and have others check my work. The biggest differences between personal projects and projects for work is that there are due dates for projects and more people see the project. Due to these challenges, one has to manage one’s time better and look over one’s work more often.
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*(Please read below now in preparation for Blog 8)
No Blog Next Week- you will need to use the week to work on your Intern ship Inspired Project in preparation for blog 8. You cannot write blog 8 if you have not talked to your supervisor about your internship project. Make talking to your supervisor about the project #1 priority if that hasn’t happened.
Blog Question #8 :
How is your internship project going? Describe the progress of your project. How did the conversation about your project go with your sponsor? (If you haven’t discussed the project with your sponsor yet, how do you plan to do so?) Did they have good insights into how to improve or expand the project? How does your project bridge what you do at your internship and what you like to create for yourself? Has your relationship with your sponsor evolved as you have engaged in a creative dialogue about your project? Are there any challenges you are experiencing planning or doing your project?
My Intern project is going well. I currently am working on the program for Your Best One. So far I’ve finished the outline for the program. This outline is called a program skeleton. Last week I got feedback from Jeannene and sent it off to the designer. Katie and I had figured out what articles to put into the program. I also wrote some discussion questions for the program and looked them over with Katie (Katie normally writes them).
Both Katie and Jeannenne had good insight into my project. For example, I came up with the questions and Katie helped me write them in a more effective way. The first few needed a lot of edits and last few needed no edits. Jenneane helped me lay out the skeleton in a more effective way for the designer. My project has helped me with my writing skills. This is important because I hope to go into a communications major. Layout might also be important if I go into journalism. This project helps me relate to what Katie and Jeannenne do and has helped me become closer to them. So far the only setbacks I’m experiencing is that waiting for some people to email me their bios for the program.
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Blog Question #9 What have you seen or experienced in your internship that has inspired you the most on your own artistic journey? Has this experience changed your artistic ambitions? How? Have you used this experience to diversify your skill set? What skills have you added?
Working at Curious has given me a lot of experiences and skills that I plan to use in the future. Although I hope to stay involved in the arts throughout my life, I don’t think I will pursue a career in the arts. I hope to pursue a degree in communications or liberal arts, and a career in Public service or non-profit management (maybe even Journalism). My internship supervisor Jeannene is in charge of community engagement. This means I get wonderful experience emailing people inside and outside the company. This included this helps my writing communication skills. As mentioned before I have been able to improve my social media skills on Facebook and Instagram. I have had the wonderful opportunity also sit in on meetings. This teaches me how coworkers work together to achieve a common goal. The playbill that I’m currently making else me with management and organization. I am also going to help the stages manager with auditions, which will help me understand what it’s like to helping event goes smoothly. Working at curious is definitely give me a wider perspective on nonprofits which has may be more excited to work and nonprofit settings. Curious is also inspired me to become more involved social justice issues.
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Blog Question # 10: Has this experience been a rewarding one for you? Why or Why not (keep it positive, if you had negative experiences, focus on what you learned- make yourself look good!)? How has the reality of your internship matched or contrasted with your expectations? What is the most important learning you did during your internship?
I have really enjoyed working a Curious Theatre. All my life I’ve been Involved in the Arts but only through personal and school experiences. Curious was my first experience in the professional arts. For instance, it’s good to know not only have I Stage Managed for a high school club but a whole day of general season auditions for a well known Denver theater. That day I learned how to truly become organized by ordering actor information chronologically and properly announcing who’s up next. This made me reconsider stage management in college. I’ve also have been able to develop my communication skills (Ie be more cautious when proofing emails) and have developed great relationships with my coworkers. I’ve also have had the opportunity to learn more about photography (another art I love!!!). I took pictures at a performance of Black. In the past, I’ve mostly taken outdoor photos. At Black, I learned about the challenges of stage lighting and color contrast. As one can see many of my experiences at Curious have proven to be important lessons but the most important lesson I’ve learned is being able to hear from co-workers about the inner workings of how a theater is run. From staff meetings to banter, I’ve had a special inside look at the world of the arts.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people who have supported me at Curious…
Thank you to Nache Green for connecting me with Curious. Thank you, Katie and Emily, for all the advice and trust you’ve given me. Maggie and Lisa for being there to answer all my questions. Thank you to BLF for the laughter. Thank you to Chip, Dee, and Phoebe, for letting me help with auditions. A Special Thank you to my internship supervisor, Jeannene Bragg for being my most consistent teacher at curious.
Finally a huge thank you to everyone at Curious for your kindness.
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Spring 18 Updated Syllabus:
Bringing Back the Arts Student Syllabus spring 18
Final Portfolios:
BBTA final project evaluation-2017-18 (peer version)
eportfolio-checklist-bbta-2017-18
Internship Overview Example:
Internship Inspired Project Form:
Internship Timecard:
Video Training Materials: