2020 Bloomberg Arts Internship Comes to a Close

This summer, for the sixth year, the Cultural Alliance paired 30 incredible Philadelphia high school students with member organizations across the city for a Bloomberg Arts Internship program like none other. Using tools like Zoom, Slack, and a social networking platform called Open Social, interns participated in dozens of hours of professional development, college readiness, and cultural immersion activities. They went on virtual tours at Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens and the Barnes Foundation, attended performances presented by Opera Philadelphia and the Phoenix Theatre, and immersed themselves in Philadelphia Contemporary’s Love Jawns series. They met for conversations with actors, musicians, make up artists, museum registrars and executive directors, and came together in small groups to discuss how the cultural sector was responding to a summer of quarantine and social unrest amidst calls for racial justice. Through their worksite experiences, interns built online curricula, conducted research, designed exhibits and crafted marketing material and provided a youthful and vital perspective to their organizations.

The Cultural Alliance extends a special thank you to the amazing worksites and cultural immersion partners who helped to make this unique summer experience possible:

Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture, Fleisher Art Memorial, Glen Foerd on the Delaware, Inis Nua Theatre Company, InLiquid Art + Design, Meg Saligman Studios + Brian Sanders JUNK, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Penn Museum, Philadelphia Young Playwrights,Taller Puertorriqueño, The Phoenix Theatre, TinyWPA, We are the Seeds, the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia Contemporary, and Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens