Akiho Schilz

Arts Admin intern

In the summer of 2002, I submitted a tentative application for a work experience placement at an arts company I had heard of through a friend. A young and hapless 16-year-old, I knew that I loved the arts (having danced since the age of two and written short stories and poems since not long after that) but not quite what implications this had for the world of work. Happily, I was accepted and welcomed by a small team in an office on the Embankment. Since that time Eastside has gone from strength to strength.  Now, seven years on, I have returned as an Eastside intern. The company is now based in trendy Shoreditch in a large office space equipped with a state of the art studio and has been expanded. Daily the office team enthusiastically field calls from interested teachers, parents and, most importantly, young people. As soon as I had graduated from my undergraduate degree in English and French, I knew that as far as internships went, this was the place to be and so promptly applied. Eastside’s ever-friendly director Rakhee was on hand to welcome me into the team personally, and the wonderful Volunteer Co-ordinator took care of all induction, training and support, the latter of which is ongoing and unwavering. At Eastside, I have had the privilege of experiencing aspects of all roles in the office, from interviewing the Operations Officer about her role and accompanying the Literature Officer to meetings in schools to book projects, to liaising with the Performing Arts Officer and talking to our resident IT guru. I have contributed to the new website, continuing the work of a previous intern on the cultural calendar as well as writing monthly features and a Top Tips for Work Experience article, helped co-ordinate a family arts event for young children and assisted in poetry and dance workshops.  In addition to this, I have had (and grasped with both hands) the opportunity to be heavily involved in the development and implementation of two major projects; Graphic Truths and Trans-lingual Express, respectively a comic magazine project and a multimedia languages project, which I am also helping to develop into a toolkit for schools. During my time at Eastside I have learned about and been actively involved in project development and management, have helped with recruitment, PR and marketing, assisted in workshops, liaised with artists, managed computer systems, learned about office management and honed my ICT skills; all transferable skills invaluable not only in the arts sector but in all areas of work. I am grateful for the experience and as admiring as I ever have been of the work the dedicated Eastside team do. They go the extra mile, and I have every intention of doing the same.

By Akiho Schilz

Malina Cribbin

Arts Admin intern (Film & Media)

Hi my name is Malina and I am currently studying Film at university. I specialise in screenwriting and have a strong interest in literature and creative writing. Although I am still in education I think it is important to get as much work experience as possible before you finish university especially since I am not sure what field of work I want to go into. I decided to apply for the Arts Admin internship at Eastside as I knew I was interested in arts administration but what particularly stood out to me was the contribution it made to young people as I’ve always been a socially aware person. To be honest, I was not aware of art education charities prior to starting my internship so I had very little knowledge of how Eastside operates or what it does apart from creative workshops - I was keen to understand the organisational aspects of Eastside as I think it is easy to take for granted all the necessary preparation and thought that goes into setting up workshops for young people when you are ‘on the other side’. The fact I felt I did not have any experience was quite daunting, but I was surprised and relieved at how much support there is at Eastside and how they are dedicated to tailoring the experience to your needs, also there is constant guidance and feedback so you know exactly where you are in terms of progress. The feedback sessions are particularly useful as you can discuss what you would like to learn or any difficulties you may be having. The experience I particularly enjoyed was the planning, promotion and supervision of the Carnival Arts day, as this gave me hands on experience of what the responsibilities are of an Arts Officer. Also, I was the Summer Co-ordinator, which sounded terrifying at first, but turned out to be enlightening and interesting because at Eastside you never have to feel unsure as they are proactive in helping you understand what is required of you and most importantly why, which is a key aspect of developing new skills. Eastside is a valuable and enriching experience in all aspects of arts, education and working with young people.

By Malina Cribbin

Clare Manassei

Arts Admin intern (Film & Media)

Before joining Eastside as a volunteer and intern, I studied history at university and then had been working within documentary and photography fields. As I have a strong interest in the arts and was considering a career in education, Eastside seemed like a perfect combination of the two. I found the internship an excellent way of gaining experience and insight into how an arts education charity operates, as well as a fantastic introduction to the role of the arts in education in general. For me, one of the most valuable aspects of the arts officer internship was the commitment of those who work at Eastside to tailoring the internship to the individual interests of the intern. I also found that the relatively small and open plan nature of the office, and the welcoming and dedicated ethos of the staff, made it very easy to gain an understanding of all aspects of the organisation’s work, and be personally involved in many of them. In addition, I thought that being both a volunteer on specific workshops, as well as an intern in the office, was particularly beneficial as it allowed me to understand better the relationship between the work done in the office, and the work achieved by young people in the workshops. As an intern, I was able to visit and observe many of Eastside’s workshops in action and be involved in their evaluation. I was also able to take an active role in the planning, recruitment and promotion of some of the arts events and activities that Eastside’s organises. As I possess editing and camera experience, I also was able to edit film material for their website and take responsibility for making a promotional film. I would recommend the internship to anyone with an interest in the arts and education, as I thought it a really enjoyable and positive experience, and an excellent bridge to other opportunities in this field.

