News

Hey guys!!! How are you? I miss you all so much! It's been a while since last time I give you updates... (sorry Dr. Rushton and Susan, internship report is still under process... soon, I promise!) And now it's time!

As some of you may know, I had passed my deadline of looking for a job (due to my visa status) so I packed up my stuff and came home two weeks ago. It was a sad decision to leave the US, especially knowing that I won’t be able to see you guys again in a long long time. I wasn’t able to call you guys up individually cause my phone died on me in the very last couple days and everything happened too fast (and there’s too many stuffs to pack… oh man…) that I didn’t even have time to think through everything I should have done before I left. But I do think about all of you all the time, all the good times and hard times we’ve been through together. Thank you all for being great friends in the past two years and four months so I knew at all times that I was not alone.

Being home has been great. I’ve been eating a lot of good food (but I miss bagels, good cheese, good wine, and good beer) and meeting lots of families and friends. I’ve spent some time on the beach breathing the ocean air—yes, the weather has been like summer in the US! (but I miss the gorgeous white snow and the smell of air coming out from the old fashion heater). All have been great, but I miss my life in New York and in Bloomington. BUT, the greatest thing happened yesterday—I got a job offer from Cloud Gate Dance Company!!! I interviewed with them last Tuesday and have been holding on to my cell phone twenty four seven (literally); you all know how painful it is to wait for the phone call. Can’t describe the complicated feelings in my heart right now but I have to let you all know this great news! They’ve offered me a position in the production team and we’ll talk about the details of my responsibilities next week; maybe I’ll be able to be part of the touring team and go visit you guys soon! Keep your fingers cross for me!

I so much wish you are around to give me a hug. Miss you lots and lots. Write me emails at salina.yeh@gmail.com or call me at my Internet phone 917-652-3098 to leave message (address: No. 1-12 Hua-hsing Street, Hualien 970, Taiwan). Give me some updates of your life too, so I know all my friends in the continent on the other side of the world are doing great.

Salina, in Taiwan

A student no more

I can no longer download the free IU software - so that's sad.

But what I really want to know is at what point can I please stop receiving the inane SPEA emails??

Thx!!

xoxo

Stephanie

Expert help needed

Ok, here is our first "request for expertise" post. I need the knowledge of some visual art folks out there. I have 2 images, that I've found on the internet, that my org would like to use in an educational publication, if we can confirm that they are in fact images of the "Great Wagon Road" (related to the history of Appalachian folk music) and we can track down copyright info for them. Does anyone have resources they standardly use to research images? Or can you place the period/style of art or artist? Thanks! -Sarah

Hello Friends!

Hello Friends - it has been too long! We need to be better about writing to each other - post anything - what you're doing at work that day - I don't care - it's always fun to hear from you all.

I'm still in Washington DC, at the National Council for the Traditional Arts. My job is to assist with the production and logistics of 4 folk and traditional music festivals this season. What this actually means is that I book a LOT of airplane tickets to get stage technicians and sound engineers into our destination cities, and coordinate all of the tech info they need, like stage plots, equipment needs, and schedules, to give them once they're on site. So far, we've done festivals in Butte, Montana; Lowell, Massachusetts; and Bangor, Maine. Our last one will be in Richmond, Virginia, at the beginning of October. We travel out for about a week, but the festivals are just Fri-Sun. I always say that festivals are like summercamp for adults - you make a whole bunch of best friends in a condensed time period. They're good people - the staff is a lot of fun to work with. The office work in the weeks in between gets a bit repetitive, as you go through the same procedure to prepare the artists and staff for each festival, so I tend to live for the weeks of travel. On the academic front, I owe Susan so many update reports, it's embarrassing (soon, I promise!).

Jessica, I looked at that article, and it says Liska is traveling to do the installation the 18-22 - she must be there now! She asked me a few weeks ago to do the museum brochure for Morton Bradley, so I got to learn a little about him. It's still in review for edits among the big folks, though, we haven't reached a final draft. But it's looking good. Liska's colorful words of excitement when I sent it to her really brightened my day :)

On that note, I'm doing more graphic design work all the time, which I really enjoy. IU providing all the new Adobe CS4 software for download to students was a big help to me! My last big project was making light-pole banners, now hanging in 18 locations around the University of Michigan campus (my undergrad). There's a picture on my blog, if you want to see it. (The rest of the blog is lagging a bit - I find the interesting things to write about might be too revealing for the business of wherever I work at the time, and I always feel I owe some loyalty to the organization that employs me, so that's that.) But if you've got graphics projects, send them my way!

My NCTA gig ends in October - so after that I need a new job! So I'm on the hunt yet again....

Hope you're all doing well, and hope to read updates or hear from you all soon, too!

(And if you're in the DC area in the next couple months, let me know!)

all my best wishes,
Sarah

campus art takes the world by storm!

Hello, Friends!
I didn't get a chance to read Clare's last post, so I may be a little out of the loop on what's going on with Arts Admin folk...How is everyone doing? I will put together a more detailed update about what I'm doing once I have a little more to update about. In the meantime, I'm working with Liska at Campus Art and having a lovely time doing it.

We wanted to share this article with you. Campus Art doesn't make the headlines terribly often, so we were proud to get some press!

http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/11848.html

Anyway, I miss you guys. Well, mostly Hu...
Just kidding, I miss all of you!

Stay in touch,
Jessica

SOMEONE needs to update this thing.

Found out today I'm going to be on a panel for a living history conference here in Indy. Mostly focused on Underground railroad re-enactment. I will be sitting alongside Conner Prairie's Guest Experience Manager and a few other local arts admins. Sooo that will be fun.

And if any of you have family, friends, acquaintances that are Indiana principals, they will have received the YA program catalogue this week, edited by yours truly. I mostly worked from last year's template (per my boss's instructions), but it was an interesting challenge using InDesign for the first time. My big excitement now is researching companies that can turn the PDF into a cool digital flip book. The prices range from $20/month to $30/page annually(over $1500 for our catalogue). There seems to be some differences in the services between low range and high range prices. The most expensive have really great keyword search options and options to embed video and audio, but I'm not yet convinced that we need all the bells and whistles. If anyone has suggestions, send them my way.

I would really love to hear from some of you. I will resist my initial thought to list names of people who have yet to blog and just leave it at pleading.

Best,

SH

News from Natalia...

Hello! Masters of the Universe,

A twenty-something artist friend of mine told me about the Etsy website, http://www.etsy.com/, which prompted this post from me.

I've decided to work less this next year and barrel through the rest of the MAAA coursework this next year. That means I'll be looking for an internship soon, too. I plan to work in advocacy for the arts when I complete my degree, so an intership with Americans for the Arts (or similar organization) sounds ideal. Any other options you know about and have some experience with would be greatly appreciated. I am willing to move for the time period, if needed.

I attended the Salt Creek Sundance this past week-end, http://sc.saltcreeksundance.com/. Some of you know that my attendance at the Sundance in the summer of 2007 started me on the path that led me to begin the MAAA program with all of you that fall. I am grateful to that ceremony for many things in my life.

One more thing -I also want to encourage all of you to keep your spirits up, even in these uncertain times. You are a wonderfully talented, funny and intelligent group of young people. I can't wait to see what kind of lives you'll dream up for yourselves!

Take care and keep posting! :)

Natalia*

An update and an NEA document

Hello all,
I am posting some carnivalesque good news, I am employed- there is hope. I will be joining Michelle in Houston come August to work at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft as their Curatorial Fellow. Basically, I will get to work under the Curator of Craft on exhibitions and curate exhibitions of my own in the smaller gallery space.

Secondly, I'm working for a few weeks at the City before leaving town. Mainly I've been doing research on applying for an NEA grant (daunting!) and designing public art signage. Several weeks ago I sifted through NEA information and discovered there is a Freedom of Information Act, (FOIA) that would allow me to ask for copies of successful grants similar made by organizations similar to the City. After learning how to request such information I did so. And then I waited, and never heard back assuming that the government would not pull through. Then today in my inbox there it was - two example grant pdf files! I was so excited! And really thought the only people who would understand would be y'all (I'm trying to embrace Texas).

Hope everyone is having a great start to summer!
AW

Hello All!

Greetings to everyone far and beyond from Bloomington! Thought I would drop a line to say hello! Things are going well here, I have been working for Campus Art (yes....still) on a pretty cool project. "The Bradley Project" is a project focusing on the sculptural works of Morton C. Bradley, Jr.- a true renaissance man. He was a conservator, writer, and artist. My job is three-fold: to plan a round table discussion about Mr. Bradley (we have some big guns coming, very cool), subsequently publish a book about Mr. Bradley based on the ideas generated in the discussion, and to get the sculptures out into the big wide world.

The last part has been quite fun- right now sculptures are on their way to the Children's Museum of Phoenix, The Indianapolis Children's Museum, and hopefully a few venues in Boston, where Mr. Bradley lived. If any of you out there in Arts Admin land are at an institution that would be interested in having a piece- let me know! Here is the website...look!

http://www.iub.edu/~iuam/online_modules/bradley/index.html

Hope everyone is having a great summer and doing exciting things. I was really lucky this past week I got to have lunch with Kelly one day, and Eric and Justin another! Natalia and I also went to the Friday art walk thing last week and it was pretty cool thanks to this new place. It's called "The Venue", its right behind Laughing Planet, and has some really neat artwork.

I miss you all!
Liska

Eric Woodhams, Twitter's "Man of the Year"

Today, the London Symphony told its followers to follow the Aspen Music Festival (aka Eric Woodhams). Here's what they said:

"Don't do this often but our #followfriday is @aspenmusic. Consistently great on Twitter, they deserve their 2000 follower club membership!"


Getting kudos from the London symphony! Go Eric! And congrats on 2000 followers!

Staff meeting

Just had a one hour long staff meeting about Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Delicious.... I was a little overwhelmed and felt like I need to talk to my fellow arts admins. Somewhere inside my brain, a BIG voice keeps rejecting the whole idea of these social networks. Do I have to follow all these? I feel very lost. It’s funny I’ve always avoided marketing and all crazy social networks you’ll never be able to keep up with (oh I believe some people can, I know Eric always can) and it seems to me that I really don’t have a choice any more.

