The Arts of Life and a Not So Artistic Girl

This Fall semester I have had the privilege to "study abroad" down in the Loop Program that Lake Forest College offers. While I'm down here, I've been interning at Arts of Life, Inc., We are anon-profit organization that advances the creative arts community by providing artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities a collective space to expand their practice and strengthen their leadership.

I am the dual Grant Writing / Communications and Development Intern here, which means I spend a majority of my time researching, writing, and repeat. I research organizations that we could potentially seek funding from, and I dig through their company information to see if we would be a good fit for their funding. I write article and blog posts about the amazing achievements that our artists and organization have accomplished. I write press releases about the events that Arts of Life puts on that are published in other news sources, and press releases about artists that have had their work publicized or recognized. I write social media post content, I write thank you card content, I write holiday giving card content- you name it, I write it. Or, I can at least.

This has been the first "big girl" job that I've had, (not counting lifeguarding and nannying as career building) and it has really helped me to see the skill sets that I already have, and the ones that I need to continue to build, in order to make it in the publishing industry.

So thank you, Arts of Life, for giving me the chance to discover new talents that I have, a new skill set to add to my repertoire, and for a truly memorable semester.