You’re a college student. You’re enrolled in a performance degree program, but are having some second thoughts – maybe your audition season was sparse on returns, maybe you’re trying to reconcile the hours alone in a practice room with your naturally gregarious nature, maybe your soul is Turandot but your larynx is Despina.
Question: What to do?
Answer: Try something else on for size. If you’re interested in the inner workings of arts non-profits, it’s a great time to get an internship. (Ours just happens to be ranked by BusinessWeek and the Princeton Review. We’re kind of a big deal.)
Here’s the thing, though: internships aren’t easy to get, and the best ones are not actually easy at all.
Internships are competitive. There are lots of basic articles about polishing your application materials (no stream of consciousness, please make sure that your cover letter is addressed to the company to whom you’re sending the materials, know what we might find if we google your name, etc.) As someone who pours through stacks of applications every spring, I can tell you that having clean materials and a specific voice is really important.I can also tell you that we really want to know who you are, because we need to know that you’ll fit into our wonderfully quirky family. (It’s a double-edged sword in the best way – because if we’re irritating to you during a 20-minute skype interview? Well, it’sa gonna be a loooong summer. For everyone.)
(Oh, and did I mention that we could’ve used you yesterday, so go ahead and take 5 minutes to get settled in and then we’re off to the races.)
Once you land one, chances are quite good that we’ll ask you to do something more than get us coffee. (We drink enough of the stuff that it’s usually close-at-hand-at-all times.) Your job duties may fluctuate between moving chairs, negotiating schedules between multiple artistic teams, and getting gussied up to talk with a board member or a major donor, sometimes all in one day.Our interns are part of our team, with the responsibilities, the long hours, the too-tired-to-function-so-we-get-the-giggles camaraderie that occupy our busy summers. We’re here to help – heck, many of us started as interns ourselves – but we’re not here to do your job. We need you, and we count on you.
Ready to get your hands dirty? Ready to learn something new that will keep you in the arts (without having to get in the woodshed nearly as often)? Here are the positions that we have open. Friday is the deadline – proofread before you hit send!
Ticket Services
Planning and Initiatives
Accounting
Information Services
Wolf Trap Opera Company
Technical Theatre
Costuming
Scenic/Prop Painting
Stage Management
Admininistrative
Directing
Programming and Production
Communications and Marketing
Photography
Marketing
Ad Sales/Group Sales
Graphic Design
Web Communications
Creative Copywriting
PR
Multimedia
Development
Special Events
Major Gifts
Annual Fund
Education
Indirect Routes 