Started in this season, we have three to four interns and part-time pages (everyone excluding me) working on all these sites, since we don’t really have a marketing person. Oh man, being able to working “officially” on Facebook at work is just out of control. I can’t handle it any more, it makes me upset when dishes from greenroom are still lying on the floor, box office reports are still in the envelopes, or the event transcript from three weeks ago is still not done. On our staff meetings, this is all we talk about. No body remembers the auction disaster we had last week, or progress on getting new members, or even the current ticket sale is still very low. I’m not working on any of the sites so I feel left out. But at the same time I think that the marketing isn’t everything (I’m not saying it’s not important, it’s VERY important), I do prefer to do all those detail, nasty, but necessary operational works; I do prefer programming, and even development (funny for me to say this). I’m worried about how are all these sites going to be managed when all these interns and part-time pages left. I’m worrying about loosing our existing audience. I don’t know, there are too many things to think about, and we need a system or a plan to function better, instead of “oh let’s go ahead and do it; it’s fun and everyone’s doing it.” I mean, if an organization doesn’t even have a mission statement and a strategic plan yet, where are all these great marketing ideas going?

Sorry, I’m just complaining. I understand marketing is fun, but I’m just not the person to do it. I understand how important it is to keep up with the technology but CAN WE ever really catch up? do we really need to catch up just because everyone’s doing it and it’s “hip”? (maybe I should put all these in my internship reports) Great, my task for today is to find out how much it is to buy one of those flip cameras Meg brought to one of our marketing class last spring… well I told them in the meeting how much it's going to cost but they were listening. Hey, seriously, I've done the research on this LAST spring!

Oh I miss you all.

Cool Way to Recognize Donors

Greetings from sunny Sarasota for the final time this semester!

All is well here at Mote. Recently, we opened a new turtle tank for our blind green sea turtle, Hang Tough (see Facebook for pics of the ribbon-cutting). The donor recognition gift was SO COOL, that I needed to share the artist's name and information with you. E. Moises Diaz creates amazing and truly PERSONAL donor recognition. The one he did for our donor shows a stylized Hang Tough swimming in his new home with a group of children watching. Go to www.artforrecognition.com to see more of his unique recognition pieces. Very affordable and SO much better than the standard brass plaque!

Kelly and I bumped into each other at the Rally today! anyone else there? post your photos!

Friday night at the Library

I spent my last Friday night at the library. Happily, unlike the grad school connotation, this was purely for entertainment. The Marion County Public Library recently built a new state of the art facility in downtown Indianapolis with every bell and whistle you could imagine a library could have. Technically I've only been to the children's section, but I imagine the rest of the library is just as awesome. If you've been to the new Indianapolis airport, think something like that, with books.

Anyway, Friday night was a student art show a teacher friend of mine was participating in with her class. They did light painting, which is a type of photographic "trick" where you open the shutter for several seconds and using small hand-held lights in a dark room you can "paint" lines and shapes that will show up in the photo although our eyes can not see them. This was accompanied by a sound project, students at another school created using various computer programs. All of it was so cool to experience and the new architecture surrounding the artwork only enhanced the wow-factor.

To the point of my blog entry- the Friday night at the library was complete when a twenty piece geek-punk, motley crew of a marching band came bursting through the front doors of the library. They stopped playing long enough to tell everyone SHHH!! we're in the library!! before they started marching again, playing right through the crowd of people, and to the delight of many squealing children. And when I say marching, I am describing more of a circus-esque, everyone for himself, playing the trombone from the top of the staircase, kind of marching formation. This was, amazingly, a perfectly choreographed chaos. Even with kids running around like mad, and drum players flailing about wildly, and the two cheerleaders jumping about uncontrollably, not for a second was there any worry about something going wrong or someone getting hurt. They played in the atrium for a while and then moved into the brand new Clowes library auditorium, (which was heaven itself. You know that feeling of a new performance space, where there aren't already someone's smudge marks on the arm rest and the one seat with the unsightly spot on the fabric to avoid. It was so beautiful.), for a real performance on stage. They played onstage for about an hour, playing both original and borrowed tunes from the traditional marching band repetoire, of course with a little twist.

Without further ado, I will post a video (make sure to watch at least 2 min.) so you can get an idea. The mismatched marching bad, Mucca Pazza:



This entertained me, delighted the kids, and made every middle-aged parent in the audience who had once played an instrument hopeful that, like these band rejects, they too might some day be destined for the bright lights of the local library auditorium stage.

I wanted to post this, not to just wax poetic on a great show I wasn't expecting to see, but to throw the idea out there for anyone who might be planning a family night. This isn't the first crazy marching band I've seen, there are more out there, maybe closer to your city. Mucca Pazza is from Chicago. With 20 people and all those instruments, I can only imagine their travel expenses are astronomical. But I know I have seen other crazy renegade marching bands, including hip-hop marching bands and other genres.

It was magical for the kids, great live music, and just enough irreverence to put classical style music in its place. two thumbs up!

One for the too-rah loo-rah li...

Celtic Woman is in Tampa next Sunday. Tempting. Very tempting. :)

Lisa Michelle Ford Hays

Michelle's big day is Saturday. I'm sure she would love it if anyone wanted to leave their congratulations on this blog.

Congrats Michelle!

The Art of Donor Relations

Hello all! 

I'm so glad to see more people posting, I love to hear what you all are up too. Also, I can't wait to see a bunch of you for graduation week! I just wanted to show off a website that I made as a donor relations tool. valpo.edu/christopherchina

Upon my arrival to my new job at VU I found that the Campus Museum had inadvertently angered the University's single largest donor...oops!  (you may know him as the founder of Pampered Chef). He is a very nice gentleman and both he and his wife are very dedicated philanthropists to more institutions than just Valparaiso University. I have a great deal of respect for their efforts in the area of education. His collection of Railroad China is on display at the campus museum and he was displeased with the amount of publicity that it was receiving. I'd love to see what you all are up to as well. If you have pictures of functions or theatrical events or an impressive press release or bulk email I'd like to see it. I love the visuals! 

Best,

Lexie

Hello from New York City!

Hello everyone! How is everyone doing? I miss you all so much! I hope the internships and jobs are going well for all of you.
So this blog took a little longer than I had wished..but here it comes..

I had a great vacation in Taiwan, for six weeks, spending a lot of time with my family and friends. It felt good to be home, eating all the good food and taking a long break from school. But then it was hard to leave and come to New York, a whole new city so different from our lovely little town Bloomington (it was because of you guys, of course). I got in on 2/13, Friday, spent 24 hours to find an apartment (man it was not fun), moved into the place on Sunday and started working on 2/17 Tuesday. All was a bit crazy and like a dream. My place is in Sunnyside, Queens and I share the apartment with a 20-year-old, Japanese-Taiwanese, NYU girl. Too bad she's underage--no going out together--other than that, she's great.

My internship at the New York Public Library, "LIVE from the NYPL," is a series of conversations and debates among authors, artists and many other professionals about books, art and culture. It's great to work in the beautiful Library, though our office is in cubicals built inside of the Library, I feel a little special wearing the Library ID when walking in Astor Hall which is always filled with tourists--I used to be one of them. My supervisor is a great person to work with; she's always so delightful and energetic. My first two weeks of work was accompanied by the intern of last season; he's German, and he indeed is the best German I've ever met (well, not that I know a lot of German..). He helped me and guided me through lots of administrative work and event preparation. Everyone loved him, he's very humble and capable, which puts a little pressure on my part to take his position.. But I think I'm handling it ok :)

This work itself is pretty interesting. Daily admin is daily admin, nothing too exciting (well..I'll write about that later). But the events are fun and I've enjoyed the topics a lot. I've survived the first two events are there are 10 more to go. I'm about to write my first report, I'll definitely write another blog then.

I've met up with Hu and Tracy, haven't got a chance to see Jen, but it does feel good to have friends here. Overall, I'm liking the life here, the apartment, the work and the city (expect that everything's expensive like crazy). Nothing's more rewarding than coming home on the train and look back the lights and skyline of Manhattan--I'm glad I'm here. I miss you all, including Dr. Rushton. Susan and Megan; seriously, I think I now miss Bloomington more than Taiwan. I'm going back to Bloomington on April 3-5 for my visa, hopefully I can meet those of you who are in town and close by! Take care everyone!

Conner Prairie Returns!

Hey All!

So I just got reinvited to the blog (Sorry Sarah...i forgot to sign up when you sent it out like 3 months ago). Things are going well at the IRT...i'm very busy organizing a Playwriting Symposium (Called the Bonderman) that is coming up in a few weeks...Anyway, I thought I would share this little tidbit. As you all may (or may not) remember our awesome marketing plan for Conner Prairie...well guess what...the last show of the season here at the IRT is Interpreting William...all about William Conner (the founder of Conner Prairie!). It seems that Conner Prairie is following me everywhere! I've even been hired (yay!) to work on the run crew for the show. Oh and in case Steve hasn't shared this with everyone...in his research for Interpreting William...Steve uncovered the super secret marketing plan of Conner Prairie...it's a hot air balloon! If anyone needs a job they are looking for balloon pilots (or whatever they are called) Hope this made your day as much as it made mine :)

Kelly

Blog permissions

I "reinvited" a few of us whose email addresses were not showing up as authors (I think the invite expired from the first time, if you hadn't written yet) - so everyone can write if they want to. No pressure, but FYI that's why some of you got a new blog permissions email. -Sarah

AFTA Convention

Hi all,

A couple of things:

1) The Americans for the Arts convention is in Seattle this summer: June 18-20. Both Jessica and I will be attending, and it would be great if some of you would come out.... not only for the convention, but to visit! I would love to see all of you.

2) Would anyone be willing to share their internship reports with me? I think it would be really interesting to read them. I would love to hear more about all of the organizations you're working with and the details of your jobs. It just seems like a good and easy opportunity for sharing these interesting experiences. Anyway, just an idea.

Hope all is well with everyone!

Clare

Peter Brinckerhoff's "Generations"

Hey all!
Just wanted to make a workshop recommendation. You might remember one of the speakers in Fund Development talking about generational diversity and mentioning Peter Brinckerhoff's book "Generations." The Community Foundation of Sarasota hosted Peter yesterday for a full-day workshop on generational diversity. IT WAS GREAT!!!!!!!! He's entertaining, engaging, and I learned SO much! He spoke on transition to younger leadership, board composition/relations in regards to generational issues, and the major conflicts between generations and how they ought to be handled. If you ever get the chance to hear him speak, GO! The best part: his lecture style is very Rushton-esque, so I'm sure you'll all love him!
Just wanted to share that with you. Hope this finds you well!
-Audrey

Advice?

Hi friends,
Post-Sundance, I'm still seasonal job hunting. Has anyone heard of Florida Studio Theatre (in Sarasota), Barrington Stage Company (in Massachusetts, in the Birkshires), or have you any insight about Jacob's Pillow other than that it's a prestigious dance festival?
I'm lost in decision land, and I don't know enough about theater reputations.
Thanks,
Sarah

Freaks at Mote

Just an amusing tidbit:

On Friday the 13th, Mote hatched at mutant seahorse. This little baby has two left pectoral fins and looks like it is constantly waving hello. From the science freak at Mote Marine: happy Valentines/President's Day/Friday the 13th to all the Arts geeks! Love you all!

Celtic Woman's Long Lost Siblings

Ever wonder what happened to all of the brothers of those Celtic Woman? 

I discovered that they are coming to Valparaiso University.

Meet...

CHANTICLEER

home page

(I feel like I am reliving Doug's class all over again)

Oh yeah! and the Vienna Boys Choir is coming later this fall. 

Lexie

Releasing students back into the wild (a take off of Audrey's dolphin story)

Umm, is anyone else having problems reintegrating into an office job? I am okay from like 9am-2pm, but it's that 2pm-5pm time period where I'm struggling to stay focused/awake. I believe that used to be my usual break time to sit down and watch Two and a Half Men with Sarah, before the late night meetings for Fundraising. Also, I didn't usually go to school/BCT until around 11am. No brisk walks across the freezing campus to keep me invigorated. Just a cozy warm office with a comfy chair and sunlight coming in the window. Sometimes an occasional walk to the copy room to fill up my coffee cup. Sounds nice in theory, but it's quite tiresome. I feel like I might start doing body slaps like Ginger soon, just to shake off the tired. Maybe we can get some interested donors to watch me be released back into the real world. They would see me slowly slouch lower in my chair as the day goes on, but I'd come back every morning.

Forget real-life, I want my school schedule back.

Stephanie

Ginger's Release

Greetings, all!
Just wanted to share something really awesome with you. Normally, I don't get this giddy about things like this, but this was just too cool! This morning, we released Ginger, an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, from the Mote Marine Dolphin and Whale Hospital. Ginger was admitted Dec. 16, 2008 with pneumonia after she had beached herself on Siesta Key. We had a small donor reception at the waterside, so I got a front row seat. About a half hour before Ginger was released, there were two dolphins playing around at the release site. Jason, the guy who does the bay dolphin research (and can amazingly identify all 140 dolphins by a quick glance at their dorsal fins), reported that one of them was Ginger's mother. It's like she knew Ginger was coming back today.
The release went well, and about 5 minutes after the crew left the water, Ginger started body slapping (jumping out of the water, and crashing back down on her side). Martha, our communications VP, said she was probably trying to get the electronic tag off her dorsal fin, but I prefer to believe she was jumping for joy. I don't have any pictures, unfortunately, but I will post a link when the local tv stations air the spot.
Tonight is the corporate donor reception and my first planned giving meeting. It's gonna be one hell of a day!
-Audrey

Greetings!

Hey guys! I am glad everyone is doing well!

A have a few updates for this spring that I wanted to share with you all...

I am putting on a full concert of choreography on March 29 at the John Waldron Arts Center. If anyone is around, I would love it if you came!

I am performing choreography at the American College Dance Festival Association Midwest in Akron, OH, on March 18.

A piece I rehearsed for the dance majors was selected to perform at the World Dance Alliance in Madison, Wisconsin in May.

And - finally - I just had my doctorate interview for Ohio State University and it went pretty well. I should hear something in the next few weeks.

Friends in Bloomington: call me! I miss you all and I would love to hang out =)

xoxoxo Justin

Sundance photos

Hey guys,
My first post-school job has ended. I road-tripped home from Sundance this week. I wish I had written/blogged more during the time, but I was running on not much sleep as it was. I just got up some of my photos, I don't know if this link will work, but they're on facebook for your perusal.
It was amazing overall. I never met Robert Redford, a personal disappointment, but I saw a lot of other pretty cool stuff. A lot of films, a few celebrities, a lot of nice people I worked with. I'm job hunting again for my next seasonal job at a festival; I have had a few interviews this week - we'll see what happens. I learned a lot about ticketing at Sundance, but I don't want to get pigeonholed in that department in other orgs from this point forward.
I'm so glad everyone seems to be doing well, glad you're all blogging, I love reading the updates. I'll write more soon.
lots of love,
Sarah

Greetings from NYC

I hope everyone is off to a wonderful new year. I've been reading everyone's posts with much interest, and I thought I'd chime in with what I've been up to.

