As my internship with Rochester Fringe comes to an end, I think about how great of an experience it has been despite it being completely virtual. I remember my excitement joining the team and meeting my supervisor, who always wanted to provide me learning experiences that would best align with my interests and showed that she cared so much for Rochester Fringe.
When I began, I knew that my internship was going to be different for me compared to their past interns. While I wasn’t able to be physically backstage and help performers, that didn’t mean that help wasn’t needed virtually.
In the first half of my internship, I worked with a representative from Orlando Fringe and another intern to research how to livestream on various platforms such as Twitch, YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, and Zoom so that performers could still be a part of the Rochester Fringe from home. I then incorporated the steps to livestream for each platform on graphics made through Canva, which has been such a helpful tool, to make graphics that performers could read and easily follow in preparation for the show. During this time, organization was very important in keeping track of the many performers involved with Fringe.
Throughout the second half of my internship, the Fringe Festival began and the focus what on creating engaging content on Fringe’s social media platforms. I began to work closely with the social media director at the Fringe and we decided on conducting Instagram Live’s called “Virtual Fringe Daily Preview” that would feature five-minute interviews with performers talking about themselves and their show. For this feature, I booked shows on a daily basis and it was honestly fun to see the personality of the performers shine through something as simple as an email. Their eagerness in being a part of this feature was endearing and furthered my interests in working at an arts-related agency in my future.
In the last few weeks, I have been creating graphics for the Fringe’s social media so that their platforms are holiday themed, as well as reaching out to past Fringe performers about creating content for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and being a part of our “Fringemas” special for the holidays. Even though the Fringe Festival is over, the Fringe and their performers still engage with their audience.
My supervisor and social media director have been such wonderful mentors to me. Everyone worked so well together and their ability to work hard and still be laid back is something that really made me feel comfortable about. I would definitely recommend interning at Rochester Fringe. Their ability to work virtually was very impressive and by next year, hopefully the next intern will be able to work with Fringe Rochester in person because I am absolutely certain they’ll enjoy it just as much as I did!
Be the first to comment