taking pictures

This is my favorite picture I took on concert duty this summer. This is Karen Slack, a guest vocalist for our 4th of July concert, Cincinnati Pops: Red White and Boom

When I was on assignment at one of the outdoor concerts, I usually had the department camera to take pictures to post on the Cincinnati Pops facebook page. It was sometimes really tiring being on my feet to get a few good photos from the night, but I always liked having a few good shots to bring back to the office.

I would always laugh when patrons asked if I was "with the press." At a few of the concerts, there were hired or press photographers there too. THEY knew I wasn't a professional photographer (most obvious sign: I always used the LED display. They use the viewfinder.)

But I always had fun.

all the pretty dresses

It's Monday morning, after 10 a.m. and I'm not not at work for the first time in two and a half months. I'm officially on the other side of my internship. Over the next few days & weeks, I'll be able to write more about exactly what I was doing since I'm no longer an employee of the organization. But first, I wanted to write about my favorite things (and least favorite things) from the summer.

Intern Perks

1. Dressing Up

One of the first things I learned about the office was the dress code.



inspiration.
via 



I read online that you HAVE to wear a jacket (blazer) to job interviews. On the day of my initial interview, it was almost 90 degrees and sunny. By the time I made it to the office, I couldn't take the jacket off even if I wanted to because I was so sweaty! Of course, my interviewers were wearing polos and dress pants and were very friendly and relaxed (all qualities I immediately loved about the office.)

I haven't worn the jacket since.

A former die-hard, jeans-and-tee-shirt type, I wore every dress and skirt in my closet this summer. Being forced to look grown-up and professional on a regular basis made it easier to get used to the idea. Now I buy new dresses, skirts and accessories frequently with the intention of actually wearing them on ordinary days.

Most valuable items: pencil skirts & nice flats.

Stay tuned for more updates this week!

last day eve

I finally made it back to the Contemporary Art Center to check out the Keith Haring exhibition. (or exhibit? show? gallery? I clearly have a few things to learn about visual arts.) Anyway, it was great to see.

Today is Thursday. The last day of the internship is tomorrow. I spent most of today wrapping up my last few projects. I was really pushing to finish the data entry project today, but I still had a few entries left when I called it quits this afternoon. I'll finish it tomorrow.

Post-Internship Things To Do:

1. Write thank you notes and letters to the staff and my sponsor for a great summer

2. Start studying for the GRE/GMAT to apply for arts administration programs.

3. Find a fall internship!

I'll write more over the next few days.

PS: I had page views from FIVE countries this week!! Thanks for visiting!

Stay tuned.

the final countdown, week 9 of 10

It's feeling more & more like fall in the city. Just another sign that my summer internship is coming to a close. 

This week was a whirlwind of interny transition.

Wednesday, I was treated to lunch with the Communications VP and Ass't at a beautiful restaurant near the center of downtown called Via Vite. Most of my days this summer were with Communications. A lot of writing, thinking about writing, wishing I could write faster. I enjoyed being able to sit down with them to ask questions and get feedback outside of the office. I learned a greal deal from them both.

I ordered the most incredible "seared Canadian salmon with sauteed spinach and citronette."  

As the Communications Assistant was making reservations for Wednesday's lunch, I was invited to a Thursday lunch with another division of the organization. This group oversaw my epic, epic data entry project. I still haven't finished the project, but I've made excellent progress. After 1300+ entries into my Access spreadsheet, I've worked backwards from 2011 to 1892. I have four days next week to enter the last few books to end at 1873.

For Thursday, the Marketing/Communications Manager and the Marketing/Development Ass't chose Jean-Robert's Table for lunch. They're a lovely bunch and I always enjoy chatting with them. I ordered the French Chataeu burger and was STUFFED. 

Later on Thursday was the farewell reception with ArtsWave. All the interns were there, reps from our respective organizations, and reps from ArtsWave.

We each spoke about our experiences over the summer and the things we learned. The reps asked questions about our career goals, interests, future plans... We all got very positive feedback from our hosts and I felt very honored to have been a part of the program. 