By Clare Manassei

Meghana Shankar

Media & Marketing intern from London School of Economics (LSE)

Working with Eastside Educational Trust over the past 3 months has been an incredibly meaningful and valuable experience, and one that I would definitely recommend to that wants to dip their fingers in the media/PR world. Having never had any real work experience, I was seeking an opportunity in London that would not only benefit me for my future career endeavours, but would also work hand-in-hand with my Master’s degree. Being a Media and Communications student at LSE, this opportunity at Eastside seemed like the perfect fit.  Not knowing what exactly I was getting myself into, I took the offer, and began working in January. I was incredibly nervous to be in charge of Media and Marketing for an organisation that didn’t have anyone else focusing on that aspect of the company.  However, it is for this very reason that this Internship is far more useful than any other one that I researched.  It gives a young adult the chance to have real responsibilities, as opposed to your typical internship in which you’re required to file, photocopy, and send mail out.  Moreover, the fact that the organisation is small makes the job more approachable, which made me feel less intimidated.  The actual work that the Intern gets to do is probably the best part of it all.  From writing press releases, to contacting the press, this internship is essentially PR work for Eastside.  Although at first I was a little nervous writing press releases and speaking to media outlets, I certainly got used to it and ended up really enjoying it.  Moreover, I was always given such positive reinforcement from everyone here and my mentor, which made my experience here at Eastside even better, and made me realise my full potential. I wouldn’t trade this experience in for anything.  Although it was tough balancing academics with work, I can truly say that I learned more throughout the course of this Internship than I have this year at LSE.  All I can say is take advantage of your time here – it’s short and goes by really fast…and you’ll get as much out of this Internship as you are willing to put in. Have fun!

By Meghana Shankar

Louise Evans

Arts Admin intern (Performing Arts) from Central School of Speech & Drama

I have always been passionate about children's accessibility to literature and the performing arts, but when I applied for an internship with Eastside I was unsure about what exactly I wanted to do as a career- I just knew that I wanted to help children learn more about the arts. My three month internship at Eastside gave me a broad insight into all sides of arts projects and helped focus me career-wise and provided me with the opportunity for my first facilitation work. By assisting both Arts Officers, I was able to experience, and understand, how projects are developed and set up, including how much paperwork is required. It is amazing how much work is involved in creating a project from scratch! Through helping with the recruitment for flag-ship projects such as HIAA and InterAct, I learnt the pressure placed upon Eastside and similar organizations to attract attendees and saw the difficulties involved in reaching target groups. I was also given the opportunity to assist with organising and developing the training sessions for InterAct, a huge project in which 5 youth theatres were established in various different London Boroughs. I helped structure content for the training and then assisted with presenting the session. My biggest achievement at Eastside was ‘Where the wild things are’ an event I helped organize as part of ‘The Big Draw’. We opened the Eastside offices for the day and encouraged children and families to come and get involved creating mini-monsters or drawing on the huge monster wall. This was an incredible opportunity to prove myself, and it was a fantastic experience to see my ideas developed to such a scale and the feedback from the families and children was extremely positive. Finally, I was given the opportunity to see facilitators at work by visiting projects in schools and attending the skillshare sections of the facilitator inductions. I also had the chance to meet and chat with the facilitators when they visited the office. This gave me a window to pick up tips and skills and build up my confidence in facilitating. Overall my three months at Eastside was inspirational and brilliant, and I left with direction and the valuable experience I needed to further my career.

