INTERNSHIP STORIES

Design Internship for a Magazine I found out about this internship opportunity on LinkedIn - the person hiring was a former alumni and adjunct professor who reposted the listing on my feed. I had applied at the beginning of the summer. I got an email back from their HR manager and set up a virtual interview where they gauged my personality and work ethic. I passed the first round and was given a second interview with the design team where I got to talk more about my design process and time management skills, which seemed to resonate with the team. I was given another a week later!  AARP is an interest group in the United States focusing on issues affecting those 50 years old and older. Their magazine has the most readers than any other publication in the country, with over 30 million readers as of 2023. Their magazine focuses on everything from lifestyle stories to health reads and political responses. My direct supervisor is the Associate Art Director at AARP who mainly focuses on...

Design and Marketing Internship for an Independent Bookstore Wonderland Books is an independent Bookstore and community space in Bethesda, Maryland which will be opening in early December. I had the opportunity to work together with the Wonderland Books team this semester to help them prepare for opening – learning about how an independent bookstore comes together and how to work to solidify and market a new brand in the process.  I discovered this opportunity through mutual contacts — one of the two  co-owners of Wonderland Books is a family friend who reached out looking for a bit of help with some of the design work over the summer, and from there I was able to start working with them and their brand designer, who had already created a strong brand identity for the bookstore. I was able to use those brand identity guidelines to help create a wide variety of both print and digital design material for use in-store and online. Throughout this internship, I was able to create a...

Last semester, I was in Tony Shore's narrative painting class. I enjoyed his class and liked him as a person and artist. In January, he offered some gig work to help him move his then-current studio into his new one. I accepted and helped him for a few days while being paid for the time and effort. After working with him, he offered me a role as his studio assistant, which is how I got the internship. Tony is a faculty member here at MICA as well as a practicing studio painter. While interning as his assistant, I worked in his studio. I made sure his studio environment ran smoothly. I continued to help him move his past studio into his current. I was organizing, inventorying, cleaning, and arranging his art supplies and objects in his studio. After the move was complete, I continued to assist with the organization and arrangement of the studio. Through this, I learned what it means to have a functional and organized studio while also being an artist who tends to take up a lot of sp...

I was thrilled when my advisor introduced me to the RCCE E/Studio Internship that aligned perfectly with my interests in business and entrepreneurship. I quickly began preparing my application and polishing my portfolio to showcase my skills and passion for the field. This internship is eligible for credit which was another aspect that made it an ideal fit for my academic goals. It also provides hands-on experience and knowledge that will undoubtedly shape my future career in the business world, and I was eager to seize this opportunity to learn and grow.  The Executive Creative Director at Andre Bean Brand served as our internship director at the RCCE E/Studio Internship. Throughout my time under his guidance, I gained insights into the world of marketing, drawing from his wealth of real-life experiences. The knowledge and personal stories he shared with us proved to be incredibly valuable resources, as they are not typically accessible within the confines of a traditional school...

My experience as a Photography and Videography intern at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) was one I will never forget. The BSO is a non-profit organization that organizes orchestra concerts primarily in Baltimore. I found out about this opportunity through MICA’s photography department. More specifically, the former chair recommended I apply and connected me with the MICA Photo alumni who is the Art Director at the BSO. My time as an intern at BSO was centered around working closely with the art director  as my supervisor and her colleagues within the marketing and communications departments. As an intern, I was able to learn about the passion and commitment that goes into managing the art direction of a large organization. This showed me how important it is to market as an entrepreneur as marketing is crucial in getting an audience to engage with created works. Some of the projects I worked on included producing content that was used for the BSO’s social media. This included...