That night, after weeks of being a dedicated intern, I decided to go out and do something fun. I took the office up on their offer to use a few complementary tickets to a once-(maybe twice)-in-a-lifetime type of concert. Janet Jackson! I was super pumped. I brought a friend and had a great time. 

Way late getting into the office this morning. So much for the Intern of the Year award. Good thing I still have a week to recover!

Happy weekend:)

hipster saturday

I rolled out of bed a little early for this weekend's Saturday morning adventure. Today I made it to City Flea downtown, a vintage shop in Northside called Chicken Lays an Egg, and Findlay Market in OTR.

So, City Flea

Disclaimer: City Flea isn't your ordinary flea market! It was a little hipster gathering downtown of local vendors selling eco-friendly, artsy, it's-$20-because-I-made-it type things.  

I did some 'window shopping' and saw all types of neat little items. Organic pet treats, print tees, ceramic art... I left with a City Flea tote ($7) and emerald green tea from a food vendor.

My parking meter only let me stay at City Flea for half an hour, so I kept moving...

 

Next on the agenda, Finday Market and Chicken Lays an Egg...

I left City Flea and went to Findlay Market but the parking was just awful! Frustrated, I took an early detour to Chicken Lays an Egg. I discovered this little shop after seeing a few of their items featured in A-Line Magazine. It's a small place, but I think it's cute.

I bought a little pin that caught my eye. $9

By the time I got back to Findlay Market I was tired, hot, and the Findlay public restrooms were closed for remodeling. I wasn't inspired to stay long.

I went straight for the Vietnamese bistro and picked up lunch to-go. Two vegan salad rolls and rice noodles with lemongrass chicken & vegetables. ($12)

I'm glad I got out of bed and decided to do something today.

This little city is OK.

happy birthday?

They have the strangest tradition here:

If it's your birthday, you bring treats for the office.

It's always a nice surprise to find cookies or a little cake in the breakroom around lunch time. It's a big office morale boost, especially on a long, slow day.

Well, today there were at least five birthdays.

It was out of control.

There were oatmeal raisin cookies, fruit plates,  banana cheesecake, popsicles, fudgesicles, Splenda chocolate chip cookies (my personal fave), red velvet whoopie pies and chocolate-covered macaroons.  

Good thing calories don't count on Fridays, right? 

Happy weekend. :)  

the interviews.

I spent a few days last week at the public television station. We did the first of a series of interviews with professional musicians about the 2011-2012 concert season. Coming up with specific questions for each piece of each program was like a mini research project. I wanted the musicians to mention the little bits of trivia that might be left out of the program notes.

I think my research helped, but it was funny... After all the time and energy I spent preparing, we really got some of the best responses when we just let them talk.

One of my favorite interviews was with a violinist I can't say I had ever seen in the orchestra before. He warned us before we started filming that he didn't know what he was going to say and he was just going to "go with it."

weekend.

i <3 weekends with Vietnamese food!
Goi ga bap cai (cabbage chicken salad)

the visuals

 Lunch meeting at the contemporary art museum yesterday!

Visual art administration seems SO different from working with the performing arts. The other interns felt right at home, but I would have a whole lot to learn if I ever wanted to do anything with visual arts. (First, how do dress like a visual arts administrator. They were FIERCE.)

Again, another beautiful space. The conference room looked out to the city and the coolest parking garage i've ever seen. (Yes, it's a parking garage!)

And they gave us the nicest gifts from the museum shop!





Part of a giant wall installation in the lobby.
She was right at eye level.





They gave all the interns:

Obey Giant tee shirts.

A giant book on Keith Haring.

A Keith Haring Radiant Baby button. 

And lots of materials on the organization.

I sent a thank you note this morning.

They were definitely great to meet.

Auf Wiedersehen!



treats from the party today.
mine had raspberry filling!

A member of the marketing team is moving overseas & the whole office got together to say goodbye.