By Louise Evans

Kelly Millership

Research & Listings intern

I have worked for 9 weeks in Eastside’s offices as a Research and Listings Intern, updating Eastside's Cultural Calendar. The Cultural Calendar is a section on the website where Eastside’s events work alongside the plethora of events that take place across London and the UK. The main aims of the calendar are to list all of the events taking place that share a connection with Eastside and to create a theme which ties Eastside’s workshops with the rest of London. Volunteering here has been a really beneficial experience. One of the most positive things I experienced was having freedom to work how I wanted to and to use my own strengths as part of the role. Aside from creating the list of events, I have had the freedom to write monthly features and create themes which are now a key part of how the calendar looks on the website. I felt my ideas for the calendar were genuinely welcomed and this made the project even more interesting to be a part of; I felt I’ve had a real contribution. Having regular meetings with Chris and Truly helped to establish all of the things that were going well and to get advice from them about how the project was working. I think Eastside show a real interest in what their volunteers gain from the various projects. I anticipate the launch of the new website with the calendar and will definitely use it personally to find out what’s happening, when and where. The nine weeks has flown by and I hope it won’t be the last project I work with Eastside on.

By Kelly Millership

Pauline Stobbs

Media & Marketing intern

This internship offers a unique opportunity to be coached by an experienced member of the business community and an intern can benefit both from this guidance and the opportunity to translate some of this business acumen into a charity sector setting. The work of the intern has a strong leaning towards PR, more so than traditional marketing but offers insight into both sectors. As the only member of the organisation dedicated to PR and marketing, this internship requires a lot of dedication and self-motivation, and I would recommend this internship for an individual who has already gained some basic experience in the field gained either through academic study or other work experience. The internship offers an opportunity for self-management and independent working. Eastside Educational Trust is a friendly and welcoming place to work, with staff who are ready to support you during your internship. This internship offers its own challenges and can be really rewarding for anyone interested in marketing and PR.

By Pauline Stobbs

Helen Duffy

Research & Listings intern

I applied for the Research and Listings internship position after finding it advertised on the Art Council website. After a brief interview I was invited to work within the office for a two week placement organising the Press Cuttings for the re-launch of Eastside’s website. My first morning comprised of being introduced to the friendly, small team at Eastside and the hefty pile of press cuttings I was going to become acquainted with over the next few weeks. The press cuttings even included articles dating back to the when Eastside was founded in 1994! After sifting through the original articles and organising them into categories I began the mammoth task of scanning each article. For each press cutting, I entered the information regarding the date it was published, name of publication, article title and the subject of the article and then attached the uploaded press cutting that had been cropped accordingly. Although most of the information about the publication name and date was attached to the article, some cuttings required further investigation. Once this task had been completed I felt a great sense of achievement. Although my time at Eastside was short, I very much enjoyed it. I got to know the team pretty well and from reading what written about Eastside and I was able to understand what the Trust was about, what it had achieved over the years and the good it was doing in helping young people.

By Helen Duffy

Sarah Gildea

Library intern from Queen Mary University of London

I was an intern at Eastside Educational Trust for six months, during the second year of my English degree at Queen Mary (University of London). I found the placement through Provide, the volunteering organisation at University. I wanted to complete the internship because I was interested in learning about arts administration as a career choice and I wanted to acquire new skills; I thought the environment at Eastside would be an enjoyable place to work. My main task during the internship was to organise and implement a system for the library of Arts literature at the centre. I created a system for shelving and constructed a library catalogue using the Access database application. At the end of my placement I wrote a manual about how to use the library catalogue. I received a great deal of support from the staff at Eastside to build my confidence and competence while completing this task.  Not only did I feel stimulated by my task, but my interests in music, performance and philosophy were sated. The staff at Eastside were really great to talk to about a whole host of different types of art,  as each member of the team was interested in and had experience in different manifestations of the arts. I think that this was a great opportunity to see how the world of Arts Administration operates and the great scope of the projects that Eastside Educational Trust organises. I would highly recommend completing an internship or volunteering at Eastside if you would like to gain skills in a fun and artistically orientated environment.

By Sarah Gildea

Antony Hussen

Arts Admin intern (Performing Arts) from Central School of Speech & Drama

Eastside offered me a great range of opportunities to explore my areas of interest within the arts. Having the opportunity to work with professionals within the industry had a big influence in my practice as an applied theatre artist. The working environment at Eastside is of a vibrant energy with all members of staff being supportive and respectful to all decisions or concerns you may have. During my time at Eastside I was fortunate enough to be involved in a variety of arts projects, employing the visual arts, drama and spoken word/poetry within my practice with the young people. I am now a graduate of Central School of Speech and Drama and have become a professional artist myself working within the field, but it was the practical experience I gained at Eastside which inspired and built my confidence to now use drama within local communities. As an ex-intern, and now professional artist for Eastside, I can only speak highly of the organisation and their ethos to help develop language and literature through the arts as well as giving every young person the opportunity to achieve their goals.

