Milwaukee Recreation Arts Internship Program

By: Erick Watts (UW-Milwaukee) My name is Erick Watts, I am an intern in the UWM Arts-Eco internship. I started working in this internship on June 28th and my final day is on August sixth. This is my final reflection and it is a blog summary of my time in the program and what I’ve learned that can be used both for practical and personal use. But before I explain all of that I should say some context and some of my thoughts from before the internship started. Last year I joined an internship run by the Walker‘s Point Center for the Arts. This already gave me an idea of what I would be getting into and how everything works. But because of the virtual nature of this internship due to Covid, it still made me anxious on how useful I would be and how easy it would be to adapt. It should also be noted that I was working an actual job during my time as an intern which definitely impacted my focus and dedication to this internship. Although even under these circumstances I was still confident I

  By: Missoni Hayes (Lead2Change) 

 By: Stephen Hunter (Artists Working in Education) Biggest Takeaway What was my biggest fear/challenge coming into this internship, and how did I overcome it? To be completely honest, the biggest challenge I faced was getting the energy to go to work whenever I was required. It wasn't really because the things we were doing were hard, but more because of everything that happened this year. I really just wanted to take this summer to rest. My biggest fear was actually that because I haven't been practicing my art and even people skills, that I would be bad at it and want to quit. But I realized that it was like riding a bike, and when I tried, I didn’t really lose any of my skills. Now because I chose to enter this internship, not only did I acquire new skills for work, I'm also now able to work on my rusty and honestly bad people skills for when my senior year starts. But the way I was able to overcome it was actually, for lack of better words, forcing myself and letting ot

 By: Noah Spottek (Artists Working in Education)  When I first joined AWE I was scared about communication and getting to know different people. As a person who struggles with communication and anxiety it’s not always the best, but I’ve gotten to know a few of the other interns and have made great connections with them and even people out of the program. I feel like joining this internship has helped me move out of my own comfort zone in different ways. What helped a lot was how understanding everyone was, not just the interns but the supervisors as well. They were the most understanding and flexible, and tried to help you get to where you need to be, and if you weren’t able to get there they would be understanding and sometimes have you do something else another time. Something else that helped me as well was, I guess trying to put myself out there more. I know it can be scary and even hard sometimes but the only way for you to grow is to learn how to communicate with others and a ste

  By: Anthony Xiong (ArtWorks for Milwaukee) 

 By: Iliyana Smith (Walnut Way Conservation Corps) My name is Iliyana Smith and I am an intern at Walnut Way Conservation Corp. Walnut Way Conservation Corp is a program for teenagers ages 14-18 who want to experience opportunities such as planting, pulling weeds, learning how to maintain a garden, and etc. It is a great opportunity for teens that are interested in growing their own foods, fruits and vegetables. Also, you get to meet great people such as Mrs. Kim, Mr. Tim, Ms. Jerrilynn, Mr. Jeremy, Mr. Fox, and many more amazing people. It is such an awesome experience and great opportunity for teenagers and the pay is great. The biggest coming into internship was getting along with my co-workers and working in dirt. In the beginning of the program we all got along very well and always told each other how we felt about the day. Now it's a little different, we argue and disagree on a lot of things but we still get the job done and we work as a team. Although we may not get along I

  By: Georgia Fritsch (ArtWorks for Milwaukee)

By: Aniki Thao (UW-Milwaukee)  These are my thoughts about the experience I had with the Internship. I have really enjoyed being at the internship. I love the people here, I love the artwork, and best of all I love the experience I’ve attained from this. Whether or not I have done work in this internship. I have definitely learned a lot of valuable lessons here. I can say with confidence that I definitely have gotten better with my art sense than I was when I first took my first class in the internship. I have some real praise for the professors who have taught us so much information in a week. In the time I was in the internship I have made some amazing art work I didn’t think I can make with my hands, but realizing that I have made so many art pieces in the last two weeks. I have a much better appreciation for the 2D and 3D art makers out there. I had so much fun making art as a whole that I completely forgot how much time can fly when you're having fun. The art pieces I made are

  By: Kimora Eubanks (Walnut Way) 