In the farewell speech, the guest of honor noted how nothing could be possible without the whole team. Marketing, development, communications, production, artistic, education... Team effort to make the whole thing work. 

Which got me thinking about the areas of this field that I'm most interested in. (And this definitely helped.)



Today, I would say I'm most interested in public relations. Artistic planning is a close 2nd. Then marketing. Then education. But for now, I'm just enjoying the intern perks (=the cupcakes) being a tiny part of the team.  

back to blogging

Good morning!

I have the morning off today. Perfect opportunity to get back to blogging after a short hiatus!

It's insanely hot in my part of the country! The heat has made it exceedingly difficult to do much of anything. I've seen this little weather map floating around Facebook. 100% accurate! (via)

(My energy bill this month is going to be RIDICULOUS.)

LOL. Anyway. Back to the internship.

I'm having a great time. Today starts week seven of the ten week internship. It's flying by!

This week, I have two meetings with the other interns. One is at a trendy downtown art museum that I've been dying to visit. Later in the week, we start filming the video series I helped write for a few weeks ago. Super excited. 

I'll be sad to leave my internship in a few weeks, but I'm definitely ready to start working to earn my way into a full time position in this field. More on that, the GRE, applications, and this weekend's impulse buy this week! Thanks for reading and stay tuned!

stay tuned.

I'm behind on updates. Someone (I'm not saying any names) was inspired to chew through my modem cables this week. =no wifi.

 Little punk. :)

Lots of exciting projects, convesations and ideas this week. Stay tuned!

weekend impulse



source



Saturday afternoon impulse buy:

Purple & red Banana Republic wedge heels from the Mustard Seed Boutique. $19.17

I love the color, and the wedge is pretty klutz-friendly. I'm not big on heels, but maybe if I keep practicing I'll be brave enough to wear them in public! Maybe.

Back to work tomorrow!

office cleaning day

Big cleaning day today.
The whole office shut down to help clean out desks, file cabinets, storage spaces... The institution is over 100 years old in an even older builidng so there was a lot of STUFF. 

I knew it was going to be a rough day, but I had one goal: 

Find something nice & bring it home. 

I got lucky!

I got:

1. The old (really old, but still digital!) PR camera. Found it in the boss' office, he let me keep it!

2. A beautiful program book from the Vienna Konzerthaus. This was in the assistant's filing cabinet.

3. And a promo-sized poster of this recording.

I saved it from the trash! It's going to look great in my apartment!

 

I came home smelling like dust, mothballs and cardboard.
I went up the road and got Yagoot to celebrate the weekend.

macguyver moment

A little while ago my favorite Gap sandals broke 15 minutes into the day.

I couldn't walk around the office barefoot.  

Then I thought: "What would MacGuyver do?"

The break:

I think it snapped when I was crossing the street to get to work.

The idea:

The stretchy headband I wore to work.

The save:

I threw the shoes and headband away at the end of the day, but I think this was a brilliant, brilliant save.

just a tuesday

Today I had a lunch meeting with ArtsWave, the other interns, and a few administrators from a major performing arts organization in the city. Part of my internship program is visiting other organizations, meeting the administrators, and just getting familiar with the arts community. *hint, this week's meeting was at a very vocal organization* :)

My 68 pages of The Art of the Turnaround served me so well today! For the first time, the numbers made sense. The issues made sense. The strategies made sense. It was like I had a little babelfish in my ear and I understood arts management. (At least a little.) One of the speakers mentioned one of the most basic, but super important things that I've learned recently:

"The measure of success in a non-profit is how well it fulfills its mission".

After the meeting, the director of community relations took me on a quick tour of their offices. I was impressed by how stunningly beautiful everything was. The chairs, the desks, the windows, the elevator, the walls, the colors. Just beautiful. I could have stayed there all day. 

My normal office isn't nearly as visually striking as the office I visited for lunch, but I was happy to get back to my mismatched, cluttered little desk in the corner. This week, I got a new project. I'm doing some brainstorming for a series of short videos that introduce most of the organization's major events. I'm excited to see if any of my ideas will make it to the taping and through to the final product. Excitement.