Marianna O'Reilly

Arts Admin intern

When I joined Eastside as a intern, I’d initially anticipated gaining some experience in working with children, ways to apply my skill and experience as an artist in a practical way, I also wanted to find out whether it is something I would like to do in the future. As it turned out I had a much more involved, rich and widely encompassing experience than I had hoped!  I learned about the workings of Eastside as an educational charity, the type of workshops being offered, organisation, promotion and management of educational events, such as Big Draw. Participating in a Volunteer Training event was also very important as an opportunity to meet other volunteers and learn of their experiences, approaches and tactics of how to engage and inspire children. While assisting at a mosaic workshop in a primary school I met a really experienced and inspiring workshop artist. It was a pleasure to work with her and I learned not only a new skill, but also could see how engaging the workshop really was for children, who didn’t want to leave for lunch or playtime!  It was very satisfying to see how the project gave them a real sense of pride in their creation, they were given some freedom in making stylistic decisions and they really appreciated the responsibility, therefore being more closely engaged throughout the project. This hands-on experience made me realise that as an artist one has to be spontaneous and, foremost, responsive in every situation, always looking for new ways to approach a challenge. I am now working at a major Arts Centre in London and was employed on the strength of having had experience of working with children and understanding of their creativity as a very important developmental stage.

By Marianna O'Reily

Bryony Meteyard

Arts Award intern

I very much enjoyed my time as an intern with Eastside Educational Trust; it was a valuable experience which has opened up many new opportunities for me. I was able to work in partnership with exciting organisations running the Arts Award and to learn how arts in education projects are co-ordinated and implemented as well as gaining hands-on events organisation experience in co co-ordinating the Arts Award Regional Celebration Event. During my time at Eastside, I was able to build valuable relationships with contacts I hope I will be able to work with again in the future. It was a fun and worthwhile experience for me in a very positive working environment. I left with increased self esteem and confidence in my own abilities and my colleagues became my good friends.

By Bryony Meteyard

Emmelie Cox

International intern from Texas Christian University (TCU), Dallas, Texas, USA

Eastside was a wonderful internship placement for me. I was given so many opportunities to learn and do so much that is relevant to my studies in Radio/TV/Film in the United States. I was thrilled to take part in a variety of the workshops and after school clubs that Eastside offers to children of all ages. I worked most closely with an after school film club in a primary school. It was both refreshing and fun to spend time with children each week that are so excited about watching and making their own films, even at their young age. Their creativity and fun-loving spirits are a testament to the importance of the values Eastside is committed to: inspiring and enabling children to learn through the arts. Children involved in Eastside’s workshops and clubs have the unique opportunity to learn from a professional in the subject they are interested in. This was also a fantastic opportunity for me, as I was able to work alongside professional film-makers, as well as other types of artists. I was also able to work in the office and get a taste of what it takes to run an arts charity. Seeing the amount of work and preparation that goes into each Eastside project helped broaden my perspective of the process in coordinating events. Towards the end of my semester with Eastside, I helped coordinate the Trans-Lingual Express project in Madrid and London. This project allowed students in Spain learning English, as well as students in London learning Spanish, to take their second languages to a new level. The week long workshops in each city challenged the students, with the help of a bilingual film-maker, to make documentaries about their home cities in their second language. The project was unique to anything I had seen before, and I was so thankful to be able to take part in such an innovative endeavour. Assisting with this project has inspired me in my hopes of creating educational television programming for children. Interning with Eastside was the highlight of my semester in London, and is an experience I will never forget. I know that all that I have learned through this experience will benefit me immensely as I continue my studies in the United States.

By Emmelie Cox

Tara Deeson and Angel Laurens

International interns from Georgia, USA

Interning with Eastside Educational Trust for the semester was the opportunity of a lifetime. Coming to London  for the first time from the United States, it was a wonderful way to experience the city and to learn about arts and education in the area. Eastside is a charity organisation that helps to make the arts available to schools by supplying workshops and artists throughout the school year and by assisting teachers to incorporate the arts into their curriculum. While my focus is primarily in dramatic arts I had the chance to see all sides of the organisation working with literature and visual arts as well as drama. Eastside allowed me the chance to go into schools in order to observe and assist within the classroom. Not only did I work in the classroom, but in the office as well, learning how workshops are set up and artists assigned to projects. It was extremely beneficial for me to understand this process to see how the organisation works as a whole. I believe that Eastside is a unique organisation that is an extremely valuable resource for teachers and students within the London area. It has inspired me for my future endeavours to work towards making the arts a more prominent part of the educational system in the United States.

By Tara Deeson