After a harrowing 48 hours of looking for an apartment (with a 70 lb. dog, no less), Luke and I found a cute, furnished apartment on the Lower East Side. I have about a 10 minute walk to work, which rocks. We're lovin the neighborhood, which is kind of a night spot. Lots going on all the time--I actually sleep really well with all the noise outside (trucks, people, etc.). Somehow it feels really private.

My internship is great. The place is called Abrons Arts Center (www.henrystreet.org/arts) and is part of the larger Henry Street Settlement, which is a nonprofit serving the Lower East Side through "social services, arts and health care programs." My first week was kind of crazy, because Gossip Girl was filming on location in our playhouse, and we had all sorts of people around. I have never seen the show, but did get to see them film a little bit and wow, it is really tedious work.

I'm working in the Arts-in-Education department. My main project is to work on an arts partnership between P.S. 110, an elementary school down the street, and Abrons. The two received an Empire State Partnership grant (http://www.espartsed.org/), one which is designed to foster sequential and comprehensive visual arts programming for the school across a span of several years.

The particular aspect I'm working on are these ETSL units (Evidence of Teacher and Student Learning). They are a really neat tool actually based off work at C.A.P.E. - Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (which I ironically reported on with my group in our museum class--yay Facos!). These online units basically are a way of showing how the arts integration is working in the classroom. I'm really excited about them because not only do they serve as a method of evaluation--they also serve to show anyone what goes on in the classroom when art is brought in as its own discipline AND what it does for other curriculum areas.

If you're interested, you can look at a sample unit at: http://esp.sicreative.com/preview_units.php?id=90&page=home&preview=8613985ec49eb8f757ae6439e879bb2a.

I miss you all. Write and let us know what you're up to.

Best,
tracy

Greetings from Seattle!

Dear friends,
I’ve been here for just one week, and feel like I’ve already seen more than my fair share of adventure. I arrived at the Seattle/Tacoma airport Tuesday morning last week, and hopped in my rental car to drive to my temporary place in Fremont. (I was very excited, as I just turned 25 and this would be my first rental car experience!) After being lost for three hours, I decided it was time to use that iPhone my brother bought me for Christmas (he was afraid I would get lost living in a new city.) I pulled over and, by the grace of God, the GPS indicated that I was only a few blocks from my destination. I backed up to get back on the road, but had neglected to notice the car that had pulled in behind me. The guy got out to assess the damage and gave me a cold stare. I was not off to a good start in the friend-making department.

Thankfully I found the apartment, and returned my rental car intact. I was not able to endure the two weeks I had paid in advance for my temporary place, however. I had an inkling that the guy might be weird (after we had finalized our deal, he mentioned that the house would be “clothing optional”. I ensured him that I would be keeping my clothes on.)

I will spare you the ugly details, but one week later I am living in a lovely new apartment on Capitol Hill with a delightful (and fully clothed) new roommate named Sarah Marshall. Yes, like the movie. I am enjoying the people, the food (holy canole, these people do seafood right!), the sights, and even the weather. The library itself is like a work of art, and there are a billion fun things, arts and otherwise, going on just in my neighborhood alone. Anyway, I wanted to give you all an update. I am meeting my boss for lunch tomorrow (wish me luck!), and am antsy to get to work first thing next week.
I miss you all, and hope you’re having as much fun as I am!

Cheers!
Jessica
p.s., my new number: 812.734.5694

Watch shorts

If anyone is interested, you can view some of the short films that were at Sundance through iTunes, but they're available just for a few days, I think. Go to http://www.itunes.com/sundance
I haven't seen them all yet, I've been busy trying to catch the full length ones while I'm at the festival. Also, the award winners were announced today, highlighting the best of new film and filmmakers, which you can find on www.sundance.org/festival.
More later, Sarah

Bloomington...still

Cupcakes everyone!

Hope all is well, just wanted to write a lil' post to say "hi" to all of you. I am still in Bloomington, and it is very strange to wake up every day and just have to go to work...no class...or homework...or creepily lurking around SPEA. I am working with the Education Department of the art museum here on campus and its going great. I knew I would like working with Ed (we met him in a Facos class) when he told me that "he worshiped mushrooms". Currently I am writing lesson plans to teach 7th graders art history. My brain thinks like a 13 year old, so I have been getting positive feedback. Also still working in the parking lot...so not too much to report. I just wanted to tell everyone how much I miss you ALL and I love reading your blogs and posts to see what exciting things are happening. Keep posting!