  By: Rogelio Raul Noriega Joseph (ArtWorks for Milwaukee) 

  By: Esther Carriere (ArtWorks for Milwaukee)

By: Matthew Moore (Lead2Change)

By: Asia Steele (Wild Space Dance Company) My biggest fear I had to do quite a bit of preparation and applying before becoming an official Wild Arts summer intern, it was quite the process and while that whole situation was a bit nerve-wracking, I do not feel like I was really scared for the job. I was confident in my theatre skills and, while I was a bit nervous for my art since I wasn't sure if it was as good as I thought I was, I knew that in the end everything would work out. The part I was most nervous for going into this whole job was working with middle schoolers because I truthfully had never really watched kids over the age of 10 myself, let alone a group of them. As silly as it sounds, I had fears going into the job that the children would be disrespectful and mean and pretty much disregard everything I was saying because they don't see me as an authority figure. After all, they're 11-13 and I'm 17 so I knew the age gap wasn't that huge. I just wanted to b

 By: Ana Gutierrez (Milwaukee Repertory Theater) Reflection  In the summer of 2021, I was an intern at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater with the Professional Training Institute (PTI). I was an actor for the PTI production of Ghost Bike written by Laura Jaquim and directed by Jeffery Mosser. I had the honor of working with other young professionals from around Wisconsin and working professionals in the industry. Working with such amazing artists for 4 weeks straight was an amazing experience. I was able to make a community with my cast mates and learn more about being a young artist.  Question: How has this opportunity influenced your future endeavors as an artist, a student, or your career choice? How and/or why? This internship experience definitely changed my view as an artist. Before this internship I was unsure if I wanted to continue to pursue acting as a career, but after my amazing experience I have now built up confidence to continue my work. This was due to the amazing communit

By: Samuel Hernandez (Casa Romero)  This summer has been so different from any previous summer breaks. Being  able to participate and work with Casa Romero while also pushing my limits when it comes to social interaction has been a terrifying but breathtaking journey. Having the privilege to have the title of summer intern and partake in the work that Casa Romero does for our community was amazing and fulfilling. Sensing the community built from within Casa Romero either through the staff, other interns or even the participants has been an astounding experience. I am very introverted and very shy, so participating in this internship made me  very nervous and scared to officially start. Due to my lack of communication skills, I was really nervous to jump right into the internship. As I got closer and closer to the start day of my internship I realized that this internship was a perfect opportunity to push myself past these imaginary walls of fear and start the process of becoming the pe

 By:  Magdalyn Rowley-Lange (Milwaukee Repertory Theater) My Biggest Takeaway Magdalyn Rowley-Lange she/her/hers Senior at Reagan IB HS I had the fortune of being accepted into the Professional Training Institute with the Milwaukee Repertory Theater and then into the MPS Arts Internship Program which has certainly become an enormous highlight of my year. Together my PTI cohort of 15 other high school age actors as well as a professional crew complete with a costume, set, and sound designer, put on a production of the play Ghost Bike. The play itself follows a teen named Ora as she processes her grief over the loss of her best friend but the atmosphere on set was anything but gloomy. My director, stage manager, assistant stage manager, and us actors had an absolute blast working together to bring Ora’s journey to life. We were able to work fully vaccinated and unmasked after a year of being separated by screens. This in and of itself brought me so much joy, but the undeniable chemist

 By: Lily Haasl (Wild Space Dance Company)  A Day in the Life At Wild Space summer camp Lily Haasl 07/15/2021 The fly’s perspective: In this picture the kids are working on an art project and interacting with the teacher. This is the scene I would come to after flyering and the situation I would help clean up. It was during this time I got to converse with the kids and help them finish any of their projects. Typical Day Within the first week of my internship a typical day would consist of flyering in order to acquire more kids for the summer camp. At first, Asia, the other intern, and I would walk around and ask businesses if we would be able to put a flyer up for the summer camp. By the next day, we were driving around to different schools and neighborhoods to hang up flyers, with the owners permission. By the end of our day we would talk with our supervisor about the accomplishments we made and then would help the teachers clean up. Afterwards we would confer with our supervisor agai