I chose to work at Arts Place, an arts non-profit located in my hometown of Portland, Indiana. Our official maxim is “Nurturing the creative spirit in anyone.” It’s a joy to be part of a team dedicated to providing creative opportunities and artistic performances to the community.
I’m working as the videographer for Arts Place, helping to hopefully expand our reach and audience by working closely with our Marketing Coordinator, Sophia Benedict. My job is to capture video of the various events, classes, and performances that we host and then compile it for use in promotional videos that we will post online.
On any given day I’ll be sifting through footage I’ve captured and deciding how best to piece it together. On some weekends and weekdays, however, I’ll be found capturing footage at lessons, events, or performances, depending on what is happening during the week. We have three different centers in three separate counties, so there is some driving involved between a few of the events. Most of my time is spent in and around the Portland center, though.
It’s fantastic to be a part of an organization that obviously cares about the community around it, and wants to generate interest in the Arts. Personally, I love art, and see it as a cornerstone for any modern society. Therefore I find Arts Place and its efforts to be almost essential for enabling Portland to be seen as more than just a rural farming community.
This co-op has also allowed me to practice my video editing skills, and Sophia has taught me about design and layout for posters, postcards, and other similar media. While I’m very much interested in design, my primary job is videographer. I am able to put many of the skills I learned in MEDA 102 to the test here, and it’s very enjoyable.
I’ve aso learned much about the operation of a non-profit, the effort that goes into it, the meetings, and working with a tight budget. I’m treated like any other employee, and as such I attend team meetings. I even took minutes once! I’m also going to be presenting my work to the Corporate Board, so that they have an understanding of what is going on. The corporate board is made of members of the local community who have a passion for the arts and Arts Place. Eric Rogers, our Executive Director, even wrote a book about the relationship between the director and the board. I find learning about the intricacies of the inner workings of organizations such as Arts Place to be truly fascinating.
Personally speaking, while I find this interesting, it does not particularly pertain to my own goals. That being said, I can see how this could prove incredibly useful, depending on where I find myself in the future. Though my education goals are more directed towards Media encompassing art and animation these days, I find video editing and capturing enjoyable (not to mention useful), and I am certainly learning while simultaneously using that which I’ve already learned.
