INTRODUCTION

Community Arts Advocates is a non-profit arts and artists advocacy organization working with many types of creative people including visual artists, musicians, writers, commercial artists, folk artists and crafts people. Executive Director, Stephen Baird has worked recently with part-time academic-year interns from Massachusetts College of Art and Wheelock College, full time Summer Fellows from MIT, and part-time summer interns from Alfred University, Boston College, Boston University, Harvard University, Smith College, Wheelock College and University of Massachusetts. CAA staff together have extensive previous history working with thousands of volunteers and are dedicated to providing a rewarding experience for our interns and volunteers.

Summer Arts Intern 2009, Larissa Belcic from Boston College worked with Roslindale Open Studios to coordinate a groups site plus exhibited her own art work.  She even sold a painting!  (See her art work here: http://larissabelcic.wordpress.com/) Larissa also helped develop Bring Your Own Butterfly - A symbolic migration linking art, environment, and communities.  Bring Your Own Butterfly is a program that brings together children of the United States, Canada, and Mexico.  Every year, children in North America create paper butterflies and send them to the children who live beside the monarch sanctuaries in the Oyamel.  The children of the Oyamel region take care of the butterflies all winter, and in the spring send them back, completing the “migration” of the paper butterflies.  The program teaches about the conservation of the forests and the monarchs, raising environmental awareness, as well as creating a bond between children of two different parts of the world.

Summer Arts Intern 2008, Anna Resnick from Harvard University worked with the Cambridge Arts Council to develop and impliment Summer in the City, a free multicultural concert series for families and children in Cambridge's parks, open spaces and community centers.  Anna is photgraphed here with Dan Butterworth Marionettes.  This internship was supported by a fellowship from Harvard University.

Summer Arts Intern 2007, Meghan Shultz from Boston University worked with Roslindale Open Studios to develop an individual patrons list plus exhibited her own art work at a group site.

 

Smith College Summer Intern 2005, Rachel Finklestein (Right); Worked with Jennifer Ellwood, Director of the Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts and Cornell Coley at Spontaneous Celebrations on the Latin-American Women in Jazz Festival and Wake Up the Earth Festival.  This internship was supported by a fellowship from Smith College.

Summer Arts Intern 2004, Nathalie Sarthou from Alfred University, Developed a Haitian Artists Directory, art classes at KidsArts! and a portfolio of paintings.

MIT Summer Fellow 2001, Kristin Brodie, Developed a violin teaching program for youth at a community center in Cambridge and financial nonprofit systems for a nonprofit violin school in Utah. This internship was supported by a fellowship from the MIT Community Service Office.

MISSION OF COMMUNITY ARTS ADVOCATES

Community Arts Advocates cultivates ongoing fundamental relationships between artists and communities by celebrating self-expression as a basic human right essential for the healthy growth of youth, individuals and communities.

Community Arts Advocates, Inc. is a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding public awareness, participation in and support of the arts through performances and festivals, exhibits and workshops, publicity, educational forums, nonprofit arts management consultation services, and collaborative projects.

Intern Nora Schaddelee, CAA Associate Barbara Michaels
and intern Maureen O'Malley
Developed, expanded and produced JP Open Studios

STRUCTURE OF THE INTERNSHIPS & VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

The interns and volunteers can work with the Community Arts Advocates as an all-around contributor to our programs or we can create a project that fits with their interests, for example creating an artists series in a particular genre or working more closely on an advocacy issue such as artists' housing. Past self-designed intern projects have included all aspects of starting an arts program at a local women's shelter, starting and funding violin lessons at a neighborhood after-school center, producing a children's music performance event during school vacation week, and organizing and participating in Boston area Open Studios. As a community agency, we have daytime, evening, and weekend meetings and events which will be built into the intern's schedule depending on the intern's or volunteer's interests. Working with the non-profit Community Arts Advocates is a good opportunity for someone interested in learning about:

• how art impacts neighborhoods and how to help cultivate neighborhood cultural life
• urban community relations including finding collaborators and recruiting volunteers
• marketing and publicity for events, series, and individual artists
• fundraising and grantwriting from both the artists' and funders' point of view
• creating and producing collaborative arts events in a neighborhood
• documenting artists' importance and advocating artists' rights

CURRENT PROGRAMS

As we are a small office, an intern can be involved in all aspects of producing and developing these projects.

