EMILY
KOPCHAINS
Arts Administration
Arts Administration
Elon University
On-Campus Internship
Spring 2020
Advisor: David McGraw
Initial Outline / Interview Questions
Promotion / Strategic Plan Recommendations
Exit Reflection
TDT Department Promotion and Strategic Planning Internship:
Throughout the Spring of my Junior Year, I worked both with my Arts
Admin. department head, and my Theatrical Design and Technology (TDT) department head, to create a detailed documentation of the program's current strengths and weaknesses, both operation and promotion wise. I began by creating a detailed list of questions and then conducted 17 interviews for TDT students and faculty, documenting their feedback in an anonymous report. From these interviews, I gained insight on the thoughts and critiques from upperclassmen about their 3-4 years in this program, as well as fresh first impressions from our underclassmen about their beginnings in TDT. After the interviews, I began research on our peer programs to find similar traits to ours and how we can learn from others' promotion techniques.
I was then able to create a strategic planning document, bringing forward
ideas for improving the promotion strategies of our program, as well as daily functional operations. Because this project was primarily self-guided, I was allowed room for flexibility while also holding a stronger sense of personal responsibility to keep everything moving and on top of my schedule. I believe this internship was incredibly fitting for the Spring of 2020, In a time where every industry is changing so drastically and where we at Elon are constantly looking for self-improvement.
The Alliance Theater
Teaching Asst. Internship
Summer 2020
Advisor: Robert Hindsman
Initial Expectations
Exit Reflection
Elon University
Legal Course
Fall 2019
Professor: David McGraw
DEI Statement
Virtual Summer Camp Teaching Assistant:
Despite my original summer stock job for 2020 getting cancelled due to
COVID, I was still able to find an incredibly valuable internship at the Alliance Theater as a part of their virtual summer camp. Because of the sheer number of theaters that were forced to cancel their summer programming this year, I am grateful to have found work at a theater with such status as The Alliance. I worked with The Alliance for the month of July, and my day-to-day work mostly consisted of assisting the teaching artists in running activities for the campers, and communicating attendance or other issues to our head staff. I was in charge of operating the Zoom rooms for our campers to be in every morning, as well as handling the family "guest list" for our class performances every Friday. Although this was the first year of this kind of operation, the teachers, head staff, and interns had the whole process down like a well-oiled machine.
What intrigued me the most about this project was how quickly the
education team was able to adapt their performing arts camp to a completely virtual model. I was able to arrange meetings with my direct supervisors, and other head staff members in charge of The Alliance's education department to pick their brains for some details regarding their transition into this new setting. They shared that the company certainly had a rocky path arriving here, and it was their week-long Spring Break camp (which was set to happen in March, two weeks after the theater closed its doors to in-person activity) that forced them to make a quick decision to stay operating, and think on their feet for the large changes ahead of them. The dedication to their patrons to keep operations as normal as possible, especially when so many other factors were still hurt, on top of the hope and aspiration behind everything this company stands for is incredibly admirable to me.
Legal Aspects of Art and Entertainment:
Within my Legal Aspects of Art and Entertainment course during the Fall
of my Junior Year, I was able to learn the fundamentals of of Entertainment Law, as well as ethical and practical functions of being an artist. The four main topics we covered were Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Contracts and Negotiations Intellectual Property, and finally Art and US Government. Some writing projects that I found especially beneficial were my Mock DEI Statement, Donor Appeal, and NDA / Contractual Agreement. All of these documents provided great insight towards documents that are very common and important to look for in the art work, but which seem daunting on their own.