:) Liska

A couple more films

Mystery Team was amazing. It's written, produced, and acted by Derrick Comedy, which is a group of five kids that met at NYU and worked in the same comedy sketch group. They started making short videos online, that gained so much viewership and popularity, they decided to do a full-length feature, and landed in Sundance; further proof Sundance really is fostering new, young, filmmakers, not just hosting the dog and pony show for those already famous. Mystery Team made me laugh, the entire audience laughed; and I think it represented a new style of comedy, different from predictable tv sitcoms, more clever than blockbuster holiday comedies; it was original and fresh, and had wonderful characters. The humor style was geeky and sophisticated at the same time. Afterward, during the talkback, someone in the audience asked, "When can I get this on DVD?!" The response was, "When someone in this audience picks it up for distribution." I also found I was sitting right in the middle of the production crew, one guy on my left, three to my right, who all did the taping and editing, etc. None were much older than college students.

Then this morning I saw Lulu and Jimi, a German film, a scandalous love story set in Germany in the 1950's, which was fantastical, colorful, highly stylized, and filled with Rock and Roll. It had some dark undertones, but I really enjoyed it. I got a couple extra tickets for my Australian roommates, so they came along too. Ray Fearon (Jimi) spoke after the film, and was so charming and fun to listen to. We proceeded to act like fawning fans do, and got our photo taken with him. I went back into work after that, and the day went quickly.

More films and working tomorrow, and more updates later.
Sarah

Writing from the ticket line...

Sundance is off to a bustling start. I work long days. I try to see films late into the night. I am sitting in line under a tent right now, waiting to get a comp staff ticket for Mystery Team. Last night, I saw Rudo y Cursi, a film from Mexico making its North American premiere, about two rival brothers played by Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna (both from Y Tu Mama Tambien). It was a beautiful film, and the director, cast, and crew did a Q&A afterward, which was really neat. I was walking down the street talking about it on my cell afterward, and the guy walking behind me says "it was just picked up by this afternoon, by Sony." "Congratulations, it was really great," I said back. Later, I stopped by the post-screening talk back with the director and cast for Spring Breakdown, a comedy with Amy Poehler and Rachel Dratch from SNL. Someone asked, what was your inspiration for the film? And they replied something to the effect of, dumb stuff you do in college.

Then in the afternoon I snuck out of work for a few hours and saw The Greatest, which is in the US Dramatic Competition. It stars Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon, who were both there, and Carrie Mulligan, a young actress who has TWO movies in Sundance this year. It is about a family who loses a son. It was particularly interesting to hear the screenwriter and director, Shana Feste, speak about the central theme of grief, and how it influenced her upbringing, her father having lost a son before she was born. When she spoke, her expressive gratefulness and graciousness to have her film be selected in Sundance really showed, and made the film more endearing.

More updates soon,
Sarah

Contract Help!

Hey all!
I was wondering if any of your prospective organizations receive a percentage of a for-profit's sales as donations, and if so, could I see a copy of the agreement? I'm supposed to draft a contract to this end, and I'm a little muddled. Thanks!
-Audrey

P.S. FYI, the Adopt an Animal proposal was approved, and I'll be moving forward with two more proposals for further revenue generation. YAY!

YBCA in San Francisco looking for Lead House & Audience Services Manager

Hello,

In my endless search for jobs, I've come across two opportunities at a very unique and contemporary space. The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, is looking for a Lead House Manager and an Audience Services Manager.

For lack of a better adjective the organization seems very "rad" and has exhibitions, film, performances and some public programming. It's mission:

"to present contemporary art from the Bay Area and around the world that reflects the profound issues and ideas of our time, expands the boundaries of artistic practice, and celebrates the diversity of human experience and expression."

Maybe it's exactly what someone is looking for! Hope everyone is doing well - your presence is missed in Bloomington.

Anna

Adopt an Animal Feedback

Greetings, all!
As I said in my previous post, I'm starting on a proposal for an Adopt-an-Animal program here at Mote (Foster Friends is the proposed name, with a separate program for the dolphin, whale, and turtle hospitals called Guardian Angels). I would love feedback/creative suggestions for two things: I need a cute tag-line for the program, and I want to know, of the list below, which three animals you would consider adopting.

I'd like a tag-line that incorporates friendship or support without ownership. Normally, taking ownership is good, but it makes our aquarists nervous. To give you an idea of a tag-line, Brookfield Zoo uses "Share the care." My only goal is to do better than that. Even the suggestions of buzzwords would be great. I just need a jumping off point. I kind of went crazy with ideas yesterday, and put the whole thing together in a little over an hour, which kind of zapped my energy for today.

Here is the list of currently proposed animals.

Hugh the Manatee
Buffett the Manatee
Moonshine the Pantropical Spotted Dolphin
Harvey the Long-Snouted Spinner Dolphin
Hang Tough the Green Sea Turtle
Shelley the Loggerhead Sea Turtle
Montego the Loggerhead Sea Turtle
Edgar the Loggerhead Sea Turtle
Nurse Shark
Blacktip Shark
Bull Shark
Sandbar Shark
Goliath Grouper
Spiny Lobster
Slipper Lobster
Lined Seahorse
Clownfish
Southern Ray
Manta Ray
Skate
Octopus
Moray Eel

Please pick your top three. We're doing a visitor survey here as well. If you pick named animals, did the name (or the fact that the animal had a name) influence your decision?
Thanks much, and my best to all!
-Audrey

Ticket stock

I'll be the first to ask a favor of everyone.