• Multicultural Educational Programs which includes teaching to all ages: the music, dance, lore, and history of African-American, Puerto Rican, Afro-Caribbean, Mexican, Central American, South American, Scottish, Irish, New England and Indigenous People cultures.
• Street Arts and Buskers Advocates work includes research and advocacy on public policies, legal court cases, model ordinances, urban studies surveys and cultural economic impact studies as well as developing and maintaining artists directories.
• Ongoing technical support and advocacy for Boston and Cambridge arts organizations and artists.
• Supporting production and marketing of Roslindale Open Studios
• Supporting production and marketing of Roslindale Arts Alliance art classes for children and adults
  
• Supporting production and Marketing of First Thursdays in Jamaica Plain
• Supporting festival and after school arts programs at Spontaneous Celebrations in Jamaica Plain
• Supporting programs and dance classes at the Dance Complex in Cambridge
• Creating arts classes and events for KidsArts! summer camp in Jamaica Plain
• Supporting fundraising for “Pioneers of African American Costume Design” documentary film by Dr. Aziza Bey
  
• Creating arts and environmental classes and events for Friends of Jamaica Pond in Jamaica Plain
  

A TYPICAL DAY AT COMMUNITY ARTS ADVOCATES OFFICE

On any given day, the Community Arts Advocates may be engaged in:

• publicity for our programs and events including writing press releases and preparing press mailings
• staffing our information tables at events such as street fairs
• recruiting and coordinating volunteers to help with events and in the office
• helping to establish community connections among arts and community groups through referrals and by holding public meetings on issues such as artists housing or for groups such as writers.
• acting as an arts resource by responding to phone calls from community members
• the grant process and soliciting donations for programs from local and city businesses
• maintaining our database including updates and data entry
• attending a wide variety of community meetings, both in Boston and in the Greater Boston area
• outreach to the public and arts organizations with opportunities and ideas
• communicating in the political arena
• advising artists on their larger financial picture
• creating festivals and series with local people
• attending arts events such as openings and performances

VALUE ADDED WORK FOR COMMUNITY ARTS ADVOCATES

• supporting fundraising for La Piñata Latin American Cultural Program
• supporting production, marketing and fundraising for Friends of Jamaica Pond Environmental Education Programss
• researching and developing a street performers festival in partnership with the Cambridge Arts Council and Harvard Square Business Association
• researching and creating an on-line web data base of street artists in the Greater Boston area.
• cupporting production and marketing of Roslindale Open Studios
• supporting production and marketing of Roslindale Arts Alliance art classes for children and adults
  
• cupporting production and marketing of "First Thursdays" art openings in Jamaica Plain
• cupporting festival and after school arts programs at Spontaneous Celebrations in Jamaica Plain
• cupporting programs and dance classes at the Dance Complex in Cambridge
• creating arts classes and events for KidsArts! summer camp in Jamaica Plain
• creating arts and environmental classes and events for Friends of Jamaica Pond in Jamaica Plain
• fundraising for “Pioneers of African American Costume Design” documentary film by Dr. Aziza Bey
  
• researching and creating a totally new project developed by the intern

TIMELINE & REPORTS

At the beginning of the internship or volunteer job, we will decide with the candidate which programs the person is most interested in working on and if the intern or volunteer is interested in developing her or his own project. From there, the intern or volunteer will 'jump right in' to work side by side with us. A weekly timeline will be developed in line with the intern's or volunteer's interests and class schedule.

The Community Arts Advocates staff will work with public service coordinators, college or university faculty, high school or community service organization staff to complete any reports or documentation requirements.

PAYMENT & FEES & APPLICATION

Community Arts Advocates currently has no moneys for internship or volunteer honorariums, payments or fees.

The Community Arts Advocates staff will work with the intern(s) to obtain public service fellowships or stipends if available from the interns' college or community service fund.

Past internship programs wrote grant proposals which resulted in obtaining funds for the project supplies and work by the interns.

Applicants can send an email and/or letter of interest with an attached resume with references.  An interview will be scheduled and site visits to collaborating arts programs based on the interns' interests.

Please call us at 617-522-3407 or email us at info@communityartsadvocates.org with any questions. Thank you.

 

Community Arts Advocates Internship & Volunteer Opportunities

• Internship and Volunteer Opportunities General Description

  Specific Volunteer Projects:

  • Video and Photo-Journalist(s) to document Street Artists in Greater Boston area
  • Volunteer law student(s) or person(s) interested in Free Speech issues to research case law for Street Artists and Performers. Volunteer(s) are also needed to enter and scan court decisions and briefs into digital forms for publication on the internet
  • Architect and Urban Planners as Expert Witness in Federal Civil Law Suits on Use of Street and Public Parks by Artists
  • Economic Impact Study of the Street Artists in Cambridge and Boston
  • Artists Data Base Development for Internet Web Site