Submersive Productions is an immersive experience company based in Baltimore. Artists, writers, dancers, and musicians collaborate to make site-specific immersive experience productions. In their work, audience participation is centered as an important role in unfolding the narrative of a show. I found this internship through a professor of mine who introduced Submersive Productions’ work in her class and helped me get connected. When I had an opportunity for an interview with Submersive, then after I secured the internship. I was able to experience various parts of Submersive Productions’ work—from idea devising, concept research, venue-searching, fabricating samples and props for an upcoming show, and material researching. I assisted in an idea for one of their projects, The Boundary, which is an immersive experience piece that deals with death and grief. My direct supervisor was one of the co-artistic directors. They participate in collaborative devising works for immersive experien...

I found out about this opportunity through a friend of a friend. I was asked to provide live visuals for a local musician. After their set, a friend recommended I talk to this one person who works at Splice because he was looking for a camera operator. I later met that person when that same friend’s car broke down near my house. We hit it off and the rest is history.  This person who became my supervisor works for his father at Splice as a managing editor. He writes regular reviews for a few different platforms (The Spectator, Counterpunch) and makes his own films independently. He has a strong work ethic and occupies himself completely with his work and, when he’s not working, he’s watching more movies. I’ve never met anyone so well-watched. My main responsibilities ended up being a camera operator and editor, with some content aggregation for Splice on slow days. I helped shoot and sort footage for You’re Going to Live and did some fine-tuning on Hasn’t Been Grounded (My supervis...

The Valerie J. Maynard Foundation is dedicated to sustaining, expanding, and preserving the legacy of Valerie J. Maynard, her art, and her ideals. I got started with this internship through an initial connection with a photographer at a show opening in New York in February. We later connected in May through Instagram where I eventually interviewed for a position. At The Valerie J. Maynard Foundation I worked alongside board and foundation members as well as other legacy interns. Some of what my role and responsibilities included was cleaning, organizing, and archiving art materials, sculpture, tools, and photography within the home studio space. I also helped with creating an archival organization system to preserve archival artwork materials and worked on administration aspects like file naming and archiving. I attended group meetings to work with board and foundation members, and legacy specialists and interns to assist workflow and give updates. After a work session each day I would...

Last fall the founder of Saint Lucy Books was invited to MICA to talk about his recently published book. In the spring when I was trying to find an appropriate internship site, I was urged to reach out to the founder about possibly assisting him with some work. I was incredibly excited about the idea of working with a small Baltimore-based publishing company, especially as Saint Lucy’s focus is on female artists and the collaboration of text and images. The founder Saint Lucy was my supervisor and I joined him in May to help with current and future titles and the brand identity of Saint Lucy. We attended ICP’s photobook fest where we were one of over 50 independent photobook publishers. Once back from NYC, my supervisor and I started working with a past faculty member at MICA on her upcoming book. During this, I helped with image selection, essay editing, and even some of the early ideas pertaining to the physicality of the book. In early June I began working heavily with my superviso...

I found out about the opportunity to intern at Blue Light Junction through word of mouth and social media. I first learned about the organization through a couple of field trips during my freshman and sophomore year. I had followed them on social media, saw them posting about having interns, and decided to apply. I contacted the founder/director of Blue Light Junction to inquire about the opportunity and after a brief interview, we determined that it would be a good fit for me and the organization. She wound up being my supervisor throughout the internship. Blue Light Junction is a community arts organization with a studio space and an annex garden for growing natural dye plants. They grow, process, and sell natural dye materials and seeds, run workshops teaching about natural dyes and occasionally other gardening and craft skills, and are beginning to work with local businesses to create naturally dyed products for display and sale. They additionally collaborate with local farmers inv...

I acquired an internship as Monique Crabb’s studio intern after approaching her at a local art gallery and asking her if she needed an intern. She was hesitant at first but eventually came around to the idea. Monique works in a variety of mediums including but not limited to natural dye, quilting, and sculpting. While working with Monique I had the chance to help lead a natural dye and eco-printing workshop, make floral arrangement sculptures, prepare natural dye vats, apply upholstery to material, sculpt with clay, and learn rug-making.  In addition to learning various practical skills during my internship, I was also exposed to the importance of networking and working collaboratively with other artists. We attended gallery events, worked with a local farm to organize a workshop, and consulted with other artists to inquire about framing. I was able to be immersed in the social network of other artists and see them talk about their practices with one another. The process of interni...