Sorry, no picture for today.

The Art of the Turn Around

I took a quick trip home this weekend. Just to visit for a little bit. On the long road home, I started a new book that was suggested to me @ my last meeting with the other interns and our program sponsor.

The Art of the Turn Around: Creating and Maintaining Healthy Arts Organizations

This book is about Michael Kaiser, an arts administrator who saved a handful of major arts organizations from financial crisis. I was skeptical at first. I figured any book about management would be boring, way over my head, and read like a textbook. But what I like about The Art of the Turn Around is that it's very readable. Very practical. He talks about the finances, but he also talks about the relationships he formed at each organization. I loved the section on his experiences going on tour with the Alvin Ailey dancers.

 In the first chapter, he makes a list of ten rules for a successful turn around. #1 on the list:

"Someone must lead"

In the context of the chapter, he meant that someone has to lead the turn around with "a single unified vision for the organization" without bias. For me, it meant someone must lead. Someone has to be a leader to keep & create the opportunities for the artists and to serve the community. I'm excited to learn more about being a leader and I'm very excited about this book!

In other news, it is HOT outside. I'm staying in & might finally (finally) start studying for the GRE.

(serious face)

In case you missed it, my interny summer of adventure is currently at a standstill.

Almost a week ago, there was an incident. In broad daylight, on a busy street. I was not physically harmed, nothing was stolen, but enough was done to disrupt my sense of security. Today, I feel moderately safe, but I miss the day-to-day happenings of being out & about.  

In other news, I hear the boss liked my pictures from the Fourth of July.

Score.



5th of July

This weekend I worked the big Fourth of July event for the organization. Like the last big event, I was in charge of the photos. I was on my feet for most of the night trying to get a few good shots to bring back to the boss. Most were good. A few were great. IMHO.

After the event, I did the American thing to do on the Fourth of July: I ate a burger. A COW burger. Maybe McDonalds wasn't the best place to start the road back to omnivorism, but it was OK.

In other news, I made it to 1998 in the data entry project with aching wrists & forearms and a numbing right pinky. Not a good sign. I might have to slow down.

hello? is anyone there?




 

 Yesterday was a strange day in the office.

Co-workers were dropping like flies to leave for the long weekend. I didn't know I had a long weekend until close to lunchtime, so I was planning to stay all day.

By noon, my shared space in the office was empty.

For lunch, the break room was empty too.

I took a short walk & it looked like all the downtown professionals took an early vacation.  

Quiet day in the city.

 

 

 To celebrate the surprise long weekend, I had a big Italian dinner with a good friend.

Happy weekend everyone!

lunch break

 

Today I went to a cute coffee/sandwich place for lunch. I was planning to bring my lunch back to the break room to eat, but the place was adorable, air conditioned & completely empty.





I stayed & had lunch with this little guy in the window. ->>>  In the office, I spent most of the day taking notes on raw interview footage. That's one of the more interesting things i've done this week.

I got an email from one of the other interns in my program today! I wonder what/how the others are doing.

hump day

Big news: I wore glasses to work today. I really hate wearing glasses, but I gave it a shot for a few hours.

I made it to 2003 in my data entry project! I'm just flying through as fast as I can to finish long before my internship ends in case I have to rework anything. Microsoft Access & I are like bff now. 8 years of data down, 130 to go!

In other news, I think I'm getting a tiny bit better at press writing! I get really great opportunities everyday to write something succinct, clear, & catchy that people will read. I've learned so many ways to say:

"Come to our event. It will be exciting."

It's great.  

and then there was data entry

I had the whole morning off today, but I went into the office anyway. Just in case there was something important and interny that needed to done. Of course there wasn't and I ended up waiting around until the time I was supposed to be there anyway. Brownie points earned = 0.