I have a small project to collect a few samples of ticket stock from other arts organizations. I've called a few places, but I thought this might work, too. If any of you could ask someone from your box office to fax me a sample of your organization's ticket stock, I would really appreciate it. Don't worry about asking if it will put you in a weird position.

The IRT fax number is (317) 236-0767, ATTN: Steve.

Thanks!

Things in Bloomington change without us??

Whoa! The BCT updated their website.

Good Luck to everyone in their new internships!

oh my goodness

Lexie,

I can't believe that you found those pictures. Be careful. I've heard that there are some even more incriminating ones around.

Steve

January, Month of In-Between

I thought about all of you this past week who began internships! I hope the first week was grand, for those of you who this applies to. I love reading everyone's blog posts.

I'm in the in-between time of having finished the semester and waiting to pack up my belongings in my car and move across country. Every day I do a bit of craigs-list-ing, as I haven't yet found a place to live. Am I stressed about this situation? Yes. Looking forward to the 3-day road trip? It will be interesting. Jessica and I both start at SIFF on February 2, so I'll have more to report then. 

Over the holidays, I spent almost two weeks with my parents in Alabama. I hit up all the Southern hot spots (sarcasm?) from Birmingham to Jackson, Mississippi (my birthplace) and Atlanta. Had the best biscuits of my life in Atlanta, and some yummy Cajun food in MS. Started saying "y'all" again. Never had to wear my big black puffy coat. Actually went for a walk one day in shorts and a t-shirt. Saw "Milk." Read Richard Yates' "The Easter Parade." Played the piano. 

This week I picked up several hours at my old job (pre-grad school) at the harp store, and have been working on recording some music on the harp for the scene transitions in the production of "True West" that I'm stage managing. Which leads me to...

...For those of you still around Bloomie, come see Gabe and Brett Gloden in Sam Shepard's "True West" directed by Rich Perez. January 16, 17, 22-24 at 8 pm and January 17 at 2 pm in the Rose-Firebay at the JWAC. Check bloomingtonarts.info or newplays.org for more information, of course. 

 It still feels strange to not see all of you every day, but it's great to read your updates, so keep them coming! 

Much love.

Clare

Finding Treasure!

Well All,

 

 I miss our crew terribly, but to distract me, I started my first entertaining week as the Assistant Director of the Valparaiso University Center for the Arts this week. I have already found skills that I didn't know I had. Who knew that being Lutheran and from the community would give me such an edge at work? As it turns out, I already know half of the choir directors in town, about 10% of the University staff, 2% of the students and how to handle comfortably the unusual culture of the University that result from its Lutheran roots. For instance, I will be traveling with our liturgical choir when they tour parts of the midwest this March. And part of my job is booking them and our other performing groups in Lutheran Churches across the midwest. I can honestly do this in total comfort. Who would have guessed this would be helpful skill? I'm shocked.

But most importantly, I moved into my new office. As I've been slowly cleaning out old records and materials, I stumbled across some jems... 

Pictures of one of our VU Alumni!

 

I have more pictures that I'm considering using for the front cover of next year's Theater Brochure. One involves a nap on a tour bus and the other involves a rather ostentatious looking white turtle neck (the anti-Hunt?). 

Just kidding Steve! 

Best wishes to all.

Sarah at Sundance - Week 4

Hi friends!

Things are really getting hectic around here. I have been on the customer service phones for the last two days. Last weekend was locals individual ticket sales; two 13 hour days in a row! I just wrote a blog post about some of the underlying issues of ticketing when there's high demand - because I field a lot of the complaints in this department.

Today has definitely been a highlight - we got our "uniforms" which is a Kenneth Cole winter coat and puffy vest to wear during the festival. And we got our official credentials for venue access with our photos on them, plus our staff tickets to movies and the closing night award party. And we got our housing assignments -- I'm staying in a condo right up the street from where I live now, so I can still walk to work - I'm thrilled.

This weekend is "best of fest" where we give out free tickets to locals for the award-winning films that are rescreened after the festival ends, and ticket pick up begins for people who bought online - it's going to be busy! I'm in charge of crowd control because we have huge lines form in front of the box office - so as you can imagine, me being a bossy-pants, I really enjoy this job. I just wish someone would give me a megaphone.

Because we don't really get weekends off in the box office, we each get a day or so off during the week. It's a winter wonderland here - I'll post photos soon.

I'll keep you updated with any celebrity sightings during the festival (our first one in the box office last weekend was Olympic speedskater/Dancing with the Stars contestant Apolo Ohno). It's supposed to be at all the press/industry screenings that the production/artistic crew shows up because they have to help sell the film to the industry people. Jim Carrey and Ewan Mcgregor should come for their film "I Love You Phillip Morris" and Ashton and Demi and gang for "Spread" and Robin Williams for "World's Greatest Dad." There are a lot more, but we'll see when they show. When you tell people who are in line for tickets about this, they get much happier.

More soon!
lots of love,
Sarah

Good luck!

Good luck to everyone starting their internships this week. Happy new year!