Arts Internship

My Goal

In thinking about having a career in the arts, my goal is to create either an internship or a work-based learning experience with an organization that has an artistic component. I got this idea when I read an article about how professional photographers can help in increase adoption rates at animal shelters (Before and After: Why Animal Shelters Need Good Photographers). It made me wonder how incorporating art could help animal shelters in many different ways.

The Portrait of a Graduate indicator that my goal relates to is about financial well-being and career planning.

Expectations

For this goal I looked at Vermont's Financial Literacy Standards in the section Employment and Income:

Use a career plan to develop personal income potential.

Standard 1. Explore job and career options. Outline a career plan that aligns with personal interests, financial goals and desired lifestyle.

Action Steps

To achieve these goals I plan to:

1. Look through this great resource, the Complete Comic Book Guide to Getting an Internship. This was made by a student, Clave Fourie (@Clave4e) when he was a student at The Met High School in Sacramento, California, which is part of Big Picture Learning. Big Picture is really cool because it vision is "that all students live lives of their own design, supported by caring mentors and equitable opportunities to achieve their greatest potential."

2. One great piece of advice is to follow your passion! I'm lucky because I already know what that is.

3. Do a shadow day to find out if the organization/site will be a good fit for you.

4. Create a resume and send it with a cover letter.

Follow Your Passion!

COMPLETE COMIC BOOK GUIDE TO GETTING AN INTERNSHIP - by CLAVE (with watermark).pdf

Evidence

After going through the steps above to secure an internship, I decided to work with an animal rescue organization and offer to help them create promotional materials. I decided to put together a portfolio of work in different visual mediums to offer to the organization for their use in their promotional materials, on their web site, in advertising their rescue animals, etc. Here is some of the work I created:

Watercolor

Before and After Photos

Digital Illustration

Logo

Cartoon

REFLECTION

This internship experience was really great for me. It was hard at first trying to introduce myself and reach out to find something, but I'm really glad I pushed through that and forced myself to do it. Applying for the internship helped me develop my own voice, and doing the work helped me take a stand for others (animals), so I feel like I met those standards.

Communication was also a big piece of this internship. One of the things I really liked was exploring the same topic in a variety of media. I learned that certain media is better for communicating different things. For example, a watercolor is more personal (light in color, more like a quiet moment) and a cartoon tells a story in a more eye-catching way. So I need to keep this in mind when working for a company or an organization - what is the purpose of the work of art I will create for them? That answer can dictate the type of medium I use. I also learned that it is more challenging to make sure that the words and images enhance each other to tell a clear story, so if you are a good visual artist but aren't a good writer then you should be good working on a collaborative project.

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