Today I started my big data entry project. No lie, a long afternoon of data entry is no fun, but I'm still pretty excited about it. If I can get this done really fast and really well, I'll be an undeniably successful intern. Yep. That's the goal.

I sat down for about two or three hours. Lots of questions. I finished two years worth of data (2011 and 2010). I'm working backwards to 1873. It's a big job, but I'm totally game.

& sunday.

scary things at the market.

flowers from a friend.

gift for the little ones.

all in a day.

wah wah

=this weekend.

anyway,

big show tonight. excited!

@urban outfitters

 

I really wanted to buy one for myself, but they were $18 each! Bah!

(first weekend) "it's what you make of it"

Sleeping in today (saturday) was lovely!

Yesterday (Friday) was another beautiful day to be an intern. I didn't have much to do in the office, but my new long-term assignment is very, very cool. I'm working with one of the web interns to do some housekeeping around the organization's website. Adding pictures here & there. Editing "copy". (That's a term I learned this week. "Copy". Like art & copy. Not copy & paste.)  

In the afternoon, I went back to ArtsWave for a small welcome reception for my internship program. Just the three other girls in my program and a few representatives (mostly community engagement directors) from their host organizations. The other interns are younger, but they seem very nice and equally interny. :)

It wasn't intentional, but the meeting turned into a long conversation between the administrators about what it means to have a passion for the arts and the community. Some told their stories about how they arrived in their current positions. Others talked about how unusual it is for a city to have so many historic organizations that all work together to serve the arts community as whole. In other words: "This city is what you make of it".

Great first week.

Happy weekend!

(first week) typical intern thursday

What I love most about being the intern is that I'm never really sure of what's going to happen when I come in for work in the morning.

Today I spent two hours copying, collating and stapling for the big lunch meeting. As soon as the board arrived, I felt like an intern in the worst way. Everyone seemed very polished, established, put-together. My shirt was from Target. But also like an intern, I was thrilled just to be there. Like I had already done something great.

After I finished for the day, I took a long, long walk into downtown to go window shopping. Everything I saw paled in comparison to nicest things I remembered from the meeting, so I caught the bus and came home.

(first week) slow, slow wednesday

Yesterday (Wednesday) was slow.

It rained so I couldn't continue my lunch break walk to the river. I used the opportunity to stay inside and start putting more faces with names. I ate lunch with a few people from my side of the hallway and I listened to them talk.

Today (Thursday) looks exciting. I'm going to a lunch meeting for the board of trustees just to be present as the intern. What am i supposed to wear to a board meeting?

(first week) tuesday meetings

I was still excited from my walk to ArtsWave on Monday, so I took long walk through the city during my lunch break today. I picked a street and kept walking until I started to run out of time. I could almost see the river when i had to turn around. Next time it's pretty outside, I'll wear more comfortable shoes and keep walking.

I was invited to sit in on two meetings today. The morning meeting was with a lot of the faces and departments I couldn't remember from Monday. They talked about their current email system and how it could be better in the future. I just got here yesterday & I'm still pumped just to have a company email address in the first place. But i still took notes.  

In the afternoon, I went to a  digital strategy meeting with PR and marketing about the organization's presence in different media forms. Super interesting & very exciting. For the first time, I felt like I had something to contribute. This is something I understand! But of course, I stayed quiet and made mental notes of things I wish I had said. Next time.

(first week) inspiration from bill withers

Monday in review:

Great first day. Lots of questions, getting lost, lots of names, faces, departments and titles to remember.

During my lunch break, I took a walk to ArtsWave (my internship sponsor) to turn in some paperwork. In just a few blocks I felt like I was in a completely new city. The weather was beautiful and downtown was alive like I'd never seen it. Lots of urban professional types. Maybe I was one of them?

I came home exhausted and made myself a giant bowl of pasta. I watched a documentary on Netflix called Still Bill about Bill Withers, a completely normal dude who happened to write about five of the greatest songs of the 70's. And he's still a completely normal dude. It was great to watch because he seems so genuinely down-to-earth even though the whole world loves his music.