Internship Description

Brooklyn Folklife Internship -  Summer 2020

Part-Time, Unpaid

About Brooklyn Arts Council

Celebrating more than 50 years of service, Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC) is the borough's leading nonprofit organization supporting artists and cultural groups in all disciplines. BAC reaches hundreds of thousands of artists and audience members each year through music, dance, film, and visual arts programs, arts classes in schools and senior centers, urban folk arts initiatives, community arts grants, and artist services. By creating and supporting exciting cultural events and platforms for Brooklynites, BAC provides forums for critical thinking and self-expression, enriches Brooklyn's cultural landscape, and generates experiences that expand horizons.

Position Overview and Goals

BAC Folk Arts is seeking a Folklife Intern to work on its upcoming summer program series, Tracking Traditions Along the 2,3,4,5 Trains. This project will will document, engage, and present traditional cultural practices from the following cultural enclaves found along the 2,3,4,5 train routes: Haitian, Beninian, Italian, Guyanese, Lebanese, Syrian, Garifuna, and Grenadian. The initiative culminates in a day-long folk arts festival in Prospect Park.

Reporting to the Folk Arts Director, the intern will gain hands-on experience in working with folk and traditional artists in their communities, in addition to building skills in public program research and development; digital marketing and outreach; and event management and coordination.

Desired Skills

BAC Folk Arts is looking for an enthusiastic intern with an interest in the folk and traditional arts and cultural heritage issues, with the following qualifications:

• Currently taking or have recently completed college courses in the arts, arts administration, library science, ethnomusicology, folklore, and/or anthropology
• Strong oral and written communication skillsProficient in Microsoft Office Self-motivated and independent
• Solid sense of humor and fresh thinker Familiarity with multimedia editing platforms (Final Cut Pro X, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Lightroom)
• Great interpersonal skills
• Knowledge of languages from any of the communities listed above is a plus

Commitment

• Minimum: 14 hours/week (two 8-hour days with 1 hour lunch break) for 12 weeks
• Preferred: 21 hours/week (three 8-hour days with 1 hour lunch break) for 12 weeks
• Must be available to work through the date of the Brooklyn Roots Festival on July 26th, 2020.

Credit

Interns will be compensated with school credit. Only current college-level students will be considered for this position. Added benefits include:

• A monthly travel stipend for interns working a minimum of 15 hours per week
• Participation in departmental and all-staff meetings as available

To Apply:

Email a cover letter describing how this internship fits into your overall career goals along with a resume to: mailto:[email protected]. To learn more about the Folk Arts program click here.

Applications are due Friday, March 13, 2020.

Brooklyn Arts Council provides equal employment opportunity to all individuals regardless of their race, color, creed, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by state, federal, or local law.

Brooklyn Arts Council expressly prohibits any form of workplace harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status.

Past Interns

Feel free to contact past folk arts interns and ask them about their experience.

Donald Bradley (Summer 2019)

Kaitlyn Pillig (Summer 2018)

Husniya Khujamyourova (Spring 2018) 

Nicholas Rago (Spring 2018)  
Nicholas Rago is a Folk Arts Intern and a student at CUNY Brooklyn College. He is working on a BA in American Studies with a minor in Philosophy. He is active in the Brooklyn College Listening Project and campus organizing.

Danessy Pineda (Fall 2017) 

Alex Steckman (Summer 2017) 
Alex Schulz Steckman is an artist living and studying between Paris, France and Brooklyn, NY—his hometown. He has been a student at the Cooper Union, as well as at l’École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts de Paris. His interests lie in community and youth engagement with the arts and education.

Laila Rajani (Summer 2016) 
Laila Rajani is a graduate student of folklore and a Fulbright scholar at Indiana University, Bloomington, with a focus on identity politics of displaced communities. Her background in social research and journalism along with undergraduate training in anthropology equips her for fieldwork and outreach through folk arts institution to immigrant communities in New York. Laila is fluent in English, Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati and Sindhi and working towards fluency in Persian, Arabic and Bengali. Her work at BAC will focus on identifying the cultural assets within Brooklyn’s "Little Pakistan".

Harold Akyeampong (Spring 2015) 
Harold Akyeampong is originally from Ghana, West Africa and is the President of the Ghana chapter of the world famous music service organization, the Percussive Arts Society. He is also the International Director of the International Centre for African Culture & Arts.