When I started the internship, I jumped straight into the Production department where the final rehearsals of Macbeth (affectionately referred to as “Macca's”) were taking place. It was such a wonderful learning experience in understanding how much collaboration, communication, and patience are needed to pull off a full live theatre show. There is so much that happens to make sure the show runs smoothly, from observing the rehearsals, especially with it going on a national tour. From rehearsals to stage managing, costumes, lights, sound, props, and actors, everything in production does not go unnoticed because every role is essential. It was really cool seeing how close to the end of the rehearsals, the show came together.
In my second week, I was in the Education department, where I delved into the space of learning, facilitation, and teaching Shakespeare to students from primary to high school level. The Education team is a vital part of the company in creating connections with schools and teachers, providing resources about drama and the world of Shakespeare by making it accessible. It's a team that does a lot of work! From school outreach, to sending facilitators and co-designing lesson plans and shows. I was also lucky enough to see some rehearsals from the school holiday season of A Night at the Library, which took place at the State Library of NSW. Seeing these rehearsals also made me think about the production aspects that are still involved in the making of this work. Even though it is part of the Education department, you still see the elements of production with stage management, sound and direction, which are all needed to make this work possible. Being part of the Education department made me realise how important it is that there are programs out there for young kids and high school students. It can help expand their minds, creativity, and foster collaboration with their peers.
In the third week, I spent time with the Development team, where I was introduced to the world of funding, donors, events and partnerships. From learning about what goes into Development, this aspect is crucial in being able to sustain financial capacity for the organisation to run. Without the financial support from supporters, donors and funding bodies, important programs that run for education or even productions are not possible! I was lucky to see The Players at Sir Joseph Banks High School. I saw the importance of funding support to keep programs like this running and subsidies available for disadvantaged schools. It made me think of the elements that I observed from the Education department and how Development supports them. I also learnt lots about venue hire and partnerships being a crucial element in further supporting Bell Shakespeare's outreach.
Straight into the fourth week, I spent my time with the Marketing team who help ensure that all programs and productions that happen at Bell Shakespeare are quite literally promoted and readily available. Everything that goes into marketing includes aspects of promotion, social media and box office ticket sales. Even though I did have some marketing experience, being part of the marketing team in a theatre company was a different world! The Marketing team basically works with all the departments! But mostly with the Development and Education team because of the aspects that integrate with each other such as partnerships, invitations and school matinee shows (that also help with ticket sales!) It was interesting being able to experience what goes down in marketing for a theatre company like Bell Shakespeare. I got lots of insights into the audience, social media posting, data and tracking, content creation and ticket sales. So much goes into ensuring that audiences are aware of what’s happening at Bell Shakespeare, what to expect with the upcoming season of plays and events. But also, this serves as such important data for Bell Shakespeare in understanding how to approach marketing campaigns.
My final week was spent with the Operations team, where all the logistical things at Bell Shakespeare happen. From all things touring, calendars, bookings and making prop lists, this is what I got up to with the Operations team. These folks do so much to make sure things run smoothly here, and they are so vital to the company. Any bumps or issues, they are there to come up with a solution. Whilst spending my time with the Operations team, I had the wonderful opportunity for a lovely lunch with the JACE Foundation donor Cheryl Lee! It was such a special moment to get to know her story, as well as her dedication to supporting the arts and inclusivity. I am extremely grateful that through her contribution that I was able to undertake this internship.
Doing this internship has been such a wonderful time being able to gain new skills, especially being an artist myself. Getting to experience something in each department in a company is pretty rare, and it made me realise what I wanted to do more in the arts. As far as what’s next for me after doing this internship, I am still hoping to get into creative producing, and the past couple of weeks taught me a lot about transferring skills that I have learnt into my next venture. What I see for myself in the future, is being able to nurture other artists and bring their creative visions to life. But also as of the moment, I’m currently in the middle of doing my artist residency (shout out Curiousworks!) where I’ll be working away developing an experimental movement-based film. I am so grateful for this experience at Bell Shakespeare...manifesting a job here one day!