During the spring semester, my illustration professor had our class attend an artist presentation of an artist who mentioned that she runs a small publishing press called Anchovy Press. I followed Anchovy Press’s page on Instagram that day and eventually when I was looking for internships, I reached out and luckily for me they were able to take me on. That artist (and my supervisor) is the founder of Anchovy Press and runs it with their co-founder. In their words, Anchovy Press is “ an independent publishing company based in Baltimore, Maryland, dedicated to storytelling that centers BIPOC experiences.” They publish children's books and family friendly zines.  One product they offer is the Zine Subscription Box for children. I was tasked with creating the activity for one of these boxes. I created a paper doll which was in some way related to food. Throughout the internship, this grew into two paper doll projects which specifically focus on wild harvestables from Maryland. Inside ...

For my internship, I worked at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. My main project centered around helping out with an Astro-Animation Exhibition, but throughout my ten weeks I also got to work as a graphics support artist. I had multiple mentors for the exhibition and for my graphics support work. This summer, I worked on researching and prototyping potential animation related activities for the exhibition as well as many other graphics projects, including photography assistance, photo processing, logo design, and creating an illustrated poster.  I found out about this internship in my Astro-Animation class last semester taught by my mentors. They were already familiar with my work from other classes I had taken with them and so I applied for the position, went through a short interview process and got hired from there. One of the exhibition mentors is an astrophysicist at NASA Goddard and so I was given a desk in-person in the office of my graphics support mentors. Despite tech...

I first found out about this internship opportunity when my professor told me he was working on a feature film called Stealing Cars and was looking for interns. He said I could request any position I wanted to learn more from. A few months prior, I was on set with him and his wife where I was in charge of Art/Continuity. He told me I would be a good script supervisor, a position I didn’t know existed, so I requested to be script supervisor on his feature. As script supervisor, my job was to be the link between the director(s) on set with the editor(s) in post-production. Luckily, both my professor and his wife were the directors and editors of Stealing Cars so my job was a little easier than normal. I had to take notes on each take that was shot so when they edit the film later, their process will move faster. I also had to make sure each scene and take were consistent; it’s very easy to get mixed up with props and wardrobe during filming. Everyone on set is so focused on their job t...

The organization I interned with was a banquet furniture manufacturer called Lion’s Wood. They specialize in crafting elegant and functional furniture pieces for the food service industry. Their commitment to blending creativity with functionality resonated with me. They are known for their attention to detail and innovative designs that elevate event spaces. The journey began when I discovered this internship opportunity through MICA Network. After thorough research and preparation, I applied and successfully secured the position. Throughout the internship, the marketing director guided and mentored me. Her expertise in the field, coupled with her willingness to share insights, played a pivotal role in shaping my learning experience. My responsibilities were diverse and hands-on. I learned positions within the company, gained insights into their business model, and dived into the fascinating world of link boxes and induction. I had the opportunity to create new spec sheets for the com...

Danae Industrial 3D Printing is a 3D printing lab run by a MICA Alumni and winner of the MICA START. Originally beginning as a company focused on the creation and design of 3D printed prosthetics, they have since expanded to become a printing and prototyping service with SLA, SLS and FDM capabilities, taking clients from the medical/pharmaceutical industry, large sports companies, and companies on the fortune 500. I found out about this internship and applied for it through the MICA Network’s list of posted internships. The internship was secured through an email application and zoom interview. My direct supervisor was the founder and CEO of the company who oversees the management of the company and works creating processes to improve the workflow of the company, as well as securing production deals with potential clients. My main responsibility was to assist the production floor printing technicians with the slicing, printing and post processing of incoming jobs. Projects